Little Match Girl

~ Reminds me of Philly ~
Thanks Nikki!
Painting by Richard Savoie

Last month, my sisters and I were reminiscing about various Christmas books from our childhood. One title that came to mind was The Little Match Girl by Hans Christian Andersen. This sweet, sad story has been illustrated, beautifully, many times over the centuries, but naturally, our holiday nostalgia tends toward the version we grew up with.

My younger sister, Diane, said to me,

"As a child,
I don't remember feeling happy when reading it.
Yet I was drawn to it."

She was curious to see once again the illustrations
imprinted in our collective memory:

Just as we remember!

The story appears in this anthology;
but, sadly, no artist's name is given.

For additional commentary
on the topic of children out in the cold,
take a look at this excellent blogpost
on "The Little Match Girl,"
Wordsworth, Dickens, and more:
Memories of Snow in Literature

Little Golden Christmas

So many Little Golden Treasures,
re-discovered while sorting through
old Christmas storybooks from childhood:

See the inscriptions?
My sister Peggy's Little Golden
Christmas book from the 1950s,
and
her son Jerrod's Little Golden
Christmas book from the 1970s!

We all loved this one!
But did we know that it was illustrated
by the legendary Richard Scarry?
I don't think so!

I assumed that his popularity began when
our kids were small, not “back in the day”
when my siblings and I were little tykes!
~ Copyright 1950 ~

The page I remember best:
The apple in the snow!

Speaking of legendary,
when it comes to nostalgic illustrators,
no one compares to Eloise Wilkin:

If you no longer have every little
book from childhood, never fear!
This fun anthology is filled with favorite pages,
some long forgotten, some long - remembered!
The selections range from 1946 - 2011,
generations of Golden Christmas Memories!

New Blue Library

An Evening at Home, 1888
Sir Edward John Poynter (1836 - 1919)

Thanks to my friend and Patron of the Arts, Sir Igor
for choosing this beautiful blue library painting,
now on display in our new library, also painted blue!

See the painting on the shelf, just above
A Christmas Carol Pop-Up Book,
likewise a gift from Uncle Igor!

Just like the painting, the adjoining dining room
features an arched doorway and a gold ribbon mirror.
So, truly, this painting is perfect for this house!

Our Favorite Spot!
The library is lined with blue shelves,
upon which I have managed to alphabetize all the
fiction from Louisa May Alcott to Banana Yoshimoto.
With the non-fiction, I always have more trouble
sticking to the alphabet. In the end most of it
has made its way to various sub - categories
and groupings that may or may not make sense
to anyone else but me. But who's counting?

Also our favorite room for watching TV.
We went to the Habitat Re-Store,
found a 2nd - hand baby changing table;
and Gerry refinished it as a matching TV stand.

Configured differently than our previous
~ McCartney Addition ~
but an equally loveable space, in a different way.
Instead of a side porch - turned - nook, we have a
shelf - lined library - den - TV room - study - family room.
Or, as they say in England: The Snug

On the shelves . . .

A Note to my friend Kathie
[who sent me the Botero Set]
Can you see what's on the shelf just above the Botero? Books by Leonard Orr and his daughter Leah Orr. The dark blue Yeats and Postmodernism contains an essay by you and one by me; the orange one next to it, an essay by Joe Buttigieg! I bought Louisa May Alcott and Charlotte Bronte because the author refers to Celine Carrigan's work on the role of the governess in fiction. Right next to that is Victoria Amador's definitive bio of Olivia de Havilland: Lady Triumphant, Jan Donley's novel The Side Door, Terry Galloway's memoir Mean Little Deaf Queer, The Good Psychologist by Noam Shpancer, Lost Girls by Laurie Fox, and more!

Summer Books: I Did It

I ordered a used book from amazon
and found this old card
stuck inside as a bookmark!

Reading Certificates
My mom’s from 1939, and
my older siblings' from 1959!
Same program — 20 years later!

I finally completed my list!

5. about your country

My Theodosia: A Novel by Anya Seton

Historical fiction about the life of Aaron Burr's daughter,
very well researched, though not new (1941).
Somewhat problematic yet still of scholarly interest.

Lin-Manuel Miranda could use it
as the basis for a sequel to Hamilton!

Father & Daughter ~ My Theodosia

6. under a tree

Thanks to Katie Field & Chris Jarmick for suggesting
the perfect novel for me to read while sitting under
the huge Virginia Magnolia in my front yard:

The Overstory by Richard Powers

" . . . way down in the understory,
her own body seems freakishly small
like one of those acorn - people
she made in childhood" (154).

"But nothing is less isolated or more social than a tree . . . trees are social creatures. It's obvious to her: motionless things that grow in mass mixed communities must have evolved ways to synchronize with one another. Nature knows few loner trees" (115, 122)

7. about friendship

Not as easy as you might think to find
a good strong fictional friendship.
However, I recently read this zany
little series by Max Velthuijs.
Gave a few as gifts; fun for kids (I think).

All the Frog books in order:
Book 1: Frog and the Birdsong (1991)
Book 2: Frog in Winter (1993)
Book 3: Frog is Frightened (1995)
Book 4: Frog is Frog (1998)
Book 5: Frog and the Stranger (200)
Book 6: Frog and the Wide World (1991)
Book 7: Frog is Sad (2003)
Book 8: Frog and a Very Special Day (2008)
Book 9: Frog Finds a Friend (2010)
Book 10: Frog is a Hero (2014)
Book 11: Frog in Love (2014)
Book 12: Where is Frog? (2017)
Board Book: Frog & Duck (above)

8. about space

Astronauts on the Moon:
The Story of the Apollo Moon Landings
by
Stanley Hendricks (Author)
& Al Muenchen (Illustrator)

One of the coolest pull tab / pop up books ever! It must have been a Christmas present for my little brother Aaron in 1969, but we all loved it. When I showed it to Ellie this summer, Ben loved it too and couldn't believe he had never seen it before: "Mom, where was this book during MY entire childhood?"

Sadly, it was in storage at my parents' house in an old box that had remained unopened for years. Thank goodness we re-discovered a few old childhood treasures, and this book is finally back in circulation -- and in perfect pop - up condition for Ellie & Aidan!

9. in a blanket fort

Book Lovers by Emily Henry

This is the perfect novel to read in a blanket fort, because, as adults, the main characters, sisters Nora and Libby, build themselves a blanket fort on their get away vacation, as a throw-back tribute to their childhood:

"On Hepburn nights, the three of us would each pick out one of Mom's over-the-top vintage robes and curl up in front of the TV with a root beer float and a pizza, or decaf and chocolate pie, and watch an old black-and-white movie.

"Mom would cry during her favorite scenes . . . I loved those nights. They taught me that heartbreak, like most things, was a solvable puzzle. . . .

"It's only six o'clock, but we change into our pajamas -- including our silk robes. We drag the blankets off the bed in the loft and down the iron spiral staircase to the couch and pop in the first DVD from the Best of Katherine Hepburn box set . . . (48 - 49)

10. to a pet

I do all my reading on the bed with these two,
so they've heard it all!

11. a book with a color in the title

Haunts of the Black Masseur: The Swimmer as Hero
by Charles Sprawson

Swimming as Meditation: Part memoir, part art history & literary analysis: “a scholarly look at the true character of swimmers – isolated souls that somehow find fulfillment in a lonely sensory-deprived act.”

“At a very young age, I began to form a vague conception of the swimmer as someone rather remote and divorced from everyday life, devoted to a mode of exercise where most of the body remains submerged and self-absorbed. It seemed to me that it appealed to the introverted and eccentric, individualists involved in a mental world of their own.” (5)

[More on this book at a later date . . . ]

12. a book with chapters

Where Things Come Back by John Corey Whaley

Some great chapter titles!
I appreciate an author who takes the time
to include clever subdivisions and subtitles!

Some favorite passages:

. . . when the character Rameel met his wife Isadora:

" 'It was like looking at the sun and not going blind,' Ramell said of his first sight of Isadora.
'That beautiful? huh,' Benton asked.
'Been-tone, my family's faces shine like the light of God.' " (40)

"Upon graduating with his degreein philosophy, Cabot Searcy was told by his father that he couldn't have wasted more money or time if he'd tried. Cabot grinned at this, leaned close to his father's right ear, and told him to wait and see." (135)

"If you've never been to Lily, and I bet you haven't, then you need to know . . . that, for a small town in the middle of nowhere, it seems to be a very clean, well-kept sort of place. Lily is the kind of place you'd like to move to some short time before you die. If at any other time in your life you think you need the peace and quiet of Lily, Arkansas, then you should either see a therapist or stay there for a week and try to find anything half-entertaining to do." (10)

13. at breakfast

Every morning at breakfast, I read The Daily Upside

A few more I try to catch every day or so:
Brandon Robshaw
The Corners
The Marginalian
Saved by Design
Slow Boring
Wait But Why

14. about a city far away

Quo Vadis: A Narrative of the Time of Nero
by Henryk Sienkiewicz

Takes place long ago and faraway in the city Rome (c. AD 64)

[More on this novel: Emerald Eye]

See June
1. by flashlight
2. in a funny accent
4. as a family
15. a book of poems

See July
19. to a sibling

See August
16. about your favorite animal
17. a mystery

See September
3. a comic book
18. a funny book

Summer Books: Comic & Funny

More Summer Reading

"Summer, bottle-green, wound slowly
down to mellow, yellow fall."

~ Katie Letcher Lyle ~
I Will Go Barefoot All Summer For You

3. a comic book

Tom's Midnight Garden:
A Graphic Adaptation of the Philippa Pearce Classic

Also, a wonderful novel in its original format
& an enchanting movie (if you can find a copy).

18. a funny book

The entire Strange Planet series by Nathan Pyle!

Recent favorites: