MORE "DANDELION WINE"

DIPPING AGAIN into my book of quotations that resonated with me, here are some more passages from "Dandelion Wine". It's a semi-autobiographical novel set in small town America in 1928 reminiscent of the author's own boyhood. I'm not a science fiction reader, or I would by now have devoured all of Ray Bradbury's books........... his way with words is exceptionally fine. See if you agree......

 "About seven o'clock you could hear the chairs scraping back from the tables, someone experimenting with a yellow-toothed piano, if you stood outside the dining-room window and listened. Matches being struck, the first dishes bubbling in the suds and tinkling on the wall racks, somewhere, faintly, a phonograph playing. And then as the evening changed the hour,  at house after house, on the twilight streets, under the immense oaks and elms, on shady porches, people would begin to appear, like those figures who tell good or bad weather in rain-or-shine clocks."



"(Summer) began on a morning such as this when a boarder, a nephew, a cousin, a son or a grandson came out on the lawn below and moved in consecutively smaller quadrangles north and east and south and west with a clatter of rotating metal through the sweet summer grass."






"A darning needle sewed along the air, stitching, restitching designs both golden and invisible."











"'My gosh, if you're going away, we got a million things to talk about! All the things we would've talked about next month, the month after!'

'It's just, if I didn't see those windows until today, what else did I miss? And what about all the things I did see here in town? Will I be able to remember them when I go away?'"





"And last of all, the children, who had been off squinting their way through a last hide-and-seek or kick-the-can, panting, glowing, would sickle quietly back like boomerangs along the soundless lawn, to sink beneath the talking talking talking of the porch voices which would weigh and gentle them down.........

"Books had instant replay 

long before televised sports."           

                                 ~Bern Williams

RUINS

THAT BROTHER of mine sent me to this site and while there's nothing uplifting about it, I'm moved to share it if for no other reason than that it's astounding. Or so I found it.

I'll try to find something happier to send you tomorrow.

LITERARY GLUTTONY

I HAVE A PROBLEM. And I'll be the first to admit it, although I bristle when Mr. Bob suggests that I stop patronizing our local public library. After all, I'm supposed to be one of the two librarians here at the Manor. And our library here is full of interesting books, but here's the way my life works.

As an ex-bookseller (it may be like swimming and bicycling.... once learned, the process is never entirely forgotten) I try to stay somewhat aware of new books being published. When I read a review or hear about a new book that sounds as though it's within my interest range, I hurry to the computer and call up the local library site.  There I can request a book. Sometimes I'm the first to ask for it and more often I'll be put on a waiting list and notified when my turn arrives. So there's no sure way of predicting when I'll be notified that the book is waiting for me at the Adams Square Library branch. Sometimes I end up with more books than I know what to do with.

I suppose it could be worse if I didn't get them returned by the due dates. I've been very good about not accruing library fines although it's utterly amazing how quickly three weeks fly by and my time is up. Because so much of what I want is new, renewing the title usually isn't possible because other people are waiting for the book.










All of a sudden I found myself with all the books pictured on this page, while Mr. Bob suffered through his medical month. I always took a book with me to the hospital when I visited, but did I read it while there? No.













I enrolled in a Speed Reading class once, but all of the students, save myself, wanted to practice on technical reading, something I wasn't the least bit interested in. When my turn came to tell what I had just read, I'd open my mouth and nothing would issue forth. It didn't take me long to drop out of the class. I don't consider myself a slow reader, but I can't keep up with what the public library keeps me supplied with.

No doubt you can tell that I lean toward Non-Fiction. Our library at the Manor has a good section of Biographies and the most sought-after fiction category by residents here is Mysteries. Nadine and I have a small budget for purchasing books, but by and large, the library is made up of donated books. It's always interesting to see what comes in when people break up their personal book collections.



Even as I wrote this, I thought of something else I want to read. And I looked up James Michener's "Recessional", about a group of elders in a Florida retirement home. I'm sure it'll be right up my alley, if I'll just apply myself and get it read. I'm #1 in line to get it. My true confession is that all of the books pictured here were returned unread except for a page here and there. And Mr. Bob won't know about it until he reads this later today.



Another place that my greed shows up is in my large collection of bookmarks. I could and probably will do a whole web log entry on just that subject. The point of mentioning it today is to admit that I'll use anything within reach to mark my stopping place in a book. Recently I was aware of this fortunate selection of a place mark. At least I don't dog-ear pages.









Scottish library joke
A man walks into a Glasgow library and says to the librarian, "Excuse me Miss, do ye huvany books on suicide?" The librarian looks up and says, "Get lost! Ye'll no bring it back!"

COMIC RELIEF

WHEN THE NEIGHBORS go to dinner each month, we meet at a Chinese restaurant where the waiter is willing to write separate checks for us so the evening isn't spoiled by figuring out math problems. We sit around a big table with a lazy susan in the center and in the beginning, about 6 years ago, there were 10 of us before we lost Gunars whose life on earth came to a close too early, so then there were 9. Last Thursday we numbered 11, because Jeff and Karen were able to join us. They're the young couple in our old neighborhood, still raising babies, whereas the rest of us have children old enough to be giving us grandchildren. Karen is a physical therapist. Years ago I wasn't sure what that meant, but recent years and many P.T. sessions have educated us.
Jeff is a writer

who nowadays comes up with a daily comic strip which is syndicated in 50 newspapers. I sat next to him the other evening and enjoyed chatting with him about the creative process. Certainly, my daily gibberish can't begin to compare with what Jeff produces, but we both agreed that some of our favorite writings don't get much response at all from our reading public, whereas other items that we feel are mediocre receive great acclaim. Go figure.

When Jeff asked me how I was using my time at the Manor, I confessed to being part of a 2 woman team in charge of the library, and compiling a staff directory and as an afterthought remembered that I'm now one of four members of the Movie Committee. Movies are aired on weekends in the Tea Room and the first 18 months we were here, it seemed that without exception the films being shown were produced a very long time ago.


It is with apologies that I admit that I'm not a classic film buff. I don't know why, but anything made much before 1980 holds little interest for me and I know that admitting that is akin to saying I don't care for cats......my character rating plunges in the minds of many people. But there we have it.


So when I was invited to sit on the film committee it was a natural thing for me to suggest some more recent movies that I remembered enjoying.


Enter, culture shock. "It's Complicated" found Meryl Streep cavorting between the sheets and was a noticeable departure from the cinema fare the residents were used to. My suggestion of "Four Seasons", starring Carol Burnett, Alan Alda among others brought forth a phone call and the words "the raunchiest movie I've ever seen" were uttered. 


The movies can be watched on each person's television set and the language in "Billy Elliott" caused more than one resident to turn it off before the story even got started. When it was time to show "Amelie" I was sure no one would be offended with this charming French film set in Paris. Wrong! Fornication appeared, however briefly, on the screen, startling even me.........I hadn't recalled that part at all.


One lovely lady resigned from the committee due to the nature of the films being shown. Oh, dear.


When I told Jeff that Nadine, the other librarian, and I don't approve of censorship and recently accepted into the library a book on bordellos in early Alaska and then shelved a donation of a book on Chicago's brothels in the early days, Jeff's comment was that I should be named officially as the Smut Director of Windsor Manor. 


When we moved in, one of the directors commented that she was counting on us to liven up the place, but I'm not sure this is what she had in mind.

"At the height of laughter, the universe is flung into a kaleidoscope of new possibilities."  ~Jean Houston


"Laughter and tears are both responses to frustration and exhaustion.  I myself prefer to laugh, since there is less cleaning up to do afterward."  
                                                                ~Kurt Vonnegut


"Laughter gives us distance.  It allows us to step back from an event, deal with it and then move on."  ~Bob Newhart


"With the fearful strain that is on me night and day, if I did not laugh I should die."  ~Abraham Lincoln


"Laughter is an orgasm triggered by the intercourse of sense and nonsense." 
                                        ~ Author Unknown
                     

LITTLE READERS

I GET UP SOME MORNINGS without any idea of what to write about and I'm sure you'll agree that some days what I end up writing is hardly worthwhile. I know myself well enough to know that if I skip a few days, there's every chance I won't get back to it and this whole blogging thing will be over.

The first thing I do when my laptop is settled in what's left of my lap is to check the mail and today there was a flickr letter showing that someone had marked one of my photos as a "favorite". Curious about who it was, I went to her account where I found a remarkable slideshow of pictures of young readers.

The collection shows so well how lost one can get within the covers of a book. The right book (different for each reader) opens another world and I can't help but feel sorrow for the people who haven't yet discovered the wonder.

"There are many little ways to enlarge your child's world. 

Love of books is the best of all."

                          — Jacqueline Kennedy

STORYTIME

You may have tangible wealth untold;

Caskets of jewels and coffers of gold.

Richer than I you can never be --

I had a mother who read to me.

-- Strickland Gillilan (1869-1954)

P.S. In this case, it's a grandmother reading to our great grandchild.

PROFUNDITY

IF IT TOOK me 30 years to get around to 

reading "Act One", a book I've had on my 

bookshelf, I guess 2 months isn't so deplorable. That's how long it took me to pick up "Tattoos on the Heart", the book Nadine and I bought in January when Gregory Boyle spoke at the local Kiwanis Club. It has accumulated a little personal history since we bought it. Nadine had a copy inscribed by Father Boyle to Windsor Manor. I asked just for the signature when I purchased my copy, thinking I'd read it carefully and give it as a birthday gift.

We processed it for the library, which consists of stamping the ownership on the title page and noting inside the back cover when the library acquired it. New-to-us books get placed on a rack just inside the library door. It took its place near another book we'd read and raved about to many of the residents. ("Losing Mum & Pup" by Christopher Buckley.......a memoir, both critical and at the same time loving, of his parents) We urged all people who read in their free time to consider these two titles.

When Harvey and Sheila arrived to stay in a guest room for a week, the library, of course, was one of the first stops. I wanted them to check out the two books, feeling absolutely positive that they'd enjoy both. I went to reach for one of them and not only was it missing, but so was the other title. GONE! I quickly went to the check-out area where residents note what books are borrowed, but there was no trace of the titles there. Between us, Nadine and I scoured the shelves with no success, we announced the disappearance of the books at the Residents Association Meeting, we wrote a short article for the newsletter, pleading for their return with no success.

Feeling we'd waited long enough, finally we went out and purchased another of the Buckley book and I donated my copy of "Tattoos on the Heart", making sure I was the first to check it out. Once a bookseller, always a bookseller, for now that I have only two chapters to go, I'm urging you to run out and find a copy.  What stories the author has to tell and the preachy bits (after all, he IS a man of the cloth), a little off-putting at first, really do belong where he put them. I don't know when I've been so moved by a book. I've had to put it down several times until my sight recovered from being tear-dimmed.

Unfortunately, I've misplaced the red book in which for years I've written quotations from books I'm reading. I guess I'll need to start a new one for there was a sentence in "Tattoos on the Heart" that sums up my reason for continuing to write this blog:

"This way will not pass again and so there is a duty to be mindful of that which delights and keeps joy at the center, distilled from all that happens to us in a day."

I firmly believe that. It's one of the joys of reading to come across words that perfectly convey a feeling that until now you've not been able to give voice to.

I beg you, don't delay.

THE BOOK SURGEON

YESTERDAY was lazy, but at least today I'm dressed. However, I'm being shiftless about the blog today and offering this, suggesting that you visit the linked site. I think you'll be gobsmacked, which means clapping a hand to one's mouth in astonishment. Courtesy of my artist brother.

http://www.mymodernmet.com/profiles/blogs/the-book-surgeon-15-pieces

SPEAKING OF BOOKS

"A library is not a luxury but one of the necessities of life." 

         Henry Ward Beecher  (1813-1887)

The library of my childhood in Berwyn, Illinois was situated above a retail store on the second floor and I remember most of the time loving the space filled with books, but I can recall all too vividly the knot in my stomach as I ascended those stairs during the summer reading program. The librarian had a box of index cards and when I'd settled in a little chair beside her at her desk, she'd extract from the box a card with questions on it about the book I'd just read. My anxiety knew no bounds and to this day there's a fear that I'll be tested and come up short. What if I missed one of the answers and was thought not to have read the book? I don't recall that ever happening, but my over-active imagination feared the worst as it still tends to.

Libraries are very awe-inspiring places and I've always thought of them as safe locations except for the awful thing that took place in Columbine. Bullies don't generally hang out in libraries. I helped in the junior high library when I was 12 and when one of the librarians, years later, visited my bookshop, I reminded her of our previous association and she replied, "Well, I don't remember you. You must not be a book person." I don't believe in violence, so I didn't smack her, but I wanted to.

In 2009 we moved to the Manor and I found myself on the Library Committee which was all well and good except that the library lady kept trying to talk me into taking over her duties. I resisted, feeling the responsibility would be overwhelming at this stage of my life. She tried equally hard to convince another lady on the committee to assume the job. Nadine resisted as strongly as I did and finally we decided between the two of us to co-chair the position.

The previous librarian, over the years, had brought the book collection into quite a marvelous order. It was pristinely kept, and I knew the place would soon disintegrate, if I became the new librarian, into a sort of Olde Curiosity Shoppe look. I'm the Queen of Disarray. Nadine keeps me in check; she and I seem to work well together and we share the same vision of having the library a place for people to come to enjoy books in whatever way pleases them. Together we believe very strongly in this quote:


"A good library will never be too neat, or too dusty, because somebody will always be in it, taking books off the shelves and staying up late reading them."
                                                        ~ Lemony Snicket

We're doing some things differently than the previous manager and what we hadn't counted on was that it was going to be a bit of a conflict to institute our new ways. We keep trying. We even wrote, for the Manor newsletter that the library lights would be on until 7:30 p.m. and urged insomniacs to visit at any time of the night, instructing them where to find the light switch. 

Nadine and I rarely sit at the same supper table, but we come together after the meal to stop in at the library around 6 p.m. and often as not as we approach our destination we find a dark room. We're trying to be kind and gentle in getting our point across. After all, it was done the same way for 7 years, but we know how we'd like to run the library to attract more readers.

I suppose the situation  could be described as "too many cooks spoiling the broth". Just yesterday we spent time searching out a book Nadine had promised to a resident and it couldn't be found, no matter how hard we perused the shelves. Someone else had put it away. We would welcome the help if communication were involved. A second search unearthed it at last, but it caused us to set our collective jaw. I've thought of offering the job title back, but Nadine vetoes that idea. Patience is called for. Ralph Waldo Emerson said "Patience and fortitude conquer all things." Barbara Johnson defines it as "Patience is the ability to idle your motor when you feel like stripping your gears."

Jane & Nadine speaking of books.