Monthly Archives: August 2017

From the Archives: School Daze, School Craze

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Note to Readers – Every now and then, I will re-post a blog entry that has withstood the test of time. Whether you missed it the first time ‘round or read it years ago, I feel it’s worth sharing again. Seeing parents with young children waiting for yellow school buses in the morning, brings back memories of standing at the curb with my young ones, whether reading short stories and poems or fashioning my own fractured fairy tales to entertain them. My own school years were not always so lyrical. Here’s what I wrote on September 13, 2015 about great books that return us to our school years.

One of my recurring nightmares is finding myself back in school, either unable to find my classroom or being totally unprepared for a subject I learned a long time ago, maybe trying to read something and seeing only gibberish. Sound familiar?

In the light of day, fortunately, school (especially at the start of a new year) looks a whole lot brighter. Everything is fresh and new. Books and doors are there to be opened, new people to meet, the world at one’s feet with many paths to explore. No matter how the coming year unfolds, when the cycle begins in late August or early September, there’s excitement in the air.

Our school years help form us, leaving indelible memories. The experiences, as we grow through the school years and beyond, are potent. This is why schools and the people who walk through their halls appear in so many great books. How many of these have you read?

Good-bye, Mr. Chips—James Hilton
The Blackboard Jungle—Evan Hunter
Up the Down Staircase—Bel Kaufman
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie—Muriel Spark
Sophie’s World—Jostein Gaarder
The Secret History—Donna Tartt
Infinite Jest—David Foster Wallace
Harry Potter—J.K. Rowling
The Cheese Monkeys—Chipp Kidd
Special Topics in Calamity Physics—Marisha Pessl

Katje

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Until one has loved an animal, a part of one’s soul remains unawakened.” – Anatole France

Katje is Dutch for kitten or little cat. On August 20th, 2017, I gave my Katje, the little cat with the big heart, the last gift I could. I kept a promise I made to her nine years ago that every day of her life with me would be a good one, and once they could not be good, she would not have to endure them.

So many of my friends and some of my relatives have had to say goodbye to their beloved pets in recent months. Each loss is another broken heart, mended over time by memories that bring smiles instead of tears. Understanding this is what allows us to love a pet we will have to say goodbye to and whose leaving us will break our heart.

Here’s what some famous authors have said about cats:

What greater gift than the love of a cat? – Charles Dickens

I believe cats to be spirits come to earth. A cat, I am sure, could walk on a cloud without coming through. – Jules Verne

Of all God’s creatures, there is only one that cannot be made slave of the lash. That one is the cat. If man could be crossed with the cat it would improve the man, but it would deteriorate the cat. – Mark Twain

If you want to write, keep cats. – Aldous Huxley

A cat has absolute emotional honesty: human beings, for one reason or another, may hide their feelings, but a cat does not. – Ernest Hemingway

How we behave toward cats here below determines our status in heaven. – Robert A. Heinlein

I dedicate this week’s Book.ed blog post to Katje, offering nine (for a cat’s nine lives) recommended books in which memorable cats play a pivotal role:

For Young Children
Puss in Boots – an Italian/French fairy tale in various forms (1550 – 1697)
The Cat in the Hat – Dr. Seuss (1957)

For Older Children
Star Ka’at – Andre Norton (1976)
Catwings – Ursula K. Le Guin (1988)

For Children & Adults
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland – Lewis Carroll (1865)
Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats – T.S. Eliot (1939)

For Adults
The Silent Miaow , Translated from the Feline – Paul Gallico (1964)
The Master & Margarita – Mikhail Bulgakov (1967)
The Cat Inside – William S. Burroughs (1986)

Eclipsed

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I was living in Colorado and the weather was warm, so that would put the solar eclipse between 1983 and 1987. Near midday, the temperature quickly dipped several degrees, chilling the air. The landscape darkened but not the way it does at dusk. There was no gold-to-copper wash across ground or sky, only a bluish gray shadow. I allowed myself to imagine the fear people must have felt before science revealed the matching of sun and moon in the same arc.

A solar eclipse is awesome. A scientific explanation doesn’t remove its magic or inspiration… especially for writers. Whether or not you’ll be in the viewing path of the August 21st full solar eclipse, you can experience its impact through some wonderful books, both fiction and non-fiction.

Just in time for this year’s rare full eclipse, author David Baron has produced an ambitious non-fiction book, American Eclipse: A Nation’s Epic Race to Catch the Shadow of the Moon and Win the Glory of the World. An extensive list of the best eclipse-related non-fiction books and articles, as judged by members of the American Astronomical Society, can be found at the AAS Solar Eclipse Task Force website.

And then there’s great fiction. How many of these novels involving a solar eclipse have you read?

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court – Mark Twain (1889)
Nightfall – Isaac Asimov (short story 1941; novel 1990)
Voyage: a novel of 1896 – Sterling Hayden (1976)
Gerald’s Game and Dolores Claiborne – Stephen King (1992)

And for young readers:
Every Soul a Star – Wendy Mass (2008)

A solar eclipse lasts only one to three minutes. Reading a great book entertains and informs for a few hours; its impact lasts a lifetime.

Of an Age

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We’ve all experienced it but “coming of age” – transitioning from childhood to adulthood — doesn’t happen at the same time or in the same way for everyone. In fact, I’m still waiting for some middle-aged friends to grow up! For most of us, and for most literary characters, “coming of age” occurs sometime during the teen years. In real time, it is usually angst-ridden, yet in later memory, we often find humor in it; not always so for our literary counterparts.

One of the best recent coming-of-age novels is Alex George’s Setting Free the Kites and I’m delighted to announce that the August 27th BOOKS ‘n’ BOTTLES™ will host the award-winning, bestselling author and his latest work. The book is already a staff favorite at the Book Bin in Northbrook, IL — voted Make It Better magazine’s Best Book Store on Chicago’s North Shore – where we’re hosting this summer’s events.

Setting Free the Kites strikes the right balance between poignancy and humor, a heart-rending story full of charm and quirkiness that explores the pain, joy, and glories of young friendship. It is a worthy successor to the author’s acclaimed previous novel, A Good American. If you are in the Chicagoland area on August 27th, I hope you will join us for great books, great wines, great people and great times at the Book Bin.

Meanwhile, how many of these other notable coming-of-age novels have you read:

Little Women – Louisa May Alcott (1868)
The Yearling – Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings (1938)
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn – Betty Smith (1943)
A Catcher in the Rye – J.D. Salinger (1951)
Go Tell It on the Mountain – James Baldwin (1953)
To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee (1960)
Bless Me, Ultima – Rudolfo Anaya (1972)
The House on Mango Street – Sandra Cisneros (1984)
Harry Potter (series) – J.K. Rowling (1997-2016)
The Namesake – Jhumpa Lahiri (2003)
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian – Sherman Alexie (2007)
All the Light We Cannot See – Anthony Doerr (2014)