New Year Thoughts – sort of

I had a hiccup in my holiday reading, two books I did not finish, two more proved good but just for me right now, but I have just now settled on one that is soothing, warm, and just right….more on that later, in the New Year.

I have mixed feelings about the New Year and so, I will enter it warily.

Always my same goals raise their persistent heads. Get more exercise, eat better, work on the garden, less computer time, clean out my clutter, be more creative, and, of course, read more.

But then I came across this on Facebook and I really liked it. I will still attempt my goals above, but this is worth reading thorough,

~ This year, dear friends, may we all lose weight!

The weight of expectations. The weight of self-criticism. The weight of disconnect that fills us with a deeper hunger. The weight of not always loving. The weight of a worn and weary world. Of not always accepting, seeing and inhabiting this precious and sacred body, that we’re in.

~ This year, dear friends, may we all exercise!

…our holy will! Our sacred sense of purpose. Our vision and hard-earned wisdom. Our discernment and our shining hearts. In ways that enrich connections, with our bodies, our souls and those we love. And even to the world.

~ This year, ah yes… may we all start the work of quitting…

…that collective Kool-Aid. The negative self-talk. The small-a**ed living. That cacophony of cockatoo-voices that drown out our souls. And old habits: Those used to stop us hearing our pain, our disappointments, and all things much better loved, seen and accepted right down to the very bottom ~ and to find true freedom, through a connection with our deepest souls.

~ This fine new year, (here’s the best…) May we all be rich!

Yes, utterly and completely rich. Wildly and unapologetically. Rich in love. Life. Connection with one another and all that really matters. Filled to the brim and bubbling over; more again and spilling over that. Full of laughter, acceptance, joy, and less of worry. Less of sorrow ~

Rich in renewed experience, of a whole new year!

by Rachel Alana (R.A Falconer) art | John Collier

To my dear Book Barmy family,

Happy New Year

Time for Home

I read this quote on a booksellers website and it just resonated with me

“Winter is the time for comfort, for good food and warmth, for the touch of a friendly hand and for a talk beside the fire: it is the time for home.”  

quote from Christmas at Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons.

Isn’t that what the holidays are about? Being home – whatever home is for you – with loved ones, good friends, good food, and of course good books.

Next week is largely uninterrupted reading time, so in the meantime, I will share some of my favorite images for the holiday season.

I love this painting by Andrew Wyeth

Someone sent me this image in an e-card and it makes me smile.

Seeing the Christmas lights downtown.

Bookshops anytime, but especially during Christmas.

My little reading nook decorated for the holiday.

Some of my collection of Christmas books.

But in the end, being home is my favorite part of the holidays.

Wherever you are this season, wishing you warmth, peace, love and good books to read.

An English Murder by Cyril Hare

First published in 1951, this Christmas mystery takes place in the favorite setting of British murder mysteries — the large country home.

Lord Warbeck summons his remaining family to the ancestral home for a holiday gathering. This country home is rather run-down with a greatly reduced staff — the result of high postwar British income taxes. It’s a very mixed group of people who arrive and there are creepy undercurrents from the very first pages. This house party is snowbound on Christmas Eve, and of course a murder ensues.

Thank goodness an eccentric little Sargent from Scotland Yard is present, but the historian saves the day, with the help of William Pitt. If all that sounds a lot like Agatha Christie — well, that’s because it is. The mystery plot turns on — well, I don’t want to give it away, suffice it to say our author, Mr. Hare, was a British barrister.

This a classic English murder mystery in all the right ways — the snowbound setting, odd characters with funny names, the sly British sense of humor, and of course, the Christmas-y feel.

At only 202 pages, it is the perfect quick holiday read with a cup of cocoa after a busy day of your own holiday preparations.

Treat yourself to that beautiful copy of An English Murder shown above – don’t-cha love that cover?

I re-read my old battered copy found used at the now defunct Mystery Bookshop in San Francisco.

It doesn’t look very Christmas-y, but it’s a keepsake.

It’s raining here, the tree is up and decorated, most gifts are wrapped, and I may shall take a break, and read another Christmas book.

Stay warm and safe people. Cheers!

Holiday Advertising 2023

As is tradition here on Book Barmy, I give you a taste of the best holiday advertising spots from around the world. So, get yourself a cup of something warm and enjoy.

Happy Holidays everyone.

Apple’s ad shows that creativity has the power to change the way we see each other, and sometimes, seeing things through a new lens can make all the difference.

The Dutch State Lottery is pulling on heartstrings with a spot that sees a man have to choose between his true love and his New Year’s Eve lottery ticket.

Declaring ‘let’s make today a good day,’ a new ad released by Chevrolet offers a ray of hope for families affected by Alzheimer’s and dementia
Aldi France has released an ad that features a super sleek modern-day Father Christmas who has decided to be proactive this festive season and deliver gifts to people around the world a day early.
A small Irish pub put together this lovely advert for only 700 pounds and it has gone viral. Have a tissue handy.
I agree, the world needs more Santas
Amazon has used a heart-warming cover version of The Beatles track In My Life for its holiday campaign.

And finally not a TV ad, but the Saks Fifth Avenue New York lights and show ~~ just wonderful.

The Eyes & the Impossible by Dave Eggers

My favorite 7 (almost 8) year old friend, let me borrow one of his recently acquired books.

One glance at this stunning book and I had to look further. Luckily, my young friend trusts me and let me bring it home to read by myself.

The photos here don’t do it justice. This is a special edition of The Eyes — and it is a most beautiful book.

Let me try and describe it’s beauty. It has a die-cut wood front cover, with a painting showing through. The back cover is also made of wood. There are gleaming gold embossed edges, and double paged-edge-to-edge painted illustrations from 1600’s – 1800’s into which illustrator, Shawn Harris, has cleverly placed our hero, Johannes (more about him later).

This remarkable edition is only available at independent bookstores (yes!) for an amazing $28 cover price (the price of any other, run-of-the-mill hardback).

Mr. Eggers is a literary force here in San Francisco/Bay Area. Not only is he an award winning author, he is also the founder of McSweeney’s, an independent publishing company, co-founder of 826 Valencia, a non-profit youth writing center, and a major force among our literary community — from supporting independent bookstores, to funding new writers.

So, let me tell you about the story — which is just as beautiful as the book’s production value.

Johannes is a free dog, who lives in an urban park by the sea, thinly disguised as our own Golden Gate Park. His job is to be the Eyes—to see everything that happens within the park and report back to the park’s elders, three ancient Bison. His friends—a seagull, a raccoon, a squirrel, and a pelican—work with him as the Assistant Eyes, observing the humans and other animals who share the park and making sure the equilibrium is in balance. 

But changes are afoot. More humans, including Trouble Travelers, arrive in the park. A new building, containing mysterious and hypnotic rectangles, goes up. And then there are the goats—an actual boatload of goats—who appear, along with a shocking revelation that changes Johannes’s view of the world.

It’s a delightful story, with adventure and strong themes of friendship. And I laughed out loud as Johannes directly addresses the reader in a very folksy (and funny) voice throughout the novel. And whether it’s his inability to estimate numbers, or his antipathy towards ducks (don’t trust the ducks!), I was enchanted.

I had a wonderful time with this middle-grade book, and I was happily in the hands of a gifted storyteller. The tale of free dog Johannes is profound, poignant, and very, very clever (what do you have against ducks, Mr. Eggers?). An exhilarating read about friendship, beauty, freedom, and running very, very fast:

“When I run, I pull at the earth and make it turn”

Everyone should read The Eyes & the Impossible – a story that will have readers of all ages seeing the world around them in a wholly new way

My friends copy* was personally autographed by Mr. Eggers at an author event with that same duck warning. You’ll have to read the book to understand the problem with ducks (I’ll never look at ducks again without smiling).

*I’ve blocked his name for obvious reasons




Now I’m on to some Christmas reads — two mine and one from the library – now which one first?

Correspondence An Adventure in Letters by N. John Hall

I recently rediscovered this book, which I bought in cold blood and at full price after its release in 2011 when it was said to appeal to fans of 84, Charing Cross Road and Victorian fiction.

Discovered my book mark in the middle of the third chapter and I have no idea why I put it back on my shelf for all these years. I love me an good epistolary novel so a re-started from the beginning.

The book imagines a correspondence between a retired American banker, Larry Dickerson, who inherited more than 200 letters to and from his great-great-great grandfather, a London bookseller, and his correspondents, who included Charles Dickens, Anthony Trollope, William Makepeace Thackeray, George Eliot and spouse, Thomas Hardy, Willkie Collins, Mrs. Gaskell, Samuel Butler and Charles Darwin, together with all of his great-great-great grandfather’s letters to these authors.

Dickerson hopes to sell these letters for the highest price through Christie’s auction house. An so begins the correspondence with Stephen Nicholls, head of Christie’s manuscript department. Of course, Christie’s is delighted at the prospect of handling an invaluable collection of never-before-seen letters from some of the greatest writers of the Victorian era.

Dickerson is portrayed as a bright, eager and not uneducated man who spent his career in banking and has a passion for baseball, a world far removed from antiquarian books and scholarly learning. While he could simply ship this letter trove to London, brush his hands of it, and eventually get a fat check, he has intellectual curiosity about these authors and their work, researching the letters himself. It’s fascinating to watch Nicholls, with a deep knowledge of books and manuscripts, take this new student under his wing. Dickerson takes on the challenge with wit and gentle jabs to Nicholl’s very British viewpoints:

Dickerson writes, “If you ever feel impatient with me and my ignorance of things in this field, remember that my old man was one of the troops who knocked out Hitler for you.”

Dickerson insists on carefully reading and hand transcribing the letters before sending them to the auction house. As he is drawn deeper into the letters, he begins reading their authors’ books. The ever-patient Nicholls, explains concepts and phrases Dickerson is discovering — everything from the meaning of “et al”, to some of the authors backstories, and themes common to the famous Victorian works.

As months go by, Nicholls worries about Dickerson’s insistence on handling the valuable stash himself, failing to insure them, and reluctance to send even photocopies. Are the letters real? Is Dickerson on the up and up? This reader began to worry too.

The letters between Dickerson’s great-great-great grandfather (Dickerson abbreviates it to gggf) and the great novelists are delightful realistic. Mr. Hall, the author, is a scholar of Victorian literature (especially Anthony Trollope) and only such an expert could have conceived them and so skillfully replicated the style and language of the various authors – not to mention making them sound distinctive and authentic to the period. There are lively discussions about choosing illustrators and using illustrations in their novels (Dickens loved them; Trollope hated them) as well as their reactions to good and bad reviews – just as any writer today. I found myself chuckling at Trollope’s irony and Thomas Hardy’s dry wit.

There is a quick and surprising ending which I won’t reveal the details. Just suffice it to say that everyone benefits from the letters and their eventual sale.

Turns out Correspondence was just my cup of geeky, bookish tea. However, this book won’t likely appeal to most of you – it is very much a bookish-bookerly book. Mr. Hall has peppered the novel with many, many literary references, which had me turning to my bookshelves to pull out my own grandfather’s copies to check the illustrations, quotes, and characters.

I have come away re-energized to try Trollope again (I found him unbearable in my first attempt) and I have vowed to finally read Thackeray’s Vanity Fair.

It’s okay, carry on with choosing another read for yourselves — I understand, but very few understand me…

The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo

Kate DiCamillo is a Newbery Medal award winning author, and one of my favorite authors, Ann Patchett raves about her books for children — especially this one. And I needed a present for for our 7 (almost 8) year old friend.

My justifications all in a row, I went to one of my favorite independent bookshops and bought The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane as his Christmas present

Full disclosure, after looking through this beautiful book, I knew I wanted to read it myself. This little guy has loaned me a few of his books before — so he won’t mind.

This tale tells the life story of a vain and prideful china rabbit – the uppity Edward Tulane. Edward’s story begins in the 1930’s when he is given as a birthday present to Abilene; an adoring ten year old girl who loves Edward unconditionally. He has beautifully made outfits, comes to the dinner table with the family, and has a special bed. In short, Edward is adored, but the rabbit’s arrogant disposition prevents him from appreciating or returning this affection.

Edward’s life soon changes when he is lost overboard on a family trip aboard the Queen Mary. From then on, he is acquired and lost by a variety of owners, some of whom treat him with kindness and some who are cruel.

As Edward travels with the various people who own him, including a fishermen and a group of hoboes, he he slowly loses his pride, coming to realize that “if you have no intention of loving or being loved, then the whole journey is pointless.”

Still, his journey leads him on a long series of adventures. Some of his adventures are not so bad, and some are downright horrible. Along the way, he begins to understand the meaning of love and hope. He realizes that love can be different things to different people. And sadly, he finds out that sometimes hope is lost. Edward’s journey teaches him how to love and in the end, he finds his way back to the arms of a little girl who squeezes him tight and also calls him Edward.

The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane is beautifully illustrated by Bagram Ibatoulline, just look at these

As I closed the book, I pondered the magic, yet melancholic tone of the story. I thoroughly enjoyed this fairy tale which is written both beautifully and delicately, but it’s also very sad. There’s the death of a young child in the book, another child’s father is an absent drunk and other tragedies unfold during Edward’s journey
I decided this could be difficult for a still-too-young and sensitive reader like my young friend — so, I’ll put it away for next year.