Each Little World

2020: The year in books

Every Monday at 1:30 p.m. a group of my women friends and I used to meet for coffee, pre-pandemic. Our conversation for the next couple of hours ranged far and wide. Though there was always a lot of art and politics under discussion, book talk dominated. We are all readers who reviewed, loaned and borrowed books from each other and the library endlessly. Until a few of us were able to meet socially distanced this summer (below), I put books out on the bench by the front door for pickup. One of the group would pull into the driveway, hop out and grab my book and leave one of hers for me. My copy of "The Splendid and the Vile" by Erik Larson was read by so many of us it finally fell apart. But better the book than us.

I have spent the pandemic reading, when I wasn't in the garden. I wrote a lot of book reviews back in my newspaper days, which is when I got into the habit of keeping a list of everything I read during the year with mini descriptions/reviews. I knew I would need that info when we would compile a list of our favorite titles for a year-end roundup. I have lists of everything I've read going back more than fifteen years. Once a list maker, always a list maker.

When our coffee group was Zooming last Monday, we decided we should all compile our top ten titles from 2020. This is a dozen of my favorites, mostly non-fiction. Most of these are quick notes to myself rather than polished reviews. (I will cover garden books in another post.) 

• Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City by Matthew Desmond. Set in Milwaukee, the book follows eight families struggling to pay rent to their landlords during the financial crisis of 2007–2008. One of my husband's all time most memorable reads. I started to get bogged down with all the names and stories near the end of the second section and took a bit of a break. But I am very glad I went back as the last two sections of the book were really critical to putting the stories in much broader political and social context and putting the author in the story as well. Superb book, if disturbing. 

• A Chance Meeting: Intertwined Lives of American Writers and Artists 1854-1967 by Rachel Cohen. I started this two different times in the years it’s been on my bookshelves. Not sure why I stopped other than the fact that it is book crammed full of information, stories, musings, reflections by the author and her subjects on art and literature. Beautiful writing and a brilliant concept. A slow read but endlessly satisfying at every turn. The book opens with the very young Henry James having his photo taken, along with his father, by Mathew Brady in NYC in 1854 and ends with Norman Mailer and Robert Lowell at the March on the Pentagon. In-between we meet Whitman, US Grant, Twain, Steichen, Steiglitz, Stein. Everyone to-ing and fro-ing in the most amazing dances across the years.

• Square Haunting: Five Women, Freedom and London Between the Wars by Francesca Ward. A title I got from a favorite UK book blog which meant a special order. Mecklenberg Square in London between the wars was home to five radical female writers: mystery novelist Dorothy L. Sayers, poet Hilda Doolitte (more widely known as HD), classicist Jane Ellen Harrison, economic historian Eileen Power and Virginia Woolf who needs no introduction. Quirky take on a group who mostly did not know one another or live in the Square at the same time; but life in this bohemian neighborhood deeply affected them and helped them make their mark in society.

• The Crowded Street by Winifred Holtby. (Published in different eras by two famous feminist presses: Virago and Persephone.) The title is from a verse by Vera Brittain. A young woman who is not married by age 30, being driven crazy by life with her parents, her rural community etc. She thinks she wants to be married but ends up being talked into helping a friend (ostensibly modeled after Brittain) who is involved in social work. Turns out this is what she was looking for all along: A challenge, a career, something worthwhile. She says no when she’s finally asked to marry. I was afraid it might go the other way. Holtby was writing in 1924, in the era after WWI, when marriage was essentially what women aspired to. The book’s conclusion is that "the thing that matters is to take your life into your own hands and live it, accepting responsibility for failure or success. The really fatal thing to do is to let other people make your choices for you, and then to blame them if your schemes should fail and they despise you for the failure." (I read this on the iPhone/Kindle, something I'd never done before, but I was desperate for books while the public library was closed.)

• The Face on the Milk Carton by Caroline B. Cooney. A teenager, goofing at lunch with classmates in the cafeteria, looks at one of those missing children pix on a milk carton and realizes it is a photo of her as a little child. How could that be? Are her beloved parents kidnappers? A brilliant premise and a great read straight through. YA on my phone.

  Whatever Happened to Janie. Turns out there are 6 books about Janie. This one continued as engaging and suspenseful as book one. But I felt it had an ending where you could stop reading and be satisfied. Started book three and stopped as it “jumped the shark” for me.

• The Other Bennet Sister by Janice Hadlow. (an actual book from the library when it allowed you to order books and do curbside pickup). Amy Heckerling’s deft reprogramming of Jane Austen’s novel “Emma” into the movie, “Clueless,” in the late 20th Century, spawned an entire Austen industry. Austen’s brief output continues to be mined for every genre of book and film; no doubt causing her to spin non-stop in her grave.

  But among all the silliness, gems like Janice Hadlow’s novel, “The Other Bennet Sister,” do appear. Hadlow takes a clever look at Austen’s famed novel “Pride and Prejudice.” She notes that the two older girls, along with the two youngest daughters, are all neatly paired off in the story and their lives. Only the bookish, glasses-wearing, socially-inept middle child — Mary — remains at home: unloved, unappreciated and ignored. 

  Hadlow brilliantly imagines what direction Mary’s life might take. She creates a character who engages our interest and empathy as she grows, learns and slowly is transformed into a fully-rounded adult. Along the way we are immersed in 19th century life in the country and in London, learning about everything from manners to clothing to the English landscape and relations between the sexes. Since Mary is an avid reader, she and we are deeply ensconced in the books of the era, especially Wordworth’s poetry. 

  Hadlow never sets a foot wrong; the setting, behavior, conversation and denouement of the story all ring true to the era and to Austen. A vastly satisfying literary endeavor and a delight to read.

  
  
  

• And in the Vienna Woods the Trees Remain: The heartbreaking true story of a family torn apart by war by Elisabeth Asbrink, translated from Swedish by Saskia Vogel. Otto Ullmann (above with his family) was 13 years old when his family sent him to Sweden from his home in Vienna. It was the eve of WWII and the Swedes only allowed a small group of Jewish children, including Otto,  into the country on the condition that they convert to Christianity. Otto and his family assumed they would be reunited, but while he was away from home they wrote to him daily to maintain contact. A cache of 500 of these letters is the basis for this story that revolves around anti-semitism, what happens to families separated by war and politics and the hidden stories that emerge long after the fact. 

  The book also looks at Otto’s close friendship with Ingvar Kamprad, the son of the family who owned the farm where the teenage Jewish boy worked. Ingvar would grow up to found IKEA; but when he was friends with Otto, he was deeply involved with Swedish Nazi organizations, biking 60 miles by himself to attend party meetings. Ingvar’s greatest hero, however, was Per Engdahl, the face and voice of Swedish fascism at the time and who continued to be a key figure in the post-war international Nazi network as well. 

  In 2010 the author interviewed Ingvar Kamprad, questioning how he could be friends with a fascist knowing what happened to his friend Otto’s family as a consequence of that ideology. Ingvar told the author, “There was no conflicts for me. Per Engdahl was a great man, that I will maintain for as long as I live.”

  Though the revelations about Ingvar Kamprad are shocking, Otto and his family are the main story here. Reading his parents’ and relatives’ letters to him, it is almost reminds one of letters to a child at sleep-away camp, asking Are you getting enough to eat, what are you doing, have you made any friends? Only a few of the letters are from the boy; the rest tell the story — between the lines — of what is happening to his family back in Vienna. The last ones come to him from Theresienstadt.

  As the author asks: “Who can expect to be remembered? And who can remember everything? In reply, these five hundred letters . . . sing in chorus, harmonizing with themselves; a fugue that ends in murder.”

  NOTE: This book was published in Swedish in 2011, the year after the author interviewed Ingvar Kamprad. It was not published in an English translation until 2020.

• Hamnet. A Novel of the Plague by Maggie O’Farrell. The title of this book gives a hint to its contents: Hamnet is the name of William Shakespeare’s only son, a boy who dies at a young age, and the story takes place during the plague years in England. Those mere facts don’t begin to suggest what an enthralling read it is. The kind that has you captured by the end of the first page, keeps you up late at night and won’t leave your mind or memory once you reach the end.

  The first book I read this year was Bill Bryson’s slender volume about Shakespeare. I noted then that so little is known about the famed author and yet the best writers find so much to say that is of interest and import. O’Farrell offers us an opulent slice of Elizabethan life, richly embroidered with food and fashion, herbals and history, politics and pestilence; all of it knitted into a tale that feels so plausible you think she must have discovered long lost Shakespeare family documents.

  In retrospect, the novel is like so much of Shakespeare’s own work: a story full of life and confusion with wise and witty repartee. There is unexpected love and passion and the deadly missed connection. All of it unfolding inexorably toward an end that neither the characters in the tale nor the reader wishes to reach. A book that will grow richer with each re-reading.

• The Secret History of Wonder Woman by Jill Lepore. Kind of like Susan Orlean’s “The Library Book” where tons of strange info is revealed in a tangled web. Who knew the writings of Margaret Sanger were the inspiration for this cartoon character as a feminist? 

• Hill Women: Finding Family and a Way Forward in the Appalachian Mountains by Cassie Chambers. The female version of Hillbilly Elegy. The critical difference is that Cassie, a family lawyer, goes home to Kentucky after Wellesley, Harvard, Yale and other experiences to try to help the mountain communities cope with all their troubles. 

• We Keep the Dead Close: A Murder at Harvard and a Half Century of Silence by Becky Cooper. I got this based on the NYT review and it was well worth it. Back cover has blurbs from Ron Chernow and Patrick Keefe, two of my faves. This is very much like Keefe’s “Say Nothing.” A crime committed a long time ago with interviews conducted 40+ years later among a wide cast of characters for the book. It jumps around from the author’s thoughts, to bio sections about the victim and the main suspects. There is a fair amount about archeology especially that department at Harvard where the victim was a student. A great deal of the book looks at the treatment of women at Harvard and the archeology department in particular. Given that the author is writing as the “MeToo” movement is happening, this 50-year-old murder feels relevant. After ten years of research and writing by Cooper and other amateur sleuths, MA State Police open the case again and look at DNA evidence — which reveals the killer. A book I could not put down; constantly engaging and informative with a completely surprising ending. The only downside of this big book is the lack of an index. There is a huge section with sources for everything, but that does not make up for no index in a book with so many characters, places and events.

• The Boy in the Field by Margot Livesey. Three siblings find a seriously injured young man abandoned in a field on the way home from school. The children save his life with lifelong repercussions in theirs. Lovely characterization, scene setting and just all around satisfying. 

Recent Reads: One for the holidays

When I first became aware of blogs in the early 2000s, all the bloggers I followed lived in the United Kingdom. They were bakers and gardeners and knitters and cooks and above all, readers of books. It's on those blogs that I discovered so many books and authors that were new to me and have since become favorites. It's also where I found Persephone Books which I've written about so many times that I made it a category on my blog

I still read many of those blogs, though not as often. But every time I visit I learn about a new book that I want to read. My latest discovery is "The Christmas Chronicles: Notes, stories and essential recipes for midwinter" by Nigel Slater. Slater is described as an "award-winning author, journalist and television presenter." He's also written a food column for the Observer, a UK newspaper, for 25 years. I knew his name but that's about all. I had not come across this book locally and thus took a chance and ordered it sight unseen. I could not be more pleased with the result of my leap of faith as I found the book to be much richer than its title implies.

The book does not have a dust jacket; instead there's a nice fabric cover with gold and a ribbon page marker. There are lots of food photos as well as holiday store windows, Christmas trees, Advent calendars and the like. The pages are bright white with type that's easy to read and recipes printed in a size that is useful — though the measurements are all metric. There's an index in the back so you can easily find a recipe but no table of contents.

Instead the book opens with a generous introductory essay and then offers a daily dose from November 1st until February 2nd aka Candlemas Day. That was always a church-going occasion when we were growing up. But now the recipe for "Lemon, orange and basil ice" and Slater's description of a snowy morning in Japan are of much more interest to me. Since Slater was generally unknown to me, I looked him up online and discovered that he also has a lovely garden behind his house. A dreamy garden (below) to say the least, if you are an Anglophile like me. 

I found Slater to be a witty, opinionated, knowledgeable and amusing writer. He describes looking at bare trees in winter "when they are at their most peaceful . . . like watching a loved one asleep." Or how about this: "The flavors of winter come at us like paper-wrapped presents in a Christmas stocking." And then he goes on for half a page enumerating those flavors and fragrances. Each evening I sit in front of my fire and read that day's entry. I'm not sure if I will ever make any of Slater's recipes but the text is evocative enough to satisfy my needs. 

Nigel Slater portrait by 4th Estate; the other photos are from Wiki

Since  we''re already at the end of November, you will have missed reading a third of the book if you follow along day-by-day the way I am. But then just think of all that you will have to enjoy next November when you pull it off the shelf and open it again. Reading this could easily become an annual holiday tradition. 

NOTE: Since I bought this book in September, I have seen it in the holiday listings of a number of independent bookstores. So I would first check with your favorite local bookstore before you go online.   

Persephone Books: What I ordered

After I posted yesterday about Persephone Books, a longtime Illinois reader of my blog emailed me and asked, "Did I miss something? You are going to share your choices, aren't you? I'll be waiting!"

So here's what I ordered, for Susan and anyone else who's interested. The descriptions are mainly copied from Persephone's online catalog with some editing by me. The numbers represent when they were published in terms of their catalog. 

. . . 

Book 39: Manja by Anna Gmeyner

TRANSLATED BY KATE PHILLIPS
PREFACE BY EVA IBBOTSON
552pp

Written in London by a young Austrian playwright in exile, Manja opens, radically, with five conception scenes one night in 1920. Set in the turbulent Germany of the Weimar Republic, it goes on, equally dramatically, to describe the lives of the children and their families until 1933 when the Nazis came to power. 'What is so unusual,' wrote the playwright Berthold Viertel in 1938, 'is the way the novel contrasts the children's community — in all its idealism, romanticism, decency and enchantment — with the madhouse community of the adults.'  

Book 89: The Mystery of Mrs Blencarrow by Mrs. Oliphant

PREFACE BY MERRYN WILLIAMS
208pp

Mrs Oliphant (1828-97), one of the outstanding writers of the nineteenth century, was in her time as well-known as Dickens, George Eliot and Mrs Gaskell: ‘the exemplary woman of letters’ is how the literary critic Queenie Leavis described her. And the novelist Penelope Fitzgerald's claim was that ‘Mrs Oliphant is at her very best in novellas and short stories.’ She suggested that two of them, The Mystery of Mrs Blencarrow (1890) and Queen Eleanor and Fair Rosamond (1886), might well be reprinted together, which is what we have now done, and pointed out that the strongest theme running through all the books is that of the helpless man and the strong woman. Both novellas are about women left on their own to run their own households. 

Book 94: No Surrender by Constance Maud

PREFACE BY LYDIA FELLGETT
328pp

This is Persephone's first suffragette novel, originally published in November 1911 when the struggle for the vote was at its height.

The narrative is faithful to real facts and incidents, with some of the main characters drawing on leading suffrage figures. One is based on Lady Constance Lytton and another, the heroine Jenny Clegg, is a Lancashire mill girl  — thus putting paid to the myth that the suffrage movement was mainly middle-class: the main focus of the novel is on the strong support for women’s suffrage by women workers in the textile mills and on the prejudice against votes for women on the part of many of the men in the labour movement.

When Emily Wilding Davison, who was to die in 1913 under the King’s horse at the Epsom Derby, reviewed "No Surrender," she wrote: ‘There is  scarcely a notable incident of the militant campaign which is left untouched . . . But for vivid realism, the pictures of prison life, of the Hunger Strike and Forcible Feeding, are difficult to beat. It is a book which breathes the very spirit of the Women’s Movement." 

Book 115: Maman, What Are We Called Now? by Jacqueline Mesnil-Amar

TRANSLATED BY FRANCINE YORKE
PREFACE BY CAROLINE MOOREHEAD
216pp

The author's husband was arrested and disappeared in July 1944; for the next six weeks his wife kept a diary which is an unparalleled description of the last days of the Occupation in Paris as they actually happened. Photographs by Therese Bonney.

Book 116: A Lady and Her Husband by Amber Reeves

PREFACE BY SAMANTHA ELLIS
360pp

Amber Reeves had been one of the young women visiting the working-class families in Lambeth when her mother Maud Pember Reeves was writing "Round About a Pound a Week" PB No.79. It is thus unsurprising that her 1914 novel focuses on the social issues that had been preoccupying her mother.

However, it is also a novel about marriage (hence its title): in a deeply sophisticated way it describes a middle-aged couple who love each other navigating round the rock of their differences, essentially a wife who comes to realize that the waitresses in her husband's chain of tea shops are underpaid and thus starts to question her life and family relationships once she tries to do something about the girls' working conditions. 

Book 119: Long Live Great Bardfield: The Autobiography of Tirzah Garwood

EDITED AND WITH A PREFACE BY ANNE ULLMANN
512pp

When Tirzah Garwood was 18 she went to Eastbourne School of Art and here she was taught by Eric Ravilious. Over the next four years she did many wood engravings (below) and these were widely praised and several were displayed by the Society of Wood Engravers. Alas, after she and Eric were married in 1930 a large part of her time was spent on domestic chores. In 1935 she had the first of her three children. In 1942 — the year she was operated on for breast cancer — she wrote her autobiography (in the evening, after the children were in bed);  this has now been published with the title "Long Live Great Bardfield: The Autobiography of Tirzah Garwood."

. . . 

I must also mention that I assumed Persephone would pack my six books in a box and ship them together. Instead they shipped them individually, each in a protective envelope with the number in the shipment written on the front. Books 3-6 all came on the same day but books 1 and 2 have not appeared. Persephone said they will re-place them but first I plan on checking with my local US Post Office. I've just been waiting for better weather before I do any errands.

The lost books are the first and last in this list: Nos. 39 and 119. Of course, the fact that Persephone had just published Great Bardfield is the reason I made my purchases in the first place as I am a huge fan of Eric Ravilious, Edward Bawden and their circle.

Illustrations from Persephone's website: Lyons Shop girls, "The Train Journey" by Tirzah Garwood.

. . .

Persephone also publishes The Persephone Post, a daily photo with text which often relates to their titles; sometimes there is a weekly or seasonal theme. Always worth a look, as is their list of favorite blogs about books and reading. Those blogs are where I first learned about Persephone Books and read reviews of what they were publishing. 

The painting at the top of the page is from the Persephone Post from January 9, 2017. They've been featuring paintings by Harold Knight all this week. Here's what it says underneath: "We have featured Harold Knight, husband of Laura, on the Post before but since he is one of our absolute favourites (up there with Harold Harvey and Fred Elwell) he can bear a bit of repetition. This is The Green Book 1916, it’s at the National Museum of Wales, and it’s a moot point whether the book is green — or Persephone grey."

Gray winter days

Some years my husband and I have given each other Christmas gifts that we've put a lot of time and thought into. But after almost 30 years of being married we don't feel unloved if there's no gift from our partner under the tree. That's because it's likely that we've already found the perfect personal treat. Just before the holidays Mark got himself a new lightweight, portable tripod while I splurged on six books from Persephone Press in the U.K.

I found a copy of The Persephone Biannually for Autumn/Winter 2016-17 in the magazine swap cart at my local library. I took it home and devoured it. In the center of the booklet was a list of the entire 120 titles Persephone has published along with brief descriptions. That's the kind of information that I find much easier to peruse in person than on-line. I spent a good two weeks debating what sounded good enough to plunk down the price of the book plus shipping from Europe. 

I decided since it was Christmas and the political news was awful I might as well splurge and spend January with my nose buried in books. I sent for 6 books: a mystery, a memoir, two WWII era titles and two from the years of the Great War. If you are not familiar with Persephone Books, the company was founded in 1999 by feminist historian and biographer Nicola Beauman. They publish books, mainly by women, that are reprints of "neglected" novels, diaries, short stories, cookbooks and poetry from the early to mid-20th century.

They are paperback books with a substantial gray cover and a number on the back which indicates where it falls in the list of titles published by Persephone. Some books are available with more colorful covers decorated with artwork. But I love the simplicity and style of the gray versions. The endpapers are decorated with textile designs from the era the original book was published. A bookmark with that design is also included. 

If you click on Persephone Books in my blog's categories list, it will take you to all my posts on this publisher.

Summer entertainments

One of my favorite reads is DE Stevenson's 1934 novel, "Miss Buncle's Book," which tells the story of the unassuming but highly observant Barbara Buncle, who pens a best-selling roman a clef about her country town as a way to supplement her meager income. I've read it at least three or four times, not caring that I know how it all turns out. It's well-written and smart as well as amusing in a way that seems particularly suited to summer. I've also read Stevenson's follow-up Buncle books: Miss Buncle Married and The Two Mrs. Abbots.

The three of them are a delightful triumvirate of women's literature from between the wars published by Persephone Press. I've amassed a shelf full of Persephone titles. Persephone is reminiscent of the feminist Virago Press which published forgotten women's fiction and non-fiction back in the 1970s. I still have a few of those titles on my bookshelves. I have to admit that I love the look of the sober gray covers of Persephone books as much as their contents. Those covers don't prepare you for the colorful end papers that are always based on a textile design from the same era as the book. I think that's one reason why I am willing to order these titles from the U.K as actual books rather than as e-books.

If "Miss Buncle's Book" sounds of interest to you and if you liked the 2008 movie "Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day," then check out "Theodora Goes Wild." I stumbled across this 1936 film with Irene Dunne, Melvyn Douglas, Thomas Mitchell and Spring Byington on YouTube. A perfect summer romp. I won't tell you more but it won't take long watching Theodora before you see how she echos the Misses Buncle and Pettigrew.
 

Wordless Wednesday

Red room: details

Part Two

Though it was not a conscious plan, I've added a number of different red decorative elements to my room over the years. The result is a richer, more tonal effect than I would have achieved with one shade — or texture — of red. I've also layered objects that draw the eye away from the walls making the red function as a neutral background color. Like the furniture, most of the objects in the room have a story and a history unique to me. They are decorative, but never mere decoration.     

    

 

I've included the shot above as a reminder of the layout of my red room (or at least the east and south walls). The wall above the desk is covered with art. My initial impulse was that all the images would be garden related, since I already owned a Beatrice Parsons watercolor of a garden path as well as a long color etching of views of a garden.     

       

    

Over time the collection has grown more eclectic and includes everything from a photo (printed by my sister from a glass plate) of an American Indian couple at a 19th century world's fair to a 1950's magazine ad that was a gift ("I dreamed I was a lady editor in my Maidenform bra!") to a Japanese print I bought in San Francisco during my student travels, and a tiny brooch sporting a scene right out of the Italian Renaissance. I found it at my favorite Door County gallery in the years when Mark was showing his work there.

    

 

I have an array of textiles that rotate in and out of this room: contemporary pillows in red felt and suede and a rectangular one made from a felt banner from Mark's high school, paisley shawls, and a pair of antique patchwork pillows (one is visible in the photo). Among my favorites is this needlepoint pillow I made as a wedding present for Mark. The design is based on one of his woodcuts, which in turn is based on a photo from the Wisconsin State Historical Society. The embroidered textile draped over the back of the chair is an Indian head covering for a donkey — the holes are for the ears! We found it many years ago on a drive in the country where we discovered a 1903 hay barn converted into a multi-floored, multi-cultural shop.

    

 

I mooned and swooned over this 19th century Spirit House for a couple of years until one day Mark decided that if I liked it that much, I could have it as a birthday splurge. The central display niches have hand-painted details on the rear walls; and the spaces behind the grillwork contain tiny vases with hydrangeas. There are pairs of working drawers and doors behind which I store jewelry. On the top of the house sit two pairs of twins: carved wood figures from Tanzania and Ecuadorian Shigras (bags), made by looping yarn spun from fibers of the Cabuya (Agave) plant.

    

 

This little origami couple come out for Valentine's Day. If you look closely (click to enlarge any photo), you can see that the woman is held in the man's embrace. But she can also be removed from his arms to stand on her own. They were made by local artist and quilter extraordinaire, Rumi O'Brien. She rarely makes anything for sale anymore, so I feel fortunate to have had a chance to purchase some of her origami work and small textile items.  

    

 

The objects with the highest sheen are these lacquered boxes, providing essential storage for small items. I love their glossy good looks and their Crate & Barrel price tag. They hold more jewelry and a collection of holy cards and obituary notices of friends and family, including both my parents. 

    

 

The location of these boxes amidst antiques — the Spirit House, the gilded English mirror and my grandmother's beaded bag from the 1920's — belie their mass market origins. People just assume they are the same quality as the surrounding objects.

          

     

I used to use the top of the black bookcase as a display surface — until it became the resting place for the Spirit House. I switched to playing with objects on top of my china cabinet which is located on the wall opposite the window. There's less room but it still allows me to bring out favorite items seasonally, as in this Christmas display above and the row of Persephone books and other gray-blue items below.

    

    

But most of the time, the top of the china cabinet is the home to more mundane and utilitarian collections, like my eternal TBR pile of books — glitzed up with a crown.

        

     

The china cabinet is actually used to hold china — dishes that I've collected over the years as well as those that belonged to my mother and her mother. It's also home to a few wedding presents and Mark's much-dented silver baby cup. One shelf displays the tea cups that were featured in this month's GBBD post.

    

Eric Ravilious & Angie Lewin encore

I am a big fan of the work of British artist/designer Eric Ravilious and feel fortunate to own one of his delightful Wedgewood coronation mugs. I discovered the work of Angie Lewin while searching online for more information about Ravilious. Turns out printmaker Lewin used the same Ravilious-designed mug in one of her prints (pictured below). Alas, it also turns out that I cannot afford to buy Lewin's lovely print, nor can I afford any of Ravilious' work that is still on the market — no matter the media. 

    

 

But a recent Persephone Post alerted me to the fact that there are versions of the work of these two artists available in my price range. They are among the many items of interest for sale at the aptly named Ancient Industries. The business focuses on objects that have a timeless appeal and are made in traditional ways by (usually) long-established companies. Among the items featured are hot water bottles, tea pots and mugs, hand made brushes of all sorts, bike baskets; just a marvelous assortment — including a few Persephone titles.

    

THE PERSEPHONE POST

Ancient Industries also carries Ravilious' Wedgewood Alphabet set of dishes in blue or pink for $60. This charming group includes a plate, bowl and mug with rows of Ravilious' black and white motifs alternating with bands of alphabet letters printed over a pink or blue stripe. And they also sell a 6.5" x 5.5" linocut greeting card with Lewin's coronation mug on it — exactly like the print at the top — for a mere $4.00. There's also a 4" x 8.25" card by Lewin of the Alphabet mug.

The folks who run Ancient Industries, however, are very up-to-date and even have a blog that is worth visiting.

Her significant blogs of 2009

"I'm an artist by training, a journalist by trade, and a gardener by choice." That's how I describe myself on my "About" page. I am also a feminist, foodie, history buff, fiber and design devotee; the list is endless. Thus, I am not a single subject blogger. Gardening may be the emphasis much of the year (and I've found gardeners to be among the most friendly and responsive readers) but I have too many interests to limit myself to one.

Thus I'm especially drawn to those bloggers who don't limit themselves either. The blogs I've mentioned (in alphabetical order) may have themes but they often present them in refreshingly different ways, if not actually veering off topic occasionally. I don't know for sure what I will find when I arrive, which is what keeps me coming back. 

    

JULIE SIEGEL

Mark posted his "significant" list yesterday; you can read it here. I should mention we had some overlaps in our individual lists, but decided to not cover the same territory. Julie Siegel (see below) took this photo of Mark and me on a very hot day last summer when the three of us toured the Allen Centennial Garden on the UW-Madison campus.

I've been following Becky Holmes' A Book A Week for a couple of years, which is strange in a way since we don't really read the same kind of books. I looked at her annual lists posted on the blog, and discovered I read one of her titles from the 2008 list, three from 2007 and four from 2006. Despite that discrepancy, I will read perceptive, well-written, succinct reviews — like Becky's — of books I probably will not read as a way to keep current with literary offerings. She keeps me in the know. She also lives in my town and we share the same library but we've never actually met — which makes me feel like a kid with a secret pal.

I love Les — A Tidewater Gardener — because almost everything on his blog is new to me. Sure, he lives in an area of the country that I barely know, but he's also a history and architecture buff, is not afraid to jump on a soapbox and consistently wows me with his photographs. I am hoping to meet him at the 2010 Garden Bloggers Fling in Buffalo. Yes?

Jim Charlier, of the Art of Gardening, keeps me current on the architectural and horticultural highs and lows of my former hometown, Buffalo NY. He has a gem of an urban garden but travels widely, offering inspiration on many fronts — always with a strong dose of opinion and wit.

I began gardening as a result of an interest in horticultural history. Garden History Girl feeds that interest with memorable images and intelligent commentary on subjects rarely seen elsewhere. She's not a garden snob so you'll find information on the gardens in the film, "Gone With the Wind," as well as the best list of gift ideas for gardeners I saw in the blogosphere this holiday. And her name is Arcady — how perfect is that?

Julie Siegel is one of the first people that Mark and I discovered on-line. We investigated her Web site while debating about taking a garden design workshop she was teaching in Madison. Her site was — and is — both logical and beautiful, letting Julie's personality and interests shine through. After taking two classes with her, we all became fast friends.

Certainly I follow Julie's blog — J. Siegel Designs Blog — because of that relationship. But also because she is deeply committed to social justice issues, especially where they intersect with environmental concerns. It's an area I'm interested in from afar; Julie's in the field. She's a role model, a font of information, an artist raised in a family of artists and a great garden tourist and guide. 

Knitting Letters: A to Z is an abcdarium in which the letterforms being celebrated are knit. It's a mind-boggling concept to someone like me who does not knit. But as one who collects alphabet books, doodles alphabets, and loves fiber, it's a natural fit nevertheless. The knitted letters are stunning gems but what makes this blog so valuable is the informative essays, links and sources that accompany each letter. The most recent letter "T" is all about Turkey (the country, not the bird) and is a rich compendium of that country's textile history. The knitting will wow you, but you'll stay for the mini-courses.     

Martha B. took a break from her blog — Nibs: My Points of View — last year that left me devastated. Now she's back and better than ever. Nibs has carved out a number of niches: Weddings (particularly the clothing), "Shop Your Closet," and (visual design) Vocabulary to name just a few. She has a stylist's touch with her fashion photos while her images of personal landscapes are timeless. Her posts range from whimsical to thoughtful but always with a palpable sense of her warmth and charm.

As a woman who has purchased a plenitude of Persephone Books by post, I was particularly pleased when the UK publisher started a blog, The Persephone Post. It's always one single image with a brief text — "a parallel in pictures" they call it — making it the perfect way to start my day. If you are not yet a fan of Persephone books, do visit the company's site where bookish types will also enjoy the fortnightly letter.

Style Court is one of the first blogs I ever read and I continue to follow it consistently. Courtney concentrates on interior design with an emphasis on textiles (new and antique), emerging regional artists and galleries, how to frame/group/display artwork, gracious living (a Southern specialty) — all topics I find endlessly fascinating. A Style Court post may range from the texture of handmade paper to the flounce on a curtain to the lighting in a film. All beautifully connected and presented in such a way that those in the know will benefit as much as those just being introduced to the topic.

    

 

WISCONSIN BLOGS: Suffice it to say that I buy local and read local, too. In addition to A Book a Week, I find the following blogs especially appealing as a state resident, but you don't have to live here to enjoy them. Letter From Here is written by a Madison guy who's a superb photographer with something to say, literally and visually. Outside the LIne is the offering of a newly transplanted Madisonian who is also a font designer and alphabet doodler. Reading her blog, I get to see my city in a whole new light — and realize all that I am missing by being — perhaps — too much of a homebody. The Impatient Gardener is a sailor, magazine editor, gardener and designer of the interior and exterior of her home. Lots of projects and inspiration to get me jazzed about my own home and garden.

There's no better way to start the New Year than with a visit to some of these great blogs! 

Persephone challenge: Ready, set, read

Reminding all readers (of books, not blogs) that Read a Persephone Book Week — sponsored by bloggers Paperback Reader and The B Files (Baking & Bibliophilia) — starts tomorrow. In case you've forgotten the plan, the two will be spending the coming week exclusively reading books from the estimable English publisher, Persephone Books. I discovered Persephone in early 2008 and have sung their praises ever since in both print and cyberspace (check out my categories list). 

Since I easily have a week's worth of Persephone titles on my shelf, this challenge may be the impetus I need to finish the half-read ones and get started on the unread ones, like "Greenery Street." 

ROSES OVER A COTTAGE DOOR

And maybe, like Roses Over A Cottage Door, I'll even dress in gray (above). I'm sure I have a t-shirt like hers somewhere in the back of the closet. Thus, suitably attired, I can curl up on my gray-damask-covered couch, surrounded by my piles of gray-covered books, and hope for gray skies so I'm not tempted to put down my book and pick up my trowel.