Paris, 7 a.m.

Paris, 7 a.m. is a fictionalized account of American poet Elizabeth Bishop's travels in France in 1937. Until reading this novel by Liza Wieland, I had never heard of Elizabeth Bishop and I had to do some investigating afterwards. Bishop was born in Nova Scotia in 1911; her father died before her first birthday and her mother was institutionalized a few years later. Her years at Vassar were formative and Liza Wieland's novel, Paris 7 a.m., begins with Elizabeth's time at Vassar. The bulk of the novel is devoted to the year 1937, the only year for which Elizabeth did not keep a diary. Elizabeth and her college roommates explore Paris, venture to the French countryside, and dabble in artistic and political circles. The protective environment of Vassar is gone and the changing political tide of WWII looms large.

I had trouble really getting into this novel. Wieland's prose is impressionistic and atmospheric. What Elizabeth can and chooses to divulge about her time in France, her relationships, and a secret errand are nuanced.

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/elizabeth-bishop

Nature books for children

Following my last post about A Year with Nature by Marty Crump, I wanted to write about children's books about animals, plants, nature, and ecology. Both of my children love animals and the majority of our books are about animals. We love fanciful and made-up animals, but all of the books on this list feature animals and plants taken from the natural world. These realistic books are also in keeping with the Montessori philosophy and my attempt to make a more Montessori-friendly environment at home.

1. I Can Grow a Flower is a DK book. The book included a height chart and has flaps to open. I put this book out on our shelves in the spring in anticipation of the planting season. 
2. Animals of the World: A Lift-the-Flap Book Illustrated by Sara Lynn Cramb. The first double-page features a map of the world with animals from each continent/region. Subsequent two-page spreads show animals of the rain forest, ocean animals, polar animals, forest animals, and grassland animals.  Because the animals are divided up according to the type of environment they live in, there is an interesting mix of animals on each page. For example, tropical and temperate grasslands are together so bison, meerkats, and tigers are all lumped together. This presentation of habitats and animals does allow children to make comparisons between seemingly different animals: one could ask what features grassland animals have in common. Also, there is a flap that discusses threats such as poaching, hunting, deforestation, and global warming that threaten animals in a given habitat.  
3. Big Book of Animals by Igloobooks. An encyclopedia-type book for school-aged children. Entries include: slugs and snails, squid and octopuses, 8 different groups of birds, pandas and raccoons, cattle, monkeys and baboons, new world monkeys, apes, dogs and foxes, and many more. Animals are presented in families; snails and slugs are gastropods; squid and octopuses are cephalopods. Has lots of facts about animals.  
4. Snakes an Usborne Discovery book with additional content available online. I picked this up from a Little Free Library. I also picked up a book about spiders, but the spider on the cover is frankly quite hideous. 
5. Swirl by Swirl: Spirals in Nature by Joyce Sidman and pictures by Beth Krommes. This is one of our favorite books. "A spiral is a snuggling shape...waiting for a chance to expand." So begins Swirl by Swirl; we see a bullsnake, a harvest mouse, a chipmunk, and a groundhog curled up and on the next page, they have all uncurled. Other pages feature nautilus shells, the horns of merino sheep, various flowers, a funnel cloud, the crest of a wave. This book encourages children to find patterns in nature.  
6. Birds a National Geographic Kids Look and Learn book. The National Geographic Look and Learn series is perfect for toddlers and younger children. Birds focuses on colors and different features of birds. Other titles include: dogs, bugs, people, patterns.  
7. National Parks of the U.S.A by Kate Siber and Illustrated by Chris Turnham. This book is beautiful. My children are not quite old enough for this book yet, but my four-year-old enjoys reading about the different animals found in each of the parks and looking for her favorites. The book is arranged East to West. The tour of the National Parks begins with Acadia, Shenandoah, Congaree, Biscayne, Great Smokey Mountains, Everglades, and Dry Tortugas National Parks. The tour then heads to the central United States, to the Southwest, the Rocky Mountains, the West, Alaska, and finally the Tropics. This book is perfect if you are planning a trip to one or more of the National Parks.       
8. Story Worlds Nature created by Thomas Hegbrook. We checked this out from the library today. This book has no words only pictures and children are invited to make up stories about what they see. The book begins with the epithet "Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything" by Albert Einstein. At the end of the book, there is an index of sorts with a smaller version of each picture accompanied by a caption explaining its content. You could use this as a way to "check" your child's story or use the caption as a starting point.  
9. World, World, What Can I do? by Barbara Shook Hazen. This picture book introduces children to the idea of conservation and being custodians of the Earth. "World, world what can I do? How can I help take care of you?" Children read about not littering on the playground, letting flowers grow instead of picking them, putting out campfires, feeding the birds, and more. The places presented are familiar to children: the backyard, playground, beach, and forest. Compassion for friends is also taught. 
1. The Lorax by Dr. Seuss. The Lorax is a fanciful creature, but Dr. Seuss' message is timeless and never more pertinent than now. My daughter has memorized large portions of this and loves to hear our Lorax and Onceler voices. Actually, there is evidence that Dr. Seuss based The Lorax on his own experiences. Dr. Seuss had been struggling to preserve eucalyptus trees in La Jolla, CA, but couldn't find a way to make his ecopolitical message resonate with authorities. On a trip to Kenya, he and his wife, Audrey saw patas monkeys. The Lorax's dark eyes, Confucian whiskers, and hooded face are very similar to the atas monkey, as is the Lorax's sawdusty sneeze is reminiscent of the patas monkey's wheezy call. The patas monkey's diet is mostly comprised of the whistling thorn acacia. As the conservationist movement took off in the 1970s, Dr. Seuss' The Lorax set the tone for how conservationist messages should be conveyed.   https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/new-research-suggests-dr-seuss-modeled-lorax-on-this-real-life-monkey-180969692/
2. 

A Year with Nature

A Year with Nature: An Almanac by herpetologist, naturalist writer and professor of biology Marty Crump is a celebration of all that nature has to offer. Each entry is devoted to a particular animal, an important day or discovery in the life of a scientist or conservationist, a plant, poetry, laws, the founding of the National Parks, U.S. celebrations, international celebrations such as Australia's Wombat Day, and celebrations that cross borders such as World Wildlife Conservation Day.

These were some of my favorites:

January 22nd features an excerpt from Lord Byron's poem "Childe Harold's Pilgrimage"
 "Pleasure in the Pathless Woods
There is pleasure in the pathless woods,/
There is a rapture on the lonely shore/
There is society, where none intrudes,
By the deep sea and music in its roar:/
I love not man the less, but Nature more,/
From these our interviews, in which is steal/
From all I may be, or have been before,/
To mingle with the Universe, and feel/
What I can ne'er express, yet cannot all conceal."

Lord Byron was born on January 22nd, 1788 and was a Romantic poet and nature lover.

May 6th is about Fairies Cups or lies of the valley which is one of my favorite flowers. Lillies of the valley are said to be cups from which fairies drink fairy wine, or they are bells that ring each time a fairy sings. Alternatively, they are also called "Mary's tears", from a legend that says when Mary cried at the Crucifixion, her tears turned into lilies of the valley. A different legend says the white flowers represent Eve's tears that fell upon her expulsion from the Garden of Eden. In the language of flowers popular during the Victorian Era, lilies of the valley convey the message, "You have made my life complete" (133).

August 24th is devoted to the Mother of Nature Education Anna Botsford Comstock. Comstock graduated with a degree in natural history from Cornell University in 1885 and became the first female professor at Cornell in 1897. She is the founder of the Nature Study Movement of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The goal of her approach to studying nature was, "to cultivate the child's imagination, love the of beautiful, and sense of companionship with life-out-of-doors"  (249)

October 6th is Mad Hatter Day. This day was created in 1986 by computer technicians in Boulder, Colorado, who thought people would do less harm by being silly for a day instead of working. The day is named after the Mad Hatter in Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland; the illustration of the character depicts a hat with the words "in this style 10/6" (292). On this day, spend time with the quirkier animals, plants, and insects in nature.

A Year in Provence

After years of visiting Provence as tourists, Englishman Peter Mayle, his wife Jennie, and their two dogs took the plunge and purchased a house in the Lubéron valley in Provence. The mas, or farmhouse, was located on the country road that runs between the medieval villages of Ménerbes and Bonnieux. The farmhouse was two hundred years old and made of local stone. A Year in Provence is a witty, insightful, and delightful record of the Mayle's first year as French residents. Each chapter is devoted to a month and readers are taken through a year divided up by weather, crops, the vendage, markets, boules, and feast days. Life in Provence as a rhythm all its own. The terroir and weather (especially the formidable mistral) are standout characters on par with the disappearing construction crew and colorful neighbors.
I loved the description of the cornucopia of goods found at one of the local markets. "We set off for the main square, running the gauntlet between groups of sallow gypsy girls in tight, shiny black skirts selling lemons and long plaits of garlic, hissing at one another in competition. The stalls were crammed haphazardly along the street--silver jewelry next to flat wedges of salt cod, wooden barrels of gleaming olives, hand-woven baskets, cinnamon and saffron and vanilla, cloudy bunches of gypsophila, a cardboard box full of mongrel puppies, lurid Johnny Hallyday T-shirts, salmon-pink corsets and brassieres of heroic proportions, rough country bread and dark terrines" (May page 92). Every French village has a market; some of the larger ones are truly remarkable for the range of produce and miscellany one can find.
Mayle's book makes one appreciate the land, food, climate, and people on a local level. One evening, their neighbor Faustin brought them a large bunch of fresh asparagus which they cooked and ate with "bread that had been baked that afternoon in the old boulangerie at Lumières. We drank the light red wine from the vineyards in the valley. We supported local industry with every mouthful" (May page 86). One can almost taste and smell the local delicacies. 

For further reading I recommend Mayle's Toujours Provence, a continuation of his life in Provence and his novel Hotel Pastis. There is also Alphonse Daudet's Lettres de mon moulin which is a collection of short stories and provencal lore written in the 19th century. 

The Sapphire Widow

The Sapphire Widow by Dinah Jeffries

1935 Ceylon. Louisa Reeve is the daughter of a sapphire trader and her husband Elliot works in the gem trade as well. The couple have been happily married for years despite struggling with miscarriages and a stillbirth. Louisa and Elliot cope in their own ways, Louisa by keeping busy with various projects and Elliot by thrill-seeking. Elliot is increasingly absent from home, spending time at a cinnamon plantation he has invested in.
The night of their anniversary party, Elliot is absent and the police arrive to say he died in a car accident. Wrought with grief, Louisa delves into Elliot's affairs and discovers a pile of debts, investments that never were, and a death that may not have been accidental. Most crushing is that Elliot had a mistress and a child. As she comes to terms with her late-husband's past, Louisa finds herself drawn to the owner of the cinnamon plantation, a man with a colorful past and a link to her future.

Howard's End is on the Landing

Howard's End is on the Landing by Susan Hill

Author Susan Hill is searching for a book in her house and the book turns up not where she thought it would be, but nestled in among other books some place else. Hill's book is an inventory of her bookshelves and other book storage areas in her house. Hill reflects on favorite books, well-travelled books, and "Never got around to it, Don't like the look of it, Couldn't get beyond page Ten, and Other poor excuses". As Hill inventories her collection, she reflects on the books and authors that have shaped a lifetime of reading.

I finished this book in early May and never got around to blogging about it, until now. I received a notice that it is due at the library. About the time I read Howard's End is on the Landing, I rearranged my office and took a brief inventory of my own shelves. I have my favorites that have been in my collection for years and probably will always be there: my Agatha Christies, Calvin and Hobbes, and a few others. Then there are the shelves of French literature. My French literature collection is not what it was in Grad School; I have culled it since I am not teaching and my interests have changed. It is hard for me to part with my French novels because I did enjoy reading them and they were purchased during an important time in my life. On several other shelves are my travel, history, and coffee table books. The rest of my books are mysteries and general fiction.

Like Susan Hill, I could probably read books from my shelves for a year and never need to visit the library.

Book Towns

Book Towns: Forty-Five Paradises of the Printed Word by Alex Johnson

Book towns can be of any size and anywhere in the world, but Alex Johnson says that many book towns are located in smaller towns and villages because rent is cheaper for proprietors. Book towns were begun with the goal of encouraging sustainable tourism and regenerating communities faced with economic collapse. A book town has several book shops and other businesses dedicated to books and the printed word. In a dedicated book town, book shops are concentrated in a small area. The movement was started by Richard Booth in Hay-on-Wye in Wales in the 1960s and spread from there (7). All of these book towns operate independently, but many are part of the International Organization of Book Towns. The IOBT seeks to raise interest in the ethos of book towns and holds a biennial festival in one of the towns.
I love to go to book stores and a book town would be even better. Below are the towns that most appealed to me and, no surprise, many are in France.

1. Bécherel, France: France's first book town in 1989 when the Fete du livre was hosted there. There are now seven other French towns that with Bécherel make up the Federation des Villes, Cites, et Villages du Livre en France. 
2. Clunes, Australia; annual festival drawing crowds of 18,000+, there are 7 bookshops scattered about the city and there is a travelling children's bookshop.
3. Cuisery, France. Jean Perdu, the protagonist of Nina George's The Little Paris Bookshop, mentions that the whole village of Cuisery is crazy about books. The town now has 15 booksellers and businesses related to books. The first Sunday of every month is a book market. 
4. Fontenoy-La-Joute, France. There is a signpost in the village center pointing visitors to other book towns around the world and imaginary locations.
5. La Charite-Sur-Loire, France. Every May the town hosts the Festival du Mot: a celebration of words in theater, dance, music, visual arts, and books. 
6. Langenberg and Katlenburg, Germany. Pastor Martin Weskott of the Johannes-Kirchengemeinde in Katlenburg has been rescuing and selling books printed in East Germany since the fall of the Berlin Wall. 
7. Montmorillon, France: La Cite de l'ecrit et metiers du livres. De la Trappe aux livres has a good number of bookcases, board games, and 100 types of beer. 
8. Montolieu, France
9. Obidos, Portugal. Instead of opening dedicated bookstores, proprietors in Obidos simply add books to the goods they sell: cookbooks compete for shelf space in the grocery store, art galleries sell art books, and museums sell history books. 
10. St.-Pierre-de-Clages, France 

Never fear, if you pick up too many books while travelling, there is always the option of shipping them home via the post office. Although, I was able to pack 28 books in my suitcases coming home from France and the cases were still not overweight. Some of my most treasured books have been collected while travelling. I enjoy looking for Agatha Christie books in France. I am loathe to part with any book, but books I purchase while travelling are kept forever.