In keeping with Great Gatsby week, here’s a Gatsby-inspired travel moment.
Back in May of 2007, I went to Europe for a month to visit a few friends. Starting in Spain, I spent a week with Kate & André and then, randomly decided to spend 36 hours in Basel, Switzerland before heading to Germany to see Taryn.
photography by Mario Testino | Vogue 2013
I am getting a little too excited about Baz Luhrman’s upcoming Gatsby film. But I’m not alone. My bookclub is reading Fitzgerald’s novel in anticipation of the movie release next week. I found this gem of a video thanks to Cass (fellow bookclubber) who wanted to share Mario Testino’s amazing photographs of Carey Mulligan starring as Daisy. You get to see behind the scenes footage of Vogue’s photo shoot with Mulligan and even better, you get to hear her reading a selection from the book itself. Bravo Vogue.
oh spring! | Kansas City, MO 2010
Poetry lends itself to nature — its subtlety, simplicity, and attention to detail exemplify the visual it describes — so, it’s not surprising to find that many spring quotes come from poems of spring or that poets can’t help but put their pen to paper in homage to spring.
Oh to experience what Langston Hughes captured so well: I stuck my head out the window this morning and spring kissed me bang in the face.
touch of spring | Kansas City, KS 2008
I’ve been rereading Anne Perry’s William Monk mysteries. I know they’re not on my reading list, nor are they connected to my bookclub (I’m supposed to be reading Adam Levin’s The Instructions currently), but when life is stressful, I don’t pick up a 1000-page book (Levin) or a Russian novel (Crime & Punishment, from my own list)* — I turn to one of my old favourites. Plus, these Victorian mysteries count as research for a project I’m working on.
Besides creating great characters set in well-detailed historical settings, Perry is good at selecting just the right word at the right time. Her writing isn’t necessarily “high-class” literature, but I often find myself noting a particular word she chose.
crocus & hyacinth in my garden | Kansas City, KS 2013
crocus & hyacinth in my garden | Kansas City, KS 2013
In the Midwest, spring rarely lines up with the calendar. I was thrilled when my crocus came up this year and weren’t thwarted even after their tender buds were buried twice under a pile of snow. My hyacinths and tulips started their upward climb through the dirt and have thus far survived the temperatures dropping back down to winter-levels. Even though the forecast of snow this week makes me grumble a bit, just seeing their green leaves sticking out reminds me that winter will not last forever – spring is coming.
To gird up my outlook, I went in search of spring quotes and thought I’d share a few that seem fitting for this early stage of the season — the barely hinted at spring.
A friend of mine owns an estate sale business and every month I get to work a sale or two with him. Normally what this means is I sit behind the cash table and watch other people buy the things I missed or was hoping would still be there later in the day. But every once in a while, I go home with treasures. And more often than not, they’re books. (Big surprise.)
I didn’t realise it until this last sale, but one of the great things about estate sale books is that it’s not uncommon to find an inscription in them. And sometimes a mediocre book can suddenly look interesting when there’s a good inscription that sets the book in the context of life.
out of the rock, a tree | Estes Park, CO 2008
I know this is not a tree growing in Brooklyn, nor is it even Francie’s Tree of Heaven variety, but when searching through my Flickr images for the right photograph I found this little gal, (yes, I personify trees) and she has the same gumption as the tree on page one of Francie’s story. Out of a rock, she grows. Towered over by others, but not afraid. Green and growing despite her meager starting place. I imagine Francie as an old woman, visiting Colorado as part of her life’s goal to see everything, and stopping at this spot, because of this little tree. She sits on the stone and rests her hand gently near the little green branches. And she smiles as she remembers.
If you needed more than three reasons to read Betty Smith’s classic coming-of-age story, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, or you just want to reminisce why you also love it, here are a few of my favourite quotes.
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
1. It’s good to get a kid’s perspective on life every now and then. And, Betty Smith gives us a glimpse of days gone by through the fresh eyes of the ever observant Francie Nolan.
Blizzard of Oz | Kansas City, KS 2013
Blizzard of Oz | Kansas City, KS 2013
Because there’s been so much snow in Kansas City the past few days, I thought I’d play a wintry word association game with you.
SNOW. What are the first three books that flutter into your mind?
fillip options: sage & mint from my garden | 2012
fillip options: sage & mint from my garden | 2012
We read Betty Smith’s A Tree Grows in Brooklyn for book club this month. (Actually, I’m still reading it — 200 pages left to go!) One thing I’ve appreciated about the book is how Smith tosses out detailed descriptions of everyday things — a meal, an outfit — almost like a recipe for life in 1900s Brooklyn.
Unexpectedly, I found myself becoming a little enamoured with the Nolans’ approach to poverty. Being on a tight budget myself, I began wondering if I should try to incorporate some of their attempts at economy. I realize this sounds like I’m romanticizing the struggle of being poor; I am not by any means discounting the hardship of poverty. Rather, reading this reminded me of something Anne Shirley said: There are so many things in this room and all so splendid that there is no scope for imagination. That is one consolation when you are poor — there are so many more things you can imagine about. Oh, imagination.
