I am getting down to unpacking the last of my books. I opened a box yesterday and shouted for joy, finding beloved treasures–Cold Sassy Tree and Leaving Cold Sassy, both by Olive Ann Burns. It is a book that reminds me to savor life for all it is worth. Olive Ann Burns died before she could finish the second book, Leaving Cold Sassy, but the publisher used the book to share the inspiration of Olive Ann’s life.

Books are the shoes with which we tread the footsteps of great minds. ~ Unknown

Others from the box, an eclectic mix:
America’s Popular Sayings, by Gregory Titelman, where I found that precious P.G. Wodehouse wrote in 1920, “So always look for the silver lining, and try to find the sunny side of life.” Reminds me of a song from the depression.

All Over But the Shoutin’, by Rick Bragg, a novel whose voice and honesty sang me home.

The Gift of the Blessing, by Gary Smalley and John Trent. I first read  it when my son was in his teens. I began blessing him each time he left the house; he braved this with ducked head. One time, however, I forgot, and suddenly the back door open, and he rushed in, saying, “You forgot my blessing.” Oh, treasure of memories! And it seems a reminder to begin again blessing my dear ones.

Putnam’s Phrase Book, April 1927 edition, a small book billed as An Aid to Social Letter Writing and to Read and Effective Conversation, with Over 100 Model Social Letters and 6000 of the World’s Best English Phrases, compiled and arranged by Edwin Hamlin Carr. Belonged to my great-grandfather and proves fascinating reading. I had no idea how many phrases I know and use on a daily basis.

Books are the compasses and telescopes and sextants and charts which other men have prepared to help us navigate the dangerous seas of human life.–Jesse Lee Bennett

Is it only me?–I have a need, and suddenly a book will appear to speak to me, often not what I expected, but what I need to know. It has become common occurrence, which I no longer doubt, to walk through a library or a bookstore, and have a certain book all but jump off the shelf into my hands.

Books are the most faithful companion on earth. One does not have to feed a book, or tend it. One can take what one wants from a book and pass the book along. A book is never too busy to speak, is available day and night, and takes no offense at being set aside and ignored for years and years. In fact, it often becomes more valuable with age. A book says things that the wisest teacher and closest friend, lover, spouse cannot say, at least say and be heard. A book is always constant and loyal and will not leave you, as many humans do–although my mother has said a book sprouts legs and walks off.

There is the age-old question, which I read just this morning, of what one book would you want to have if stranded on a desert island. Well, my first thought was that choosing one book was in impossibility. Okay, enlarge the choice to two books, not much better, but more fun.

My choices, which are only of the moment: The Bible, which provides fascination for hours, and then America’s Popular Sayings, which could make me laugh.

What would be your two choices from your best friends?

Blessings,
CurtissAnn

‘The Queen’ has been out since 2006 and received rave reviews and garnered an Oscar Award as best actress for Helen Mirren, but I just last night got around to seeing it. DH bought the DVD for me for Christmas, and we thoroughly enjoyed watching it on our big screen (to think I hated that enormous ugly gray box when we bought it.) It is a family movie, no sex and violence and rough language, imagine that.

Seeing movies far after their popular run is usual for me. I do not even pretend to keep up with the day, a trait that gave me instant empathy for Queen Elizabeth in the film, which is a biography of her, encapsulated in one incident in her life— the death of Princess Diana.

I’m not certain I would have watched the movie had I known that it was set around the death of Princess Diana. I pretty much had my fill of her when she and Prince Charles were an item, then divorced, and her death was plastered all over the news for months. (Perhaps the ravenous public interest in all things ‘Di’ was what the movie producers counted on.) I admit that Diana was a pretty and nice woman, but certainly she did no more than was required for any nice woman of her position. Pretty and nice women die every day in horrible car wrecks, and they do not even get a mention on the news. Frankly I just did not get all the uproar. Apparently neither did the queen.

The film is worth viewing for Helen Mirren’s masterful acting. Mirren herself disappears into her portrayal of Elizabeth. The story is tight, each scene necessary and compelling. The filming is beautiful, not only the scenes of the castles and gardens and rugged north landscape, but even those scenes in the Prime Minister’s offices and home. They are crisp and clear and portray the people and their times in contrast to those of the royal family. There are no good-guys or bad-guys in this film, except perhaps the media, which comes off looking pretty…well, like they really are. The movie is a portrayal of people, and as such always vastly interesting.

Let me add that I found a number of exchanges funny in the film, and I believe a number were meant to be funny, thankfully. I do hate unremitting drama. However, I admit that I possibly found some things funny because of not being British, and my general irreverent nature. And I kept wondering if all those people who stood outside the palace gates and wailed for Diana did not have jobs and families and lives to attend.

Not that anybody asked.