Keep Calm And Carry On

It’s been over a month since my last post to this blog and I’ve many excuses; but mostly, I’ve been very, very busy—even a bit frantic! 

My busy-ness has been all good:  the wedding of an old friend of mine, newly reunited with a love she had 26 years ago; guests to take to places all around this breathtakingly beautiful state of Arizona; and best of all:  babies!

Another beautiful sunset over the mountain at the back of my house.

A few weeks ago, I had my first grand-baby—a beautiful girl named Hannah—and am expecting my second any day now.  It’s a lovely, joyous thing to have a new baby in the family; it’s fun and exciting to plan baby showers and go to doctors’ appointments and “birthing” classes!  It’s fun to help decorate a baby room and to find beautiful stuffed animals and baby clothes wherever you go. 

Guest-decorated bibs and onesies.

Yum!

Ready to play.

Hannah & Nana - and I made the blanket!

And it's quite wonderful to hold a baby in my arms again. 

But all this requires that I be in the car and on the road much of the time:  wedding almost 3 hours away in Tucson; baby Hannah 1 hour away in Phoenix; expectant mother 6 hours away in Los Angeles….  It’s exhausting!  And when I’m home, I’m often frenzied as I try to catch-up with those many things left undone.

Then I remind myself to take to heart those words of wisdom from World War II:  “Keep Calm and Carry On.” 

For those not familiar with the phrase, these words were on a poster printed by the British government during the war.  It summed up with extraordinary simplicity what citizens needed to do during this time of upheaval and fear:  they needed to take care of the business at hand and go on with their lives….

The Original Poster

But the story of the poster does not end with the war; and the newer part of the story begins with a bookseller.  (Of course!)

Barter Books is one of the largest bookstores in England—and I’ll bet it’s one of the most beautiful, too!  It was built into a beautiful old Victorian railroad station; and it manages to be both large and cozy at the same time.

 

And it was here that an original of the “Keep Calm and Carry On” poster was found in a box of old books.  As they tell the story on their website,

“After being forgotten for more than half a century, a rare original of the now famous WWII poster was rediscovered in a box of old books bought at auction….

When the bookshop owners had the poster framed and put up in the shop, customer interest was so great that in 2001 the couple started producing facsimile copies for sale - copies which were soon copied and recopied to make of the Keep Calm poster one of the first truly iconic images of the 21st century.”

Isn’t that grand?

Here is a 3-minute video that tells the history of the creation of the original poster, with footage from the period; it also shows some fabulous scenes in the old railroad station and tantalizing bits of the store’s interior:

Barter Books has a gift shop and an on-line store from which, among other things, you can buy a facsimile of the poster—or even mugs and tee shirts and mouse pads and more—all with the iconic red and white sign on them.  Who can resist?

Beautiful as this shop is, there are many wonderful ways to display books. (See my posts on public, private, and “little” libraries.)  And as my blog has somewhat morphed into one that is concerned with the state of “real” books in this electronically focused world, readers have been sending me articles and photos and videos on the subject.  As I do want to write about other things, I plan to have a postscript from time to time with more news on the “real-books-are-wonderful-and-can’t-be-replaced” front.

Here is one such; can we call this an “exercise” library?  Whatever you call it, it can't be replaced by eBooks!

Exercise Wheel?  Little Library?  Perhaps both.

And wherever you read and wherever you exercise; and whenever you feel the stresses and strains of modern life, or the joy and excitement of new arrivals and happy celebrations:  remember not to be “frantic” and instead, think of the mantra:

KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON!

Believe me, it works!

What I'm Planning, more or less...

English is not my first language, but it has become my only language; and from my earliest memories, it was books that made me feel that I was not a complete outsider in the world I inhabited.  I might not wear the right kind of bobby-sox, I might not have a ponytail that would swing when I walked, but in books I found others – even American-born others! – who, like me, didn't quite fit in. The strong little girl in A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN would have liked me; I was sure of it!

I was always a slow reader, which is a big handicap for someone who became an English Lit major!  I remember that in fourth grade, we were tested to see in which reading group we would be placed the following year. The reading teacher sat at a table in the hallway outside of the classroom; one by one, we were called and given a passage to read.

When it was my turn, I read beautifully, really beautifully. When I proudly finished and looked up, much to my surprise, the teacher asked me questions about what I had read.  "You mean you wanted me to read it for meaning," I asked?  "I can do that; please give me something else to read."  But she wouldn't. "It's all right," she said.  "I know where you belong."  But she did NOT know; she put me in the “lowest” reading group, and I knew that I did not belong there....

When she'd asked me to read, I was intent on not reading with a "foreign" accent, so I concentrated only on enunciating every word in perfect "American."  For me, reading aloud and reading silently were two completely different activities:  one was for sound, and one was for understanding.  But I couldn't explain it to her, no matter how hard I tried. Happily, my family moved to another part of town that summer, and when at my new school they asked what "Reader" I'd been using, I said without a backward glance, SINGING WHEELS – the book I knew the “highest” reading group had been using!  And I've been in the "highest" reading group ever since!

But I remain a very slow reader. I read silently in the same way as I read aloud: enunciating in my head every single syllable, every "and" "or" and "but"...!  While this careful reading can be an asset when reading complicated or technical works, it's really a burden when it comes to "light" reading, as they take me too long, and I notice things that are, perhaps, not meant to be noticed.  My children are often frustrated with me when I read a thriller they'd loved and I say, "The character could not possibly have done this because on page 193 she said such-and-such..." They hadn't – and probably shouldn’t have! – noticed, and now I'd "spoiled it" for them.

All this is by way of saying that I don't know how many books I'll be reading or writing about.  I don't know the authors or the titles or the subjects I'll choose.  I love fiction, but I also love to read biographies and histories.  I like to picture myself in the skin of someone very "other."  I'll read and post about books that I've read many times before – “old friends" who have something new to tell me each time I return to them – as well as books that I've never read, but have been recommended, or happen to catch my eye, or are just around:  books with spines I know well, but with "insides" I know nothing about!

And I'll also write about films and plays, old and new, which to me, are "books" that are read aloud, with that special quality that each story-teller inevitably adds when reading.  It's why I love to see new versions of plays and movies I know well; to see them performed by a variety of players; to see if something new can be gleaned through this different performer or director, this different "reader."

So:  let me begin and see what happens...