"When they were around ten, eleven, thirteen," he said, "every Saturday night I would get away from my commitments and read to them.  It was our Saturday night together.  I read them Rousseau, history books, poetry, Victor Hugo.  Later, Stendhal, and Tolstoy.  We'd talk about what we read.  Read out loud to each other.  Every Saturday night for years...It was," he paused, "one of the happiest periods of my life.

There is no Frigate like a Book
     To take us Lands away
Nor any Coursers like a Page
     Of prancing Poetry ~
This Traverse may the poorest take
     Without oppress of Toll ~
     How frugal is the Chariot
 That bears the Human Soul!

~ Emily Dickinson (Dec. 10, 1830 - May 15, 1886) American poet

[Think Spring! lbw]

Jane Austen ~ "lived through an eventful period in English andEuropean history, and her own life was also eventful and resonant with the interaction of personalities within and without her own family circle.  For her, people mattered more than art, family more than literature.
When a friend whom she was to visit asked her what books she was going to bring with her, she received the following typical retort:

You distress me cruelly by your request about books;  I cannot think of any to bring with me, nor have I any idea of our wanting them.  I come to you to be talked to, not to read or hear reading.  I can do that at home;..."

[Letter to Martha Lloyd, 12 November 1800]

~ Jane Austen, Brian Wilks, Galley Press, 1988.

Jane Austen (1775 - 1817) English novelist.

ABE LINCOLN ~   "Mostly, he educated himself by borrowing books and newspapers There are many stories about Lincoln's efforts to find enough books to satisfy him in that backwoods country.  Those he liked he read again and again, losing himself in the adventures of Robinson Crusoe or the magical tales of The Arabian Nights.  He was thrilled by a biography of George Washington, with its stirring account of the Revolutionary War.  And he came to love the rhyme and rhythm of poetry, reciting passages from Shakespeare or the Scottish poet Robert Burns at the drop of a hat.  He would carry a book out to the field with him, so he could read at the end of each plow furrow, while the horse was getting its breath.  When noon came, he would sit under a tree and read while he ate. 'I never saw Abe after he was twelve that he didn't have a book in his hand or in his pocket,'  Dennis Hanks remembered.  'It didn't seem natural to see a feller read like that.'"

~ Abraham Lincoln, American President (b.Feb. 12, 1809 - d.April 15, 1865)

Inscription in young Abe Lincoln's homemade arithmetic book:

"Abraham Lincoln
his hand and pen
he will be good but
god knows When."

~ LINCOLN A PHOTOBIOGRAPHY, Russell Freedman, Clarion Books, 1987.
www.alplm.org

Man In The Golden Helmet ~ not a Rembrandt?

Thursday, January 19, 1:00 p.m. at The Neat Little Bookshop

Please join us for Fascinating Personalities

Retired teachers John Passfield and Neil Paul will be discussing the Dutch artist and some of his paintings.

(We are learning that The Man With The Golden Helmet may not be a Rembrandt after all.)

Any Pleasure So Lasting

Reading

"No entertainment is so cheap as reading, nor any pleasure so lasting."

~ Lady M.W. Montague (1689 - 1762) English aristocrat and writer.

Source of Comfort

What motivates the avid reader to sit alone with a book? Of course, there is the academic aspect to it; however, ultimately, I believe that reading is a source of comfort. An insatiable appetite for ideas. An intriguing insight into other people's lives. The thrill of adventure. An escape from the everyday pressures.
Avid readers carry a book under their arm wherever they go. They can be found in restaurants, on subways, in parks, at ballgames, in auction halls. Author, Upton Sinclair, confessed that he "would be missing at a party and be discovered behind the sofa with a book."

Journalist, author, Eric Burns, believes that the serious reader

"expands his circle of acquaintances, but is not unhappy with his friends... expands his knowledge of place, but is not dissatisfied with home. ... expands his awareness of self, but is not confused about his identity, his responsibilities, or his beliefs."
Eric Burns, The Joy of Books, Prometheus Books, 1995

Photo: by Lorna