Top Five Friday: Books of Letters

The one good thing about not seeing you is that I can write you letters. 
~ Svetlana Alliluyeva

 

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ext to writing letters, I like reading them.  Yes, I like receiving them, but I also like to read other people’s letters. 

And no, I’m not a mailbox bandit.

Other people as in famous people.  Or non-famous people who died a long time ago.  I have found boxes of old letters in thrift stores and estate sales.  And despite what some muckety-mucks say, the copperplate writing is beautiful and an art form worth preserving.  That is all.

84 Charing Cross Road – Helene Hanff

An author and a letter writer ~ perfect!  Plus, she’s writing to a book shop manager.  Heaven!  If I ever find such a unique personage, I would love to start up a correspondence with them.

The Letters of Virginia Woolf

Another author.  Well, writers are writers ~ of many forms and genres.  So it makes sense that most of the books in this list will be the letters of writers.  We do love to scratch the pen across a virgin page!

Letters of Evelyn Waugh and Diana Cooper

Evelyn Waugh is still one of my favorite English authors.  Brideshead Revisited remains one of the defining works of classic literature of my college career.  My friends and I didn’t just read it ~ we lived it.  No really.  We did.  Except for the eggs.

My Dearest Friend: Letters of Abigail and John Adams

Sometimes we think of the Founding Fathers as old dead guys with no soul and no passion.  Yet there is no way they could have forged a brand new nation without passion.  This is a beautiful look into the intimate life of one of the greats.

Recollections and Letters of Robert E. Lee

Come on.  You know I’m a die-hard Southerner.  So the General was definitely going to be on this list!  Set aside any pre-conceived notions you have about this man and keep an open mind.  In war ~ or any aspect of life, actually ~ there is a lot of gray area.  No pun intended.  The line between good guy and bad guy tends to get blurred. 

Oremus pro invicem,

~ Mikaela

Whose letters do you like to read?