Top Five Friday: Happy Birthday, Mr. Dickens

No novelist has ever captured more poignantly the brightness and magic and terror of the world as seen through the eyes of a child.
~ Edgar Johnson

Beginning in January, I am participating in the One Page a Day Challenge.  Hopefully by the end of the year, I'll have 365 pages worth editing.  I’m also trying to follow My Plan for 2014.  I may need therapy in December.  Oh wait…

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oday marks two very different anniversaries, with one thing in common: they both involve Englishmen.

Two hundred + two years ago, Charles Dickens was born.

And a mere fifty years ago today, The Beatles landed on our shores in a rocking British invasion.

Thank goodness we patched things up after that whole mishap in 1812.

It’s also the birthday of Laura Ingalls Wilder, but she’s not British, so she only gets a candle and a cupcake.

And since most people are already inundated with Beatles anniversary mania (ladies, don’t try to hide ~ we saw the pictures!), I’m going to focus today’s Top Five on dear old Charlie.

He is apparently a literary god in England ~ there are museums, societies, reading groups dedicated solely to Dickens.  You would think he was the only English author of note.  Even more so than William Shakespeare, which for this American, seems weird.  Not that I don’t love Dickens ~ I do.  But Willy was no slouch!

Maybe Dickens has a better PR guru.

Whatever the reason, his work has staying power, as evidenced that all the books highlighted below have been made into at least one movie or PBS special.

Great Expectations

Even as a child, the image of Miss Habersham sitting in the midst of rotting cake in her faded wedding gown was creepy and striking.  I was with Pip in thinking I knew who his benefactor was.  But it was the dusty wedding dress that has stayed with me ~ a sad picture of rejection and madness.

Oliver Twist

Another childhood favorite, I read my rare, tattered hardback copy several times.  My mother had a vinyl of the 1968 film soundtrack with Mark Lester, Ron Moody, Oliver Reed, and I fell in love with Mark, and would sing along with Shani Wallis’ Nancy.

Every child feels embattled at times, and to read a story about an orphan who suffers tremendously and is saved at the end was comforting.

Image credit: Google Images + MDeigh

Tale of Two Cities

“It was the best of times, the worst of times…”  The most romantic figure of my childhood was Sydney Carton, the Englishman who takes Charles Darnay’s place on the guillotine.  I cried buckets of childish tears, thinking Lucie was very silly to not love him, but at the same time, I admired the depth of his courage and love.

No greater love hath man….

David Copperfield

Hopefully we’re past that point where you see the title of this book and think magic, illusion and smoldering eyes.  When I see this, I see Uriah Heep saying, “Very ‘umble, sir” and think, Heep rhymes with creep, ugh!

I also thought Dora was a bit of dunce and could never figure out why David married her.  Must have been the great hair.

Bleak House

Such a fitting name.  And such a great novel with incredible layers.  My favorite line: “Bored to death with this place, bored to death with my life, bored to death with myself."

I can understand, mi’lady.  I have days like that.

What?  A Christmas Carol didn’t make the list!? Blasphemy!

Everyone with half an appreciation for Christmas movies, George C. Scott, Patrick Stewart, or the Muppets is familiar with the Christmas Carol.  Which just proves the staying power of Dickens’ storytelling.  In all his works, he had a social agenda.  But it came second to the story.

And that’s how an artist impacts his world  ~ by being true to the art first.

Well done, sir, and happy 202^nd birthday.

Oremus pro invicem,

~ Mikaela

What is your favorite Dickens’ novel?

National Library Week: April 8-14, 2012

A book is the only place in which you can examine a fragile thought without breaking it, or explore an explosive idea without fear it will go off in your face.  It is one of the few havens remaining where a man's mind can get both provocation and privacy. 

~ Edward P. Morgan

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t’s  National Library Week!  I’m a little late with the notice, but there are still two days left to celebrate the awesomeness that is a library!  Hat tip: Debbie Ridpath Ohi over at Inkygirl ~ where she has cute, ROTFL illustration to go with the theme.

When I was growing up, the library was a magical place, filled with adventure and excitement.  The ladies that worked there [forever it seems!]  knew our family very well.  We always walked out with our arms full of books; they were skeptical that we could read them all within the allotted time we had them checked out.

I don’t remember how much my mother and my sisters read, but I certainly devoured my stack fairly quickly.  Inevitably, though, we had to extend our time, and generally were still late returning our books.  Oh the shame!

My local library introduced me to Nancy Drew, The Bobbsey Twins, The Boxcar Children, Trixie Belden, Sherlock Holmes, Miss Marple, and Hercule Poirot ~ notice a pattern here?  Not to mention the classics: Treasure Island, Heidi, Swiss Family Robinson, Tale of Two Cities, Little Women, and of course, Little House on the Prairie.

Reading can be a huge mind opener and most people can’t afford to buy all the books that a lirbabry offers.  We certainly could not have.  But because of that library, I fell in love with books, and ultimately, with writing.

We don’t often think about it, but libraries really are guardians of knowledge and freedom.  A people that can’t read are a people more susceptible to manipulation and deception.  Today, we seem to have become a people that can read, but chooses not to.  Even with the advent of e-books, people are reading less and less substantial, mind-expanding works, and settling for the crumbs of pulp fiction – the fast food of writing.  Easy to swallow and oh so tasty ~ but a steady diet of that and eventually you’ll die of a heart attack, complications due to obesity and general lack of nutrition!

Nowadays, libraries don’t just stock books; they host educational events.  Mine is hosting a series of events around organic farming and sustainable living.  I’ll be attending as many of the talks and farmer panels as I can, so expect to hear more about that in the coming weeks.  At eh MyLibrary site, you can find a library near you.

Step inside ~ an adventure awaits you somewhere among the stacks!

Oremus pro invicem,

~ Mikaela

When is the last time you visited your local library?  What books did you check out?

Top Five Friday: Fear the Thirteenth!

Fear makes us feel our humanity.
~ Benjamin Disraeli

Happy Friday the 13th! I am not a overly superstitious person nor am I OCD ~ although sometimes for the sake of my cluttered home office and bedroom, I almost wish I were! But I love stories that deal with the dark side. Not the blood-and-guts, chop-chop horror stories full of scantily-clad screaming teenagers and no plot. But stories that tackle the dark side of humanity ~ something I think we are all too familiar with.


So in honour of Friday the 13th, I offer up my top five picks for artistic explorations of the dark side of humanity.


Criminal Minds – CBS
In my opinion, Criminal Minds is one of the best dark police procedurals on television right now. I have been watching the show on DVD the past couple of months, starting with Season 1; I’m in Season 5 at the moment. The writers for this show are incredible ~ every episode I watch has some aspect that makes me green with writerly envy. I’m the type who becomes completely enmeshed in the story [i.e. do NOT talk to me while I’m watching]; however, there have been moments when the writer in me detaches and thinks “that was a brilliant line or plot twist!”


In terms of fear, CM has got it: they’ve had episodes dealing with almost every type of sick psycho out there, including a Satanic-esque cannibal. What fascinates me is the myriad factors that go into making a criminal who he or she is, family background being the most important.


Grimm – NBC
The Grimm Fairy Tales as criminal profiles? Brilliant! The development of myths, how they affect us and what they say about a culture is a fascinating study. And NBC has a winner with this show. The pilot was a little slow, but set the stage and the episodes after have not disappointed. Imagination is not dead, folks! It’s alive and well in the minds of Stephen Carpenter, David Greenwalt, and Jim Kouf.


There’s fear aplenty and it airs tonight at 9pm!

Fringe – Fox
J.J. Abrams is my hero. He comes up with the most amazing plots and story lines that push the boundaries of the mind. He must wake up every morning thinking “What if…?” Mad scientists, parallel dimensions, other selves, and Joshua Jackson. Plus a haunting soundtrack.


Downside? Also airs on Fridays at 9pm. Tivo, baby!


The Heart of Darkness – Joseph Conrad
Remember reading this for English 101? A fascinating psychology study. A modern adaptation is Apocalypse Now, starring Martin Sheen and set in Vietnam instead of the Congo. Read the book ~ again ~ and then rent the movie.


The Tell-Tale Heart – Edgar Allan Poe
Picking five stories to read or watch for Friday the 13th is tough ~ there a re many great authors and stories out there. But you can’t talk about scary stories without mentioning Poe. The man was a master of the macabre and a brilliant writer. Masque of the Red Death is one of my personal favorites, but the Tell-Tale Heart is sheer brilliance because it Poe wrote it before “profiling” was invented. It’s a crime story told by the criminal who committed it.


I would love to see this re-imagined on Criminal Minds in Season 8. A violent and possibly schizophrenic yet organized protagonist becomes fixated on the old man’s eye, sadistically shines a light on it night after night for several weeks. After the vile deed is done, he chops up the body and arrogantly invites the police into the room and talks to them at length. Come on, it’s perfect!

What noir fiction do you like to read or watch and why?

Oremus pro invicem,
~ Mikaela

Word Count Blogathon Day 28: Summer Reading List

The worth of a book is to be measured by what you can carry away from it.

~ James Bryce

Summer is almost here.  Actually, here in Virginia it has felt like summer for a few days now: thunderstorms, humidity [or “humisery” as my yankee friends like to call it] and lovely, baking, ninety degree weather.  A small price to pay, in my opinion, sweet iced tea, fried chicken, and being able to enjoy the changing seasons.

School’s [Almost] Out!

Viewing the calendar in semesters and three months of vacation becomes a habit after living that way for over twenty-two years.  And even though I have been out of school for [cough, ahem] years, I still feel the rush of “Summer’s here!  Relaxation!”  Growing up, that translated into multiple trips to the library. 

I will never forget Linda at our local library.  She always laughed and commented on the enormous stack of books I took home every other week.  It was always at least a foot taller than me.  “Are you really going to read all of those books in two weeks!?!”  Some I would have to renew, but most of them I devoured in a few days.  I don’t know if my family was a burden or a blessing to those sainted librarians: we were always checking out almost half the library!

The “List”

Sadly, the days of three month vacations are over [unless you’re lucky enough to be French].  But it is still a great excuse to read more!  And my library cup runneth over with un-read volumes that I have been meaning to crack open.  Most of them will improve my mind and some will give it a little rest.  Both are important to do.   Here’s a partial list.

Love and Will by Rollo May

Love’s Executioner by Irv Yalom

Can Poetry Matter? by Dana Gioia

Interrogations at Noon by Dana Gioia

The Habit of Being: Letters of Flannery O’Conner by Flannery O’Conner

Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling [as a refresher before the last movie installment!]

The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton

Gone with the Wind, 75th Anniversary Edition by Margaret Mitchell

Beauty and the Beast by Marie Le Prince de Beaumont

The Lady in the Palazzo: At Home in Umbria by Marlena De Blasi

What do you plan to read this summer?  Any books you would like to recommend? Do tell!

Oremu pro invicem,

~ Mikaela

Winter Correspondence

Perhaps I am a bear, or some hibernating animal underneath,
for the instinct to be half-asleep all winter is so strong in me.
~ Anne Morrow Lindbergh

That is what I have been doing for the past two months: hibernating. Which is why you have not heard from me, dear readers. But try not to scold me too much ~ it was not the snow or even the lack of sun for many weeks that led me to neglect you. In addition to recovering from sleep deprivation, I was also impatiently waiting for not one, but two kidney stones to stop their assault on my person. After many skirmishes, we finally declared a truce with one another, but I am sure they will tire of their immobility and rebel in another year or so.

Well, what can I say? When one is battling kidney stones, one does not have much strength left over to write, much less edit, throw out and re-write. I became a bit like Lucy Honeychurch after playing Beethoven ~ rather peevish. And this writer at least needed the down time. Not that I stopped writing. That would be. . .well, impossible, I think! I once heard that one knew one was born to be a writer if one could not NOT write. As Lord Byron once said: “If I don’t write to empty my mind, I go mad.”

For a long time I interpreted that to mean that one must have a burning desire to write poetry or novels 24/7 ~ as if a real writer limited himself to those two genres. But I have a deep need to write everything. So while I have not been as productive on these pages, dear readers, my quill has not lain idle. I have drafted three poems, three songs, a couple of monologues, begun a play and penned several letters.

Ahh, letters. I believe they are my favorite genre of writing. And winter is the best time for it. The crisp air. The slip and swoosh and crunch of snow under one’s feet. Any excuse to curl up in front of the fireplace with a steaming cup of coziness ~ and by cozy, I mean with a splash of Jack or Jim or Remy or my personal favorite, Chaucer. Winter is made for correspondence.

Or reading other people’s correspondence. Currently, I am snooping in the private letters of various people via Thomas Mallon’s Yours Ever: People and Their Letters. Very well written, but I cannot quite call it a delicious read ~ more an appetizer. Every other page, I am writing down the name of yet another character whose flamboyant correspondence I want to delve deeper into. Mallon offers up morsels to whet the appetite, some with surprising twists. For instance,

it is in truth my fear, that, as soon as I should meditate a letter to be sent you, it should suddenly come into my mind by what an interval of earth you are distant from me, and so the grief of your absence, already nearly lulled, should grow fresh, and break up my sweet dream

is not something I would have expected from the dour John Milton. Yet there it is, the inner workings of a literary master preserved in his own hand. Mallon offers several such literary tidbits, including snippets of the love letters of William and Mary Wordsworth, Woodrow and Edith Wilson, the correspondence of George Sand and Flaubert and Vita Sackville-West and Virginia Woolf, among many others.

There is something about a handwritten note. As Mallon says, “it has an intimacy and force that can never be matched” by either e-mail or even that recent ancient artifact: the type-writer. Writing a letter by hand forces one to slow down, to think through what one will say, how it might come across to the reader who cannot hear tone or see our facial expressions. E-mail, of course poses the same problem, but how many of us really think long and hard while we are tap, tapping away? I have been the recipient of so many electronic missives where the author did not even bother to hit the spell-check button! Not that “snail-mail” is protected from such mistakes ~ but the nature of the medium is such that the artist wielding the fountain pen is naturally more careful in the brush strokes their word choice creates.

As for my own library, this afternoon I ordered a collection of John Donne's letters and another of John Muir's and I already own a book of Tolkien's letters, the correspondences of Evelyn Waugh to Nancy Mitford and Diana Cooper, and a book of letters from George Bernard Shaw. And of course, my desk is crammed full of stationary, several bottles of ink, a large hoard of various writing implements, among which are my highly prized fountain pens.

And now, back to my cave for more writing and inspiration. Sigh. Mr. Donne and Mr. Muir cannot get here quick enough!

Oremus pro invicem,
~ Mikaela

Dulce Domum

He saw clearly how plain and simple -- how narrow, even -- it all was; but clearly, too, how much it all meant to him, and the special value of some such anchorage in one's existence. He did not at all want to abandon the new life and its splendid spaces, to turn his back on sun and air and all they offered him and creep home and stay there; the upper world was all too strong, it called to him still, even down there, and he knew he must return to the larger stage. But it was good to think he had this to come back to; this place which was all his own, these things which were so glad to see him again and could always be counted upon for the same simple welcome.
~ The Wind in the Willows

Mr. F recently began re-reading The Wind in the Willows. T.Q. mentioned that he thought Toad was an addict and I was intrigued. As I had not read it myself since I was a child, I picked it up as well to see what a jaded adult eye could reap from its pages.

The description above of Mole’s emotions towards both his old home and his new adventures by the River in Chapter Five touched a nerve somewhere deep inside me. Having moved to the “big city” of Washington, D.C. almost eight years ago, I have always thought of myself as a bit of a geographical schizophrenic, with my heart attached to the terra firma of the homestead and my body and social life firmly ensconced within the concrete halls of the nation’s capital.

Like Mole, I have grown quite a bit in my sojourn here and indeed the pull of the upper world (is) all too strong….the new life and its splendid spaces…and all they offer. I too can count (on) this place which was all his own….and could always be counted upon for the same simple welcome. There is a special bond between a soul that lives on the land, surrounded by the both the beauties and horrors of nature, and the very dirt one plays and plants in ~ my familial roots are anchored deep in the red Virginia clay of home.

But the luxury of being able to escape from the stride of the noisy city to the languorous pace and silence of the country cannot be counted on forever. One’s parents will not live forever and either one must step in to save the family home or let it go to strangers who may or may not keep the land that one’s family has worked so hard on. Couple this longing and familial responsibility with the necessity of cultivating one’s soul and artistic endeavors and the dilemma presented is of Solomon proportions.

Such a wrenching choice is not thrust upon Mole. He is free to live out his adventures on the River, expanding his borders and horizons. If he wants to return to his old home in the meadow, it will be there, patiently waiting; ready to welcome him with open arms. Mole is lucky too in that he has already made that dreaded yet necessary leap: he knew he must return to the larger stage. And he can do so without heartache because of his ability to return whenever he wishes, to the comforts of the familiar.

I must confess I envy Mole...just a tad.

Oremus pro invicem,

~ Mikaela