| Choice, Not Stress 12/23/07 |
Choice, Not Stress
December 23, 2007
With Christmas only a few days away as I write this I want to take time to wish all of you, BiblioBuffet’s readers, a wonderful few final days of 2007. I urge you not to condemn yourself for goals made and unmet this year, nor to impose goals on yourself that leave you feeling frustrated and deprived. Instead, why not plan only positive choices—and just a few of those? Choose three rather than a dozen. Make a collage of images and text that relates only to those three. Print up affirmations in present tense (“I have” or “I am”) and put them on your car’s dashboard, on your computer monitor at home and at work, on your bathroom mirror. Then come back a year from now and tell me what happened. I promise to do the same. (Plus I’ll share my goals here next week just in time for the New Year. And I would love to include you if you write to me with yours—literary or not.)
* * * In her last column, Nicki Leone focused on naturalist, engraver, artist, printmaker and book maker Thomas Bewick whose famous A History of British Birds became the single most important work for British birders for a century. John James Audubon, who, while seeking a publisher for his own work on birds, visited Bewick, is the focus on the second part of Nicki’s piece, this week, in A Reading Life. Over at Bibliopinions, I offer up my annual Christmas poem, ’Twas That Night Before Christmas, a blatant rip-off of the famous children’s verse. It’s a parody, a cute thing—as long as you don’t mind bad poetry—that is designed solely to entertain you. (Charles Dickens has nothing to fear from me.) Older literary works are the focus of J.M. Coetzee’s attention in his book, Inner Workings. “Coetzee’s elegant prose seduces us into paths we might never otherwise travel . . . and to reevaluate many of our long-held opinions . . .” says Henry Carrigan in this week’s Readings. It’s that time of year when wrapping gifts and baking cookies interrupts her writing/reading/school/homework/family life, but Lisa Guidarini always makes time to compile her Top Ten List of her favorite books of the year in Reviews & Reflections. Oh, the joy of the season when one has finished those holiday chores and even has time at work to wind things up and clean things out. Ask anyone, and they would say it never snows in Florida, but ask Anne Michael and she will tell you that she found a blizzard in her office—a blizzard of paper, now mercifully gone—this week in Seasoned Lightly. This week, in On Marking Books, I share several of my bookmarks that focus on Christmas. So much more practical, and at least as pretty, as many holiday cards, bookmarks have often been used to mark special days—and these are no exception. For those who have children interested in making bookmarks as quick stocking stuffers for themselves or others, here are some links: DLTK Crafts for Kids ABC Teach Parenting Billy Bear 4 Kids Classic Pooh
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Hidden America is a web site I came across while doing research for a book review. Though I didn’t use any information at the time, it looked interesting enough that I bookmarked it. Having spent more time on it I can now say it IS interesting. They term themselves a “site dedicated to On The Road Americana . . . based on those gems of Americana that lie off the beaten path and beyond the interstate.” In other words, shopping and tourism without chains and in the small towns that make up the America that has become buried under the Malls of America. Among their amazing offerings is one called Readings for the Road, which has three subsections: Bibliography (a source of readings provided by libraries and other resources); Library & Reading Room (periodicals that highlight American history, travel and “On The Road” experience); and Book Reviews (an archive of those reviewed in their newsletter). |