Pieces of the Whole
The other day I was bemoaning how quickly I’d eaten a fresh-baked batch of cinnamon rolls.
“That’s the problem with living alone,” I said forlornly to my friends as we sat knitting.
“No,” replied Heather, the sharpest of the assembled group, “that’s the privilege.”
Over the years I’ve owned thousands of books, so many that if I still owned all of them I could start a small library. I’ve kept a few precious books from childhood, including The Wind in The Willows (from which I would, as a child, frequently quote a poem by Ratty [“Duck’s Ditty”]), some picture books, and a volume of The Complete Poetry of Robert Frost.
There’s also On City Streets, a slim, quality paperback of poems about urban life by poets such as Langston Hughes. Based on the copyright date, my parents gave that to me when I was about nine or ten. It intrigues me that they saw a healthy interest in me about other cultures here in our own country, worlds outside of my white suburban home.
I kept few of the dozens , if not hundreds, of books I collected as a teenager, except my 40th anniversary edition of Gone With the Wind, a favorite of mine and surprisingly, many of my friends as well, who generally leaned to more contemporary literature. Of course I owned a copy of Go Ask Alice, well-worn and clandestinely loaned to some of my friends whose parents wouldn’t let them read it. You can still find Go Ask Alice, and the cover is identical to the book I bought more than 40 years ago.
As an adult, I’ve donated then re-purchased several books, including To Kill a Mockingbird and Rebecca. I save very few, but still have The Portable Dorothy Parker (such wonderful short stories!) and several of Anne Tyler’s novels (I keep watch out at the nearby used book store for hardcover editions of Breathing Lessons or Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant.) Many of the books I buy today I forward to my mom after I’ve finished reading them. In fact, I frequently scour that same used book store for something I think she’d like. She’s always looking for a good book.
I think of stories long out of print that had an impact on me, such as Garson Kanin’s A Thousand Summers. I wonder if I’d find it just as engrossing today.
I wouldn’t have room for all the books I’ve owned over the years, and perhaps it would be selfish to hang on to them anyway, when so many others could be enjoying them. Still, I’d like the opportunity to peruse that “library” and pick out a few to keep today.
Memories echo
Their sound is louder
Than the lost moment
That created them.
Photo courtesy Pixabay
Look — my sweet babies have achieved world-wide fame! If you cat lovers haven’t seen this site yet, absolutely check it out. It’s more than just cute pictures of kitties (although there are plenty of those!).
So I finally know the last two words Amy Sherman-Palladino planned to use in the finale of Gilmore Girls. Don’t worry, no spoilers here. But Gilmore Girls fans, if you were hesitant to watch the sequel for any reason, wait no longer. Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life is true to the original, but it’s not the same. The characters have grown, yet Stars Hollow is as quirky as ever. You can go home again.
Virtually all of the key characters from the show’s original seven-year run show up in at least one of the four episodes airing now on Netflix, save, of course, Richard Gilmore, as Edward Hermann died December 31, 2014. His passing is honored, and so is Richard’s.
Look for the same Emily, yet a definitively changed one. Kelly Bishop is a fantastically talented actress who always kept Emily from being unsympathetic. On occasion she broke out a wickedly fun side, and she does so again in these latest episodes.
Both Lorelai and Rory have hit a crossroads, one common to women in their late 40s and mid 30s, respectively. How they work through their struggles is so true to the series as created by Amy Sherman-Palladino that you know she and her husband Daniel Palladino had to be steering the whole production, and thankfully, they were doing just that.
Alexis Bledsel has grown as an actress, and while I always enjoyed her in the series, I found her performance to be more mature and natural as the grown-up Rory. Lauren Graham could hardly get any better, and she’s returned to the character of Lorelai with ease and the same sense of fun and wonder.
A character you didn’t see in the original Gilmore Girls is that of Violet, leading lady of the Stars Hollow musical, played by Sutton Foster. For those of you don’t know, this current star of the TVLand series Younger starred in the short-lived show Bunheads, also created by Ms. Sherman-Palladino. She’s well-cast as the hard-edged Violet, who gives a great performance in the world’s worst musical ever.
Years ago, when I was living with my mom, we would watch Gilmore Girls together every week. It was our thing. The only way today’s marathon could have been better for me would have been to have shared it with her, and next time I travel to Minneapolis, we’re settling in for a few hours with Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life.
And I’m bringing some kleenex for the final scenes. We Gilmore Girls fans finally got the ending we deserved all along.
My World With Words 
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