The goal for this transition is bigger, clearer photos with more accurate colors. I'm trying out a new photo background and switching to a square aspect ratio. It's going to be a lot of work, so I hope it's worth it.

I don't usually write about movies, but can we talk about The Dig? It depicts the 1939 discovery of the Sutton Hoo ship burial, which dates from the Old English period. The first part of the movie is intriguing. We see the two lead characters (Edith Pretty who owned the site and Basil Brown who started the excavation) bond over their shared enthusiasm for archaeology. The movie focuses on the characters and their relationships, often at the expense of the archaeology.

So who did take photos at Sutton Hoo in 1939?

The principle photographers of the excavation were Mercie Lack and Barbara Wagstaff, both teachers and enthusiastic photographers with an interest in archaeology. Their photographs and notations record the site as it was in 1939 and offer an intimate look at the day-to-day proceedings of the dig.

Did a movie that deliberately calls out history's erasure of the contributions made by one 'experienced amateur,' in turn, ignore the contributions of two other experienced amateurs in favor of a fabricated steamy affair and partial nudity?

Yes, yes, it did.

History is more original than fiction; it also stars more women over 40. If you are interested in learning more about the real people behind the Sutton Hoo ship burial excavation, here's an informative page from the National Trust.

Since many businesses are experiencing disruptions right now, I want to let everyone know that Dragon in Knots is processing online orders as normal. I have been self-isolating as much as possible and taking advantage of online shipping labels. Custom orders will be addressed on a case-by-case basis (i.e. if you have a request, I'll let you know if getting supplies for it will be feasible).

Per USPS, Priority Mail Express is not currently available to some countries, and some non-US destinations are experiencing delays in receiving mail, so keep that in mind if you are a non-US customer. 

My fellow micro business owners, bon courage ! I know some of you have been forced to close and most of you are experiencing loss of business. Take care of yourselves, and I hope we can all come back stronger from this. 

The first Saturday in December I'll be at the Holiday Craft Show, hosted by the La Cueva High School Band. I'm bringing my usual range of pouches and book weights, as well as fabric trees and purses.

The show is Saturday, December 7, 2019 from 9 am to 4 pm at La Cueva High School in Albuquerque, NM. No word yet on where my booth will be located, but the fair occupies the M foyer, the cafeteria, and several hallways.

Stumbling upon a bookish find is wonderful, especially when it is already part of your collection! While I was sorting through my books, I found this little treasure in the bin of books that do not fit on the shelves. I think it must have come from one of those used book sales where the prices are so low that the best tactic is to pile up everything that looks like it could be interesting, buy all of them before anyone else does, and sort through them later. There was (is?) one held at the university, which is particularly good for its eclectic pickings.

This novella-sized book is from a series of wartime artwork by British artists. The publication date? 1943. This volume consists of drawings and paintings of women at work in the war effort and features an introduction by Dame Laura Knight who both honors the women keeping the nation going during one of its darkest periods and looks to a future of greater possibilities for women: "If she can do what she has done in war, what may she not do in peace?" 

Knight's other work includes her controversial Self Portrait with Nude (1914), which challenges the rule that banned herself and fellow female art students from life classes, and The Nuremberg Trial (1946), in which the courtroom fades into a wartime scene.

I’m not “good” at decluttering if we’re measuring in terms of the quantity of stuff actually leaving the premises, but in any case, here are some of the reasons that certain books made it into the “out” pile:

• I have no plans to read, or re-read, it. Sorry, Proust, I didn’t even finish it the first time through. (I’m rather generous with my definition of “plans to read” a book. You may have to be stricter if your downsizing needs are greater.) For reference books, usage was taken into consideration, since, of course, they aren’t meant to be read in the same way as a novel.
• It no longer serves the purposes for which it was originally intended; such as books bought for a class or project that doesn’t interest me anymore or even, in the case of one book, it was bought as a gift for someone who, it turns out, already had a copy.

I kept any books that would be difficult to replace (special editions, copies with sentimental value, antique copies), as well as any books pertinent to my interests. I expect there will be more pruning when I actually read the various books I picked up from discard piles and used book sales that sounded like they could be interesting but may or may not actually be interesting. In total, I pruned about two boxes of books from roughly three bookcases (I say “roughly” because I have five bookcases but two are mostly bins of yarn - yeah, that's a project for another week). The remaining books barely fit back on the shelves, but as a chronic book hoarder, I call it progress, and they are all dusted.

Bookshelf Art Print by Beau Wylie* (used with permission)

I know some people organize alphabetically by author, but since my collection contains rather a lot of books where the author doesn’t readily come to mind (reference books, anthologies, ancient works with unknown authors, and so on), such a system would be about as helpful as organizing by color (actually maybe even less helpful – I can remember what color each of the dictionaries is). I resorted to assigning each shelf a cluster of genres or themes; so one shelf is theater and poetry; one is fantasy, fairy tales, and folk tales, another is math and origami, and yet another is Georgian and Napoleonic literature by women authors with manga stacked on top, also written by a woman (It made sense in my head: social commentary, young people in love, tyrannical relations, educational theory, the pushing of gender and class boundaries, and the occasional person getting shot, stabbed, or falling off a cliff). Some of the shelves are still double-layered, but hopefully, as I reclaim some of the non-book bookshelf space, I can spread the books out a bit more; that is, if I don’t buy too many books before then.

How do you organize your bookshelves? Do you have a system that works well?

* Cameron Beau Wylie Foster is an artist and illustrator based in Sydney, Australia. You can see more of his work in his Etsy shop Beau Wylie.

Voici mon prototype numéro 1:

I clearly needed to get a different interfacing, and while I thought I had left enough room on the bottom for the snap, I didn't. Putting in a snap piece in the bottom would make the bottom card slot unusable, at least for cards.

Thus, I went out and bought a yard of interfacing to try. Being unfamiliar with this particular type of interfacing, I tried it on a simpler project first. I drew up a pattern for a minimalist card wallet and sewed it up.

The end result was this:

It's surprisingly functional (Is it bad form to be surprised when my prototypes actually work out?), though I think I will move the snap a bit closer to the edge on the next one.

Satisfied that the interfacing was suited to the purpose and that the snap would successfully go through it, I redrew the pattern for the main wallet, adding a touch more length for the snap and throwing in a fourth card slot behind the snap pocket.

Voici mon prototype numéro 2:

Obviously, I still need to add a snap for the main closure and the interior pocket for it to become a snap wallet. It is functional, though I need to tweak some of the interior measurements for optimum usability. The exterior fabric could use an even stiffer interfacing. The main issue, though, is that the sewing machine is really not thrilled about the many layers in the card slot section, so the stitching is not coming out as neatly as I would like. I'll give another go and see if I can't adjust my technique for a cleaner result.

Teacher, author, and New Mexico native Jennifer Bohnhoff is seeking to shine some light on this neglected part of Civil War history and to make the Civil War more relevant to the students of New Mexico with her upcoming historical novel, Valverde. This book features two young men - Jemmy Martin, a Texan in the Confederate Army, and Raul Atencio, a New Mexican who must side with the Union Army - who are swept together by the events of the war.

In order to fund the cover art and the marketing of the novel, Bohnhoff is running a Kickstarter campaign with a modest goal of $1000. She's very nearly halfway there. Rewards for contributing to the campaign include a (electronic or hard, depending on the level of contribution) copy of the book for yourself or for a low income New Mexican student.

The images used in this post are from The New York Public Library. As it is quite difficult to find relevant public domain images of New Mexico, I've chosen images from other locations and tried to avoid any with too much foliage.

If you live in Albuquerque or are just visiting, come see us at the Oso Canyon Artfest! I will be in room 2 (I believe it's near the parking lot entrance) at the table with the fabric tree forest. I will be selling book weights, stuffed fabric Christmas trees, viola and violin shoulder rest bags, and an assorted of other Dragon in Knots products.

The Artfest will be held Saturday, November 5th from 9 AM to 3 PM at the Bear Canyon Senior Center (4645 Pitt St NE) in Albuquerque.

Click here for a map.

There will be 70+ artisans, as well as a silent auction and food trucks. Shop handmade and local for Christmas gifts (and a treat for yourself)!

HWÆT, WE GAR-DEna in geardagum,

þeodcyninga þrym gefrunon,

hu ða æþelingas ellen fremedon!

Great news! Beowulf is now online.

Both the Old English text and various Modern English translations have been online for years, but now, thanks to the British Library, budding medievalists can read straight from the original manuscript without ever leaving home. This is an excellent resource for enthusiasts who don't have access to a facsimile.

The Beowulf poem appears in Cotton MS Vitellius A XV. This manuscript, one of the four manuscripts that compromises the majority of Old English poetry, contains other Old English works, such as Judith (a poetic retelling of the Book of Judith, in which Judith beheads Holofernes to save the Israelites). The entire volume is available on the British Library's website. 

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A bookstore in Paris is bringing print-on-demand to brick-and-mortar. La Librairie des PUF (quick French note: Librairie means bookstore, not library.) stocks 3 million titles in a bookshop of only 80 square meters. Customers select the title they want, and in five or so minutes, their selection is printed and bound on the spot. Read more about this innovative bookstore in an article by Publishing Perspectives.

Less is More by A Cup of Creativity (used with permission)

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 Russell Mann, a retired professor, has generously donated his collection of Sherlock Holmes stories (including parodies and pastiches), scholarly texts, and memorabilia to Louisiana State University's Libraries. This donation forms one of the largest Sherlock Holmes collections in the southern United States. You can read more about this donation and the upcoming exhibition on the LSU Libraries website.

Today we are going to look at Sherlock stories by one of these writers: James M. Barrie. That's right - the guy who went on to write Peter Pan. Barrie and Doyle were friends. In fact, they were on a cricket team together along with writers P.G. Wodehouse, Jerome K. Jerome, and others. Only Doyle knew how to play cricket (Penzler 113).

Barrie wrote three Sherlock tales: "An Evening with Sherlock Holmes" (1891), "The Adventure of the Two Collaborators" (1893), and "The Late Sherlock Holmes" (1893).

"It is very simple," said Mr. Holmes, still eyeing me sharply.

"The easiest thing in the world," I agreed.

"An Evening with Sherlock Holmes" is the first of Barrie's Sherlock parodies. In fact, Penzler states that it is the earliest Holmes parody (193). The narrator, Mr. Anon, convinces Conan Doyle to introduce him to Sherlock Holmes. The narrator then proceeds to beat Sherlock at his own game, deducing his recent movements and his plans for the rest of the evening. Annoyed, Sherlock leaves abruptly.

In 1893, Barrie and Doyle collaborated on the opera Jane Annie. It was a flop. However, it inspired Barrie to write "The Adventure of the Two Collaborators," in which two authors, a "big fellow" and a "handsomer" one - presumably Doyle and Barrie, respectively -, visit Holmes and Watson to discover why their opera failed to draw an audience. Doyle acclaimed it as the best Sherlock parody ever and included it in his autobiography (Penzler 44).

“But I can tell you why the public don’t go to your piece without sitting the thing out myself.”

“Why?”

“Because,” replied Holmes calmly, “they prefer to stay away.”

In a variation on breaking the fourth wall, that barrier between the characters and the audience, Barrie breaks down the barrier between the author and his creations. He places Doyle and himself in the same world as Watson and Holmes. However, the four men don't interact as merely characters within the same story. Doyle is still the creator, and Holmes is the bestselling golden goose. (Highlight the following for SPOILERS.) Doyle can and does erase Holmes, and while disappearing Holmes predicts his financial downfall:

“Fool, fool! I have kept you in luxury for years. By my help you have ridden extensively in cabs where no author was ever seen before. Henceforth you will ride in buses!”

The third and last of Barrie's parodies, "The Late Sherlock Holmes," was first published in December 1893, the same month that "The Adventure of the Final Problem," which details the famous confrontation between Holmes and Moriarty at the Falls of Reichenbach in Switzerland, first appeared. In Barrie's version of events, which takes the form of a sensational exposé, Watson is arrested on suspicion of having murdered Sherlock, as the police and the public find his story of how Holmes died unbelievable.

The Falls are nearly a thousand feet high; but Mr. Holmes in the course of his career had survived so many dangers, and the public had such faith in his turning-up as alert as ever next month, that no one believed him dead.

(Highlight the following for SPOILERS.) Furthermore, the article states that police believe Watson to have been working with an accomplice, a doctor who derived a large part of his income from Holmes and had made statements indicating that he had "'had quite enough of Holmes.'" The article then casually mentions that Conan Doyle is currently in Switzerland.

 The news story ends with an unintentional spoiler. Barrie cites rumors that Sherlock "at the entreaty of the whole British public" is back at Baker Street, solving another mystery. While we know that Holmes does in fact survive to solve more mysteries, in 1893 Doyle had no intention of bringing him back to life. Holmes would not return from the dead for a decade.

J.M. Barrie's Sherlock stories are short, witty, and hilarious. They provide a view into the friendship between two celebrated authors. It is clear from these works that Barrie and Doyle endured the trials of authorship together and were close enough to share in a laugh at their own expense. Barrie's parodies are well worth the read, and the laughs, for any Sherlock fan, and there's plenty of time to read them while waiting for BBC to finally release Series 4.

All three stories, along with many other Holmes parodies, appear in two recent collections: The Big Book of Sherlock Holmes Stories, edited by Otto Penzler, and Sherlock Holmes Victorian Parodies and Pastiches: 1888-1899, by Bill Peschel.

A special thanks to a friend for bringing these Victorian fanfics to my attention!

A Girl Called Foote falls into the category of books I found while randomly flipping through the ebook offerings of the local library. Isn’t it wonderful how the library lets us take a chance on books we wouldn’t normally consider?

In all honesty, I chose the book because of its cover. It stands out from other library offerings in its simplicity.

subtle, elegant, as enigmatic as the title, and reminiscent of old books – thus well-suited for a novel about a 19^th century bookworm

The book begins as an episodic novel, showing glimpses into the childhoods of the two protagonists: Jonathan Clyde, the mischievous son of a baronet, and Lydia Smythe, the bookish daughter of a farmer. As Jonathan and Lydia grow up and their lives begin to intertwine, the episodes become linked chapters in a cohesive narrative that include perspectives from supporting characters.

This structure is intriguing from a narrative point of view. Sadly, it wreaks havoc on the navigation of the Overdrive menu, which only has two “chapter” bookmarks: one at the beginning of the book and one at the “Midpoint”. The latter of these is, in fact, only a quarter of the way through the book. The third and fourth sections had no bookmark at all, so that when I thought I was nearing the end of the book, I still had half left to read. With such large sections, it is difficult to refer back to an earlier page. Each episode/chapter really needs its own link in the navigation menu. Perhaps the Kindle version has them listed separately?

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A Girl Called Foote addresses real world topics; such as the death of a loved one, substance abuse, and the threat of sexual assault. These are treated in a manner appropriate for young teens and older readers.

(The following sentences contain SPOILERS. Highlight the text to read.) However, Walnofer doesn’t always see these difficult topics through. She shows us how dependent Sophia is on laudanum, yet Sophia appears perfectly normal in her next appearance after Jonathan confiscates the key to the cabinet. Giving up an addictive substance is a physically and emotionally trying process for both the person undergoing recovery and her loved ones. While I understand the author not wishing to focus the novel on drug withdrawal, an acknowledgement that recovery is not instantaneous would have served the dual purpose of resolving that story arc and recognizing the long term effects of substance abuse. Also, it seems a bit cold in Jonathan to have no other thought about Joan Ploughman’s death, beyond being grateful that Lydia is relieved at his return and that he can assist her. Lydia acknowledges that she is the only one mourning. Granted Joan is “just” a maid, but she has been part of Jonathan’s life since he was a child and he should feel some sense of loss. Just a sentence or two in each of these situations would add more humanity to the characters.

A Girl Called Foote reuses many tried and true archetypes, with a twist here and a German there. The plot and the characters aren’t revolutionary. The appeal of the book is in how it’s told: brief moments of poor decisions, banal and memorable encounters with others, and raw emotions. It’s a charming, occasionally heartrending, coming-of-age love story and a worthy début for a budding YA author.

I struggled with a translation for the title of this poem. "Déshéritée" means underprivileged or disinherited (female person), but that isn't poetic and in the context of the poem, this woman is a black sheep, rather than financially deprived. After weeks of pondering and looking through thesauri and dictionaries, I came to the conclusion that the title used in An Anthology of Nineteenth-Century Women’s Poetry from France (ed. Gretchen Schultz), Outcast Girl, is basically the most poetic option that captures the essence of the woman being described (I considered Refugee briefly, but it has too many political connotations). I removed "Girl" because it is clear that Blanchecotte is describing a full-grown woman with a past; and since I am translating for comprehension and not adhering to the original rhyme scheme or meter, I have more liberty to choose words for their faithfulness to the sense of the original poem. 

In any case, I hope you enjoy the poem and my rather less than poetic translation of it, as well as the gorgeous painting that prompted me to ask Gabriel if he would allow me to use his work to illustrate these poems. It captures the mystery of Déshéritée perfectly.

In Umber by Gabriel Frascella* (used with permission)

DÉSHÉRITÉE

 

Comme on s’appelle Dorothée,

Léopoldine ou Maria,

Gabrielle ou Félicia,

On la nomme DÉSHÉRITÉE.

 

C’est elle : l’apercevez-vous ?

Distraite, elle vient en silence ;

Son ombre fine se balance,

Gracieuse, en venant vers nous.

 

Elle a de beaux cheveux d’ébène

Aux nombreux anneaux déroulés,

De grands yeux bleus toujours voilés,

Et puis une taille de reine.

 

Jamais on ne la voit aux jeux,

Jamais on ne la voit sourire ;

Bien fou près d’elle qui soupire

Et laisse échapper des aveux.

 

Jamais, jamais, à côté d’elle,

Ne prononcez le mot d’amour ;

Son cœur est fermé sans retour,

Ou peut-être il est trop fidèle.

 

Peut-être, en un lointain pays,

Il est une autre âme éplorée

Et d’elle à jamais séparée :

O temps, ô rêve évanouis !

 

Ce qui rend sa voix attristée,

Pâle son front, sombres ses yeux,

Est-ce un regret mystérieux ?

On la nomme DÉSHÉRITÉE.

          Août 1856.

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OUTCAST

 

As one might be called Dorothy,

Leopoldine or Maria,

Gabrielle or Felicia,

She is named OUTCAST.

 

That’s her: can you see her?

Distracted, she comes in silence;

Her delicate shadow sways,

Graceful, while coming towards us.

 

She has beautiful ebony hair

With abundant loose rings,

Large blue eyes always veiled,

And lastly the figure of a queen.

 

Never is she seen playing games,

Never is she seen smiling;

Foolish he who near her sighs

And lets escape confessions.

 

Never, never, next to her,

Pronounce a word of love;

Her heart is closed without return,

Or maybe it is too faithful.

 

Maybe, in a faraway land,

There is another soul, tearful

And from her ever separated:

Oh vanished time, oh vanished dream!

 

That which makes her voice sad,

Pale her forehead, somber her eyes,

Is it a mysterious regret?

She is named OUTCAST.

          August 1856.

 (My translation - The rhyme scheme of the original is ABBA.)

* Gabriel Frascella is an artist based in Georgia.  You can see more of his work on his website http://www.gabrielfrascella.com.

The title page                                                                                         

A look inside                                                                                          

Verse numbering bookmark included!

A list of other titles available

Ephemera, mostly from Shakespeare's 400th birthday

A very fancy brochure from an exhibition

Classic portrait of William

James I with the Globe Theater in the background

 "That Man Shakespeare"

"Why not Pattern Dinner after the Bard of Avon?"

Want to see more "Inside a Book" blog posts in the future? Let me know in the comments!

Overthere by Gabriel Frascella* (used with permission)

LA RÊVEUSE

A UNE CRÉOLE

 
L’œil fixe et ne regardant rien,
Inattentive et sérieuse,
Tout révèle dans ton maintien
Quelque peine mystérieuse.
 
Nos paroles n’arrivent pas
A ton oreille au loin distraite :
Tu sembles écouter tout bas
Le chant d’une autre voix secrète.
 
Ainsi réfugiée en toi,
A tout le reste indifférente,
Où s’en va ton rêve ? Dis-moi
Où pose ta pensée errante.
 
Ta vie encor de peu de jours
N’a point fléchi comme les nôtres
Sous le poids de chagrins trop lourds :
Songes-tu donc aux pleurs des autres ?
 
Sur le visage doux et clair
D’une compagne bien-aimée,
As-tu saisi comme un éclair
De tristesse inaccoutumée ?
 
— Non ! je rêve au ciel azuré
De ma patrie éblouissante :
Voilà pourquoi j’ai soupiré,
Voilà pourquoi j’ai l’âme absente.
 
Lorsque seule je vais m’asseoir,
Baissant mes yeux mélancoliques,
Je m’enferme en moi pour mieux voir
Les grands horizons des tropiques.
 
Je songe aux brisements des flots,
Aux rocs où tintent les fontaines,
Au murmure des filaos
Sur les grèves des mers lointaines.

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THE DREAMER

TO A CREOLE WOMAN

The eye fixed and looking at nothing,
Inattentive and serious,
Everything reveals in your bearing
Some mysterious pain.
 
Our words do not reach
Your ear distracted far away:
You seem to listen softly
To the song of another secret voice.
 
Thus, refugee within yourself,
To all the rest indifferent,
Where goes your dream? Tell me
Where rests your wandering thought.
 
Your life still of few days
Has not bent like ours
Under the weight of sorrows too heavy:
Do you think then of the tears of others?
 
On the sweet and fair face
Of a beloved friend,
Did you catch like a flash of lightning
Unaccustomed sadness?
 
— No! I dream about the azure sky
Of my magnificent homeland:
That’s why I sighed,
That’s why I have a distant soul.
 
Once alone I’m going to sit down,
Lowering my melancholic eyes,
I shut myself within myself to see better
The wide horizons of the tropics.
 
I think of the breaking of the waves,
Of the rocks where the fountains chime,
Of the murmur of the filao trees
On the shores of the distant seas.

 (My translation - Again the rhyme scheme of the original is ABAB.)

* Gabriel Frascella is an artist based in Georgia.  You can see more of his work on his website http://www.gabrielfrascella.com.

Autodidact, seamstress, teacher, single mother, poet

In 1830, the Souvilles, a working class family in Paris, had a baby girl. Augustine Alphonsine Malvina was largely self-taught and learned English, German, and Latin. She married an accountant by the name of Blanchecotte in 1850. However, he was eventually hospitalized for a mental illness, and she was left to raise their son alone. She worked as a seamstress and bookkeeper, and later as a teacher. Malvina Blanchecotte participated in the salon of Louise Colet, a fellow poet, and made the acquaintance of other writers, including George Sand (Schultz 136). Lamartine, in particular, dedicated a poem to her, which appears in Rêves et Réalités. Blanchecotte died in 1897.

Blanchecotte’s work includes three collections of poetry [Rêves et Réalités (1855), Nouvelles poésies (1861), and Les Militantes (1875)], essays, a memoir of the Parisian Commune [Tablettes d’une femme pendant la Commune], and two books of aphorisms. Rêves et Réalités received a prize from l’Académie française, as well as a thousand francs from Napoleon III. However, the editor’s note of the 2nd edition mentions that the collection contains “quelques accents trop passionnés” (some accents too passionate) to make it into the Académie’s annual list of literary works awarded the de Monthyon prize:

Il y a même, dans ce volume, quelques cris trop déchirants pour être confiés à l’art, et qui font mal à entendre.

(There are even, in this volume, cries too harrowing to be entrusted to art, and which are painful to hear.)

The editor’s note was replaced by a more sympathetic one in the 3rd edition. *cough*

Several of Blanchecotte’s works are available online at http://gallica.bnf.fr/ (in French, of course). If you don’t read French (or even if you do), the MLA collection An Anthology of Nineteenth-Century Women’s Poetry from France: In English Translation, with French Text, edited by Gretchen Schultz, provides a useful introduction into the work of Blanchecotte and other 19th century French women poets.

Note: Works by Blanchecotte are often in the name A. M. Blanchecotte, but you may also see Mme M. B. ouvrière et poète, as in the case of the 1855 edition of Rêves et Réalités.
 
 

You are probably wondering who Malvina Blanchecotte is. She is an obscure member of a largely ignored group of writers: women poets of the 19th century. I would like to do a series of posts about her life and work, beginning with some of her own words. 

A UNE INCONNUE.

Vous qui, lisant mes vers, avez compris mon âme,
Qui, me tendant la main, avez dit : Me voici !
Vous qui voyez des pleurs sous mon voile de femme,
    Oh ! vous avez souffert aussi !

Dimanche 23 october 1854.

Since most of Blanchecotte's work is not available in English, I've provided my own translation below. I've translated for comprehension, not structure, so I have not maintained the ABAB rhyming scheme of the original.

TO AN UNKNOWN WOMAN.

You who, reading my verses, have understood my soul,
Who, holding my hand, have said: Here I am!
You who see tears under my woman's veil,
    Oh! you have also suffered!

Sunday, October 23, 1854.

Next time, we will take a look at Blanchecotte's life. À bientôt !

Lindbergh is a picture book, but it may be too scary for some children. The story includes harrowing dangers; such as cats, owls, and mousetraps. There are images of dead mice caught in mousetraps; they aren't bloody but still rather shocking. It's a fantasy story that doesn't shield readers from the real world dangers in a rodent's life. The book is on the wordy side for a picture book. That, plus the dark elements in the story, suggests a slightly older audience than your average picture book. The illustrations are works of art and will appeal to adults, unless of course those adults have musophobia; there are a lot of mice in the images.

*The copy I have is the French translation by Anne-Judith Descombey, which has the added benefit of mice being feminine in French. Thus in my mind, the mouse is a girl, even though I realize that is simply an artifact of French grammar. The English version is translated by Suzanne Levesque. The mouse is referred to by the pronoun "he" in the English translation. Also, judging by the online preview, the English version includes a foreword by F. Robert van der Linden, the curator in charge of the Spirit of St. Louis in the Smithsonian Air and Space museum. My French copy lacks this foreword.

Now that I am back in the US and have survived the holidays, I am working on book weights again. You may have noticed that this new batch of book weights is a bit different than the original ones. I have switched from glass weights to steel weights. While steel is more expensive, there are numerous advantages to this:

• The weights are now slimmer and more streamlined, while weighing the same as the old ones.
• The weights can now be shipped in bubble mailers, rather than boxes, which will save customers money on shipping. This is particularly important, given the recent large hike in international shipping prices.
• I can source the steel from an American manufacturer, which is more eco-friendly than buying pounds of glass made halfway across the world simply because I cannot find the right size/shape glass weights from a domestic manufacturer.

I hope you like the new and improved book weights. More fabric options will be added in the very near future!