Eleanor, gee I think you’re Swell!
On September 9, 2018 by Speranza
Not sure why, but I notice that my reading tastes have been rather mired in memoir of late: The Fish Ladder (Katharine Norbury); Drinking the Rain (Alix Kates Shulman); Are you Somebody (Nuala (O’Faolain); Leaving before the Rains come (Alexandra Fuller); and Hourglass:Time, Memory, Marriage Dani Shapiro) with just a brief recent hiatus into the new Julian Barnes, The Only Story. Barnes is one of my favorite writers although his talent and intellect always leave me feeling distinctly lacking.
Anyway, I have taken to jotting down vocabulary I am not familiar with from his books lest I am ever in attendance at a clever party with him. This will never happen – obviously – but I like to pretend, in case someone drops “atavistic” into the conversation or mentions their vast collection of embroidered “antimacassars.” (Which sounds painful but really isn’t …)
I tried to savor The Only Story but I found myself reading away as the pasta boiled, during my break and whilst waiting in line. Really, this is a kind of terrible chronology of a love story as experienced in youth and then in later middle-age. Although he can be supremely clever and funny too of course, I think we can all agree that Barnes is not known for providing any laugh tracks so don’t expect them here. I also had to continuously pause and really digest what he was presenting, to decide both if I agreed and if I was having a good enough day to explore it further with him.
Which is how I happened upon that arch-blogger herself, Eleanor Roosevelt. I have always meant to see if any of her newspaper columns are online (she wrote everyday so it is an interesting diary of sorts). This past week I finally got around to remembering and I was excited to find them here spanning 1936-1962! Charmingly (and not so charmingly) dated at times, they remain strangely current in other ways. I will leave you with an excerpt from September 8, 1952:
In these hectic days, time in which to enjoy life is a very important wish. I sometimes think that we have so much to be grateful for and we give ourselves so little time in which to count over our blessings. For instance, everyone of us who is in the country these days should be savoring every moment of sunshine and summer weather. It will not last long, but it is perfectly wonderful while it does.
I need more of this – what about you?
Your link to Eleanor’s blogs of yore led me to November 7, 1954, the day of my birth. Sadly, no entry for that date. Perhaps Eleanor was spending the day in quiet contemplation of my sainted arrival?
By the way, I laughed out loud at the title of today’s blog. That just goes to show that you’re a way better writer than dour old Julian (in my book anyway!)
How sweet you are – thank you dear DK!
Being retired and in my words, in the “third act” of life, each year I do try to appreciate the last vestiges of summer sun. Do I get extra points for recognizing the first chorus line of the Turtle’s song of 1968?
You do
! And bonus points for mentioning it 🙂
Appreciated