Welcome to Litsy!

While out with friends this afternoon, I was reminded of the year my kids and I hiked the same hike each week for 52 weeks, and when I got home, I read through the posts I'd published about them on my blog. This post from Week 40 reminded me of what was going on in the world in 2016, and helped explain why I felt so connected to the tagged while reading it this week: http://imperfecthappiness.org/2016/07/09/weekly-walk-40/

This series of essays written during E.B. White's first four years full-time on his Maine farm in the years immediately before and after the bombing of Pearl Harbor feels like a balm and a primer in how to balance attention to world affairs with pursuits that ground us in the daily world in which we spend most of our time. The essays are conversational and humble, and provide glimpses of the man who will become the author of Charlotte's Web.

I was recommending the tagged book to my 16-year-old son because he enjoys history, and I'm finding it a unique perspective on how to live one's everyday life as authoritarianism is spreading and fascist apologists are cropping up. He was on board until I told him the title, at which point he laughed heartily because, while he's quite an intellectual kid, he remains a 16-year-old boy.

#morningperspective

“E. B. White found joy in the ordinary and turned it into the extraordinary.“

Discover the story of E. B. White, the man who brought Charlotte, Wilbur, and Stuart Little to life. A Boy, a Mouse, and a Spider by Barbara Herkert, with illustrations by Lauren Castillo, is a lyrical portrait of an author whose love for nature and storytelling continues to inspire. This beautifully crafted biography is perfect for readers who cherish the magic of Charlotte‘s Web and wish to learn more about the writer behind the tale.

A Boy, a Mouse, and a Spider is a tender and poetic biography of E. B. White, the beloved author of Charlotte‘s Web. Barbara Herkert‘s lyrical text beautifully captures White‘s quiet nature and deep connection to the natural world, which inspired his timeless stories. Lauren Castillo‘s soft and evocative illustrations perfectly complement the narrative, adding warmth and charm to this homage.

According to Storygraph, I‘ve been reading this since last December. But you know something? It‘s the kind of book that almost demands slow reading. Not that the pieces are dense or difficult to read. There is just an attitude of slowing down and treasuring the moment throughout. It‘s been a comforting reading experience in a way. I‘ve got 12 more essays to go. I think it will be bittersweet to finish this volume.

“The subtlest change in New York is something people don‘t speak much about but that is in everyone‘s mind. The city, for the first time in its long history, is destructible. A single flight of planes no bigger than a wedge of geese can quickly end this island fantasy, burn the towers…”
The language here is terrifying, and it‘s incredible that this was written in 1948, so prescient of the possibility of horror. ⬇️