A temple for books: this is a wet dream for me

I love books.   Bookstores, libraries really get me going.   In fact, you could say I WORSHIP books and reading.   And this is literally and figuratively a church bookstore.   Now this is a church that I could attend and be baptized in.

Broerenkerk, a Dominican church in Zwolle, Netherlands, has been transformed into a book store "cathedral". This was in an article in the Daily Mail Online titled "Perfect for bibliophiles! 15th Century cathedral is transformed into a book shop."
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2483432/Perfect-bibliophiles-15th-Century-cathedral-transformed-book-shop.html#ixzz2jumiQgCM 

The Strand and Magnolia Bakery in NYC....my two favorite places on the planet

I made a quick trip into "The City" on Monday from Long Island to visit my two favorite places: The Strand Bookstore and Magnolia Bakery both in the Village.

It was worth every too short, New York minute. It was drizzling and a perfect day.

The Strand sells new and used books and is the ultimate bookstore for me. In my previous blog entry, I shared the Top 10 bookstores in the world according to a writer for London's Guardian newspaper. The Strand was conspicuously absent! The Strand is simply heaven. I wish I could work there.

Magnolia Bakery, for those of you who are unfamiliar, came to fame in Sex and the City television series. They are famous for their incomparable cupcakes (I prefer the vanilla...with that butter cream frosting). But I also tried this time the red velvet cupcakes which were also delicious. My friends with whom I was staying in Long Island, Shelly and Patti, told me that the bakery has something that is even more fabulous than cupcakes these days and which happens to be one of my most favorite desserts: Banana Pudding. And they were right. Banana Pudding is either really lousy or really spectacular, IMHO.

Magnolia's Banana Pudding is simply one of the most heavenly, spectacular culinary experiences you'll have in your lifetime. I moaned and sighed and sobbed through my two experiences thusfar. Last portion will be served tonight. I'm already weeping at the thought. (I even brought home Banana Pudding and cupcakes to share with The Bug.)

After the two visits and the walk in the drizzle to and fro I took the LIRR back to Glen Cove. What a perfect day!

Magnolia Bakery (this is the original downtown location but they have two other locations)
401 Bleecker Street
(212) 462-2572
www.magnoliabakery.com

Strand Book Store
828 Broadway
(212) 473-1452
www.strandbooks.com
Get directions

TOP 10 book stores in the world

Thanks to my beloved friend Carla Tourin for this article.

According to Guardian (where in the hell is The Strand?)

Top shelves

Every booklover has their favourite shop, and while it's true that many independents have been driven out of business by online sales and supermarket bestsellers, you still don't have to look too hard to find one that's thriving. To prove it, Sean Dodson chooses the 10 bookshops from around the world which he considers to be the fairest of them all.

1) Boekhandel Selexyz Dominicanen in Maastricht

What does a city do with an 800-year-old church with no congregation? Well, it could make like the Dutch and convert it into a temple of books. The old Dominican church in Maastricht was being used for bicycle storage not long ago, but thanks to a radical refurbishment by Dutch architects Merkx + Girod it has been turned into what could possibly be the most beautiful bookshop of all time. The Boekhandel Selexyz Dominicanen, which opened just before Christmas, retains the character and charm of the old church, while being fitted with a minimalist and modern interior design that overcomes any suggestion of fustiness. From the images you can find on the web you can see that it is a bookshop made in heaven.

2) El Ateneo in Buenos Aires

All the world's a page at El Ateneo, a bookshop converted from an old theatre in downtown Buenos Aires. As you can see from this photomontage the El Ateneo has retained its former splendour, with high painted ceiling, original balconies and ornate carvings intact. Even the crimson stage curtains remain part of the show. Comfy chairs are scattered throughout, the stage is utilised as a reading area and café, and even better, the former theatre boxes are used as tiny reading rooms.

3) Livraria Lello in Porto

Proving that purpose-built bookshops can be every bit as beautiful as converted buildings, the divine Livraria Lello in Porto has been selling books in the most salubrious of settings since 1881. Featuring a staircase to heaven and beautifully intricate wooden panels and columns (see for yourself with these gorgeous 360-degree views), stained glass ceilings and books - lots of lovely books.

4) Secret Headquarters comic bookstore in Los Angeles

A mere profiterole to the fabulous layer cakes of Porto and Buenos Aires, but the Secret Headquarters more than holds its own. Nestled in the creative cluster of Silver Lake, just east of Hollywood, this boutique store offers a sophisticated alternative to most of its rivals and has a reputation for being one of the neatest, friendliest comic stores anywhere. Canadian science fiction author Cory Doctorow rates it as the finest in the world.

5) Borders in Glasgow

The might of the Michigan-based megastore may make a lot of independent booksellers fearful, but few book lovers can fail to be beguiled by the neo-classical architecture of its behemoth Glasgow branch. Originally designed by Archibald Elliot in 1827 for the Royal Bank, Borders has occupied a prime spot on Royal Exchange Square since the millennium and won over many of the city's book lovers. People reading on the steps outside have become as much a feature of Glasgow as the traffic cone on the head of Wellington's statue. Well, almost. Would have been higher on my list if the aesthetic magnificence of the building had in any way been matched by the interior.

6) Scarthin's in the Peak District

Of course, others might prefer the altogether more earthy beauty of a shop like Scarthin Books in the Peak District. Scarthin's has been selling new and second-hand books since the mid-1970s. It has rooms full of new and old books, a delightful café and what can best be described as a small exhibition of curiosities on the first floor. It is a bookshop so beloved, that it advertises local guest and farmhouses on its websites where devotees can stay overnight.

7) Posada in Brussels

Located in a dear old house near St Magdalen's church in Brussels, Posada Books is as famous for its pretty interior as it is for its collection of new and second-hand art books. Has a remarkable collection of exhibition catalogues, which goes back to the beginning of the last century, and holds occasional exhibitions too.

8) El Péndulo in Mexico

The Polanco branch of Pendulo in Mexico City has long been known as one of the best ways to beat the heat in the largest city in the world. Although it only has a small English language section, its open architecture populated with several trees makes for an excellent afternoon's escape. In honesty, as popular for its excellent cafe as it is its books.

9) Keibunsya in Kyoto

If you love bookshops even where you can't read the language, then Keibunsya in Kyoto needs to be on your list too. Some say it's the lighting, others the well-proportioned panels around the walls. Or perhaps it's the little galleries embedded in the bookshelves. Most agree it's just the quiet dignity of the place that's hard to beat. Lots of pretty Japanese art books to marvel at and a few English language ones as well.

10) Hatchards in London

Although the bookshop of Cambridge University is technically the oldest bookshop in Britain, Hatchards of Piccadilly, which has been trading since 1797, is definitely the most aristocratic. Not only does it boast three royal warrants, meaning it supplies books to Her Majesty, it has counted Disraeli, Wilde and Byron among its regulars. Today it retains the spirit of days past, with an interior described by one follower as "reminiscent of being inside a rambling old house, with six floors of small rooms all linked together curling around a central staircase."

This article is at http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2008/jan/11/bestukbookshops

uardian.co.uk, Friday 11 January 2008 10.11 GMT

Great new book HOTEL Bemelmans

I love to read and quite frankly the only reason I really started this blog was to talk about reading and books. But for the last six months, while I'm reading as prolifically as always, I just haven't read anything that I thought worthy of public discussion here.

I don't know if books, like films, etc. are not being published in as many numbers and therefore the quality is down or what (I do know that I don't often find a DVD to rent because there doesn't seem to be as many movies that interest me these days).

Until I read HOTEL BEMELMANS by Ludwig Bemelmans. He was a New York busboy, waiter, and restaurateur in New York in the 20's and 30's. The book is a series of short essays or sketches about the life and times of the Hotel Splendide where Bemelmans worked. The Splendide was in reality the Ritz Carlton.

With an introduction by Anthony Bourdain (Kitchen Confidential), the book tells the secrets and scandals of the hotel's staff and rich patrons and guests. As Bemelman's modern day counterpart, Bourdain says: "Ludwig Bemelmans was the original bad boy of the New York hotel/restaurant subculture."

Bemelmans has several claims to fame besides his bad boy restaurateur image. He was an artist and humorist and perhaps most famous for being the author and illustrator of the Madeline books. Like the Madeline series, HOTEL BEMELMANS includes the author's illustrations of the various characters and episodes that are in the book.

Originally from Austria, Bemelmans arrived here as the book says: "at the age of sixteen after he shot a head-waiter at his uncle's hotel." He has a very wry and wickedly funny sense of humor and I literally guffawed throughout the book.

This is a zany cast of characters of con men, gypsies, a wizard, and a number of other eccentric bosses and co-workers. There's Vladimir Slezack, or "Mr. Sigsag" as he's commonly referred to by the staff, who is the catering banquet manager who Bemelmans works for. But my favorite is the hotel manager, Otto Brauhaus:

"Otto Brauhaus (illustration by Bemelmans at right) was an immense stout man; he had to bend down to pass under the tall doorways of his hotel. Big as his feet, which gave him much trouble, telegraphing their sorrows to his ever-worried face, was his heart. For despite his conception of himself as a stern executive, and strict disciplinarian, he could not conceal his kindness. He liked to laugh with guests and employees alike, and the result was that his countenance was the scene of an unending emotional conflict."

What I loved most about Brauhaus is his German accent which "he had somehow never been able to improve.......Brauhaus spoke with a thick dialect that sometimes sounded like a vaudeville comedian trying for effect. He was, in any case, inarticulate, and hated to talk. Two expressions recurred in his speech like commas; without them he seemed hardly able to speak: 'Cheeses Greisd!' and 'Gotdemm it!'

I roared and guffawed my way through this book especially when Brauhuas popped up with his "Cheeses Greisd! Gotdemm it," usually in the same sentence. Here's an example: "But things had not been going too well with Brauhaus's friends, these elderly men who ate and drank too well. In one week Mr. Brauhaus went to two funerals. He came back very gloomy from the second, saying 'Gotdemm it, Cheeses Greisd, every time I see a friend of mine he's dead.'

When he discovers the staff having fun when they thought he was away "Brauhaus stormed back there and exploded: 'What is diss? Gotdemm it! Cheeses Greisd! You have a birdtay zelepration here?'"

There are certain phrases in books that somehow make their way into my daily lexicon. "Fecking eejit" is one (from Frank McCourt's Angela's Ashes, one of my favorite books of all time). But "Gotdemm it Cheeses Greisd" is the newest.

His drawings are as unique as his writing voice as well. Each person illustrated in the drawing reflects a certain self-assuredness/self-possession with themselves. While this is funny when you encounter a pompous, it's even funnier depicting the eccentricities of some of the characters.

This book is really just delightful. You'll relish every moment. I swear, Gotdemm it Cheeses Greisd!

Photo of Ludwig Bemelmans by

Life Magazine, April 1945, Photographer Walter Sanders

Painting by Bemelmans "Terrasse"

Just finished Michael Thomas Ford's great new novel WHAT WE REMEMBER

I've been on a major reading binge of late. I just finished Michael Thomas Ford's newest novel, What We Remember, yesterday and enjoyed it thoroughly.

I've read all of this author's books, so I am a fan. But this particular book was unique in that it really was also a mystery novel. While it explored the same intense human relationships and emotional themes that Ford's other books typically cover, I have a feeling the author wanted to try a different approach. The novel, which explores a murder in a family, is essentially a mystery or thriller experience which I found rather refreshing change but it I still wasn't short-changed the pleasure of reading a very well written drama.

This book is about a New York family, the McClouds. This family is about as dysfunctional as a family can get. The present time in the book is the early 90's. Sheriff Dan McCloud, the father, nine-years before, committed suicide leaving his widow and three children, oldest daughter, Celeste, James, the eldest son and Billy, the baby of the family. The family life of the McClouds is complexly entwined with the family of Dan's best friend, A.J. Derry. Almost incestuously!

I quote from the Booklist review:

'“No secret stays buried forever,” says one character, wielding a knife and summing up the action ignited when the nine-year belief that Sheriff Dan McCloud committed suicide is exploded. His uniformed body is accidentally found, shot twice and shoved into a trunk, which also contains his eldest son James’ class ring. Skeletons tumble from family closets in a small town where everyone seems to knows everyone else’s business as James, the family’s pride, returns home, and the legal investigation ensues. None of this is easy on James’ mom, junkie kid-brother Billy, or sister Celeste, now married to Cold Falls’ current sheriff, Nate, stepson of A. J., Sheriff Dan’s friend and partner. Twists, surprises, and cover-ups abound, as Ford reveals the truth about A. J. and Dan and the complex secrets linking their families, including substance abuse, forgery, rape, illegitimate birth—and yes, murder. The reappearance of A. J.’s daughter, Nancy, James’ high-school flame, brings new shock waves of revelation in Ford’s fast-moving yet thoughtful exploration of family love and the things we do in its name.'

I'm telling you this book has more plot twists and more murder suspects than you can keep up with. Which is really why the book reads like a thriller. I just couldn't put the book down.

Alternating between the book's present (the early 90s) and a retrospective look at the time of the suicide, the author slowly unfolds the complex plot and the "truth" of what happened with these two families. And in trademark Ford fashion he presents an indepth multi-dimensional cast of characters who all have flaws. There are a couple of villains, who are actually portrayed with some objectivity by Ford.

I highly recommend this book....and any of Michael Thomas Ford's books.

If you'd like to purchase the book, just click here. You can see some of the other titles by Mr. Ford as well.

DECCA: The letters of Jessica Mitford. My favorite read this year (so far)

I just finished this most amazing and EPIC book titled Decca: The Letters of Jessica Mitford. It is astonishing the scope of this woman's life.

Actually, if you're familiar, the scope of the entire Mitford family is remarkable. For those who haven't heard: the Mitford family, perhaps one of the most famous and infamous of last century, were the British aristocratic family of Baron Redesdale. He was the second Lord Redesdale. They had six daughters, Nancy, Pamela, Diana, Unity, Jessica (Decca), Deborah (Debo) and one son, Tom. These children were all extraordinary individuals, the product of very eccentric, aristocratic parents, which they called "Farve" and "Muv".

Perhaps what makes the Mitford story so EPIC is that they truly represented the entire specturum of political beliefs of the 20th century. Muv, Unity and Diana were all very pro fascist, pro Hitler, pro Nazi. On the other hand, Decca was devoutly Communist. The children all came of age between the two world wars which perhaps explains their devotion to political ideologies. The first world war had left most of England with an imprint of the horrors of war and many of the upper class were pro-Fascist, primarily because of this fear of war and also their fear of the rise of communism. Fascism, before Hitler, was a political ideology that was fashionable.

If you look at the Mitford sisters, the family for that matter, you see a family that was ground zero, sort of one degree of separation to the most powerful individuals and events in the 20th century. This scope is unbelievable and Decca illustrates just one vast aspect that I was fairly unfamiliar with (still am although now I'd like to read a little more): Communism in the US.

I'll finish my little overview of the Mitfords and then talk about the book. Unity, was extremely pro-Hitler. She moved to Germany and was photographed in the world press often saluting Hitler or making anti-semetic or pro-Nazi remarks. It has been alluded that she was in love with Hitler and he certainly was attracted to Unity, who represented the ultimate Aryan idealyic female.


Unity's sister, Diana, was thought to be the most beautiful woman of her time. She married early into the aristocratic and extremely wealthy Guinness family. Diana and her husband, Brian, started the fashionable group that became known as "Bright Young Things." After a few years of marriage, however, Diana met and fell in love with well-known pro-fascism leader in the UK, Sir Oswald Mosley. Her subsequent divorce from Guinness scandalized society as well as a lengthy affair she had with Mosley, before they finally married. Diana and Unity often times were both photographed with Hitler in German and Muv became quite fond of the Fuhrer, as well. (Unity and Diana at left, Tom and Diana at below left)


On the day that WWII began, Unity shot herself in the head in a park in Germany, however, the wound was not fatal. Hitler eventually had her transported out of Germany back to her family. She was seriously impaired as a result of the gunshot and died several years later from complications.

Diana (at right) and her husband, Sir Oswald Mosley, were imprisoned most of the time during WWII because of their political affiliations with fascists and Hitler.

Decca, on the other hand scandalized society when she eloped, at the age of 19, with the equally young aristocratic, Esmond Romilly (see photo below), who was the nephew of Winston Churchill. Both went to Spain to help fight the civil war and were both passionate about Communism. They eventually moved to the US. At the outbreak of WWII Romilly joined the British military and was stationed in the UK and Decca stayed in the US with their child, Constancia. Esmond was shot down shortly thereafter leaving a very young widow and baby in a distant land.

Two other sisters were also to become equally as notable as Unity, Diana and Decca just not as scandalous. Nancy (at right), the oldest, went on to become a very respected and prolific writer. The youngest daughter, Debo, married Andrew Cavendish, (their wedding photo below) and upon the death of his brother and wife, Kathleen Kennedy (JFK's sister), succeeded as the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire, inheriting perhaps one of the most beautiful private homes in the world, Chatsworth. Nancy and Debo were for the most part a-political. Or rather, they didn't represent the polarizing political opposites of their sisters and parents.

Tom died in the war. Pamela lived a long life but was perhaps the least famous of the siblings, although eccentric in her own unique way. Following a lengthy marriage to scientist Derek Jackson, she was rumored to prefer relationships with women for the rest of her life.

Interestingly, all of the sisters except for Pamela, became published and respected writers at varying stages of their later lives, although Nancy and Decca were perhaps the most noted.

I have read several books on the family, including my favorite book from 2008 with The Letters of the Mitford Sisters. I think having that background made reading Decca much easier. This is a large book and very complex. You might expect that description to mean "boring". Not at all. I was riveted to this book the entire time that it took to read. I usually am a very quick reader but this book took me a couple of weeks to complete. I truly would become immersed in it.

All of these sisters are remarkable, strong and unique woman, however, I have to say the Decca was truly the most compelling. To think that she left her family and eloped with her young husband, with the British navy following them and threatening her return. She refused to comply with her families request that she return home (made with cooperation of the British government). She and her new husband were in Spain reporting the civil war. She then moved to the US with her husband and found herself a very young widow in a foreign country. You would have expected that she immediately would have returned to the safety of the family fold.

She so despised her families political affiliations that she loathed the idea of returning home. And she made the very brave decision to forge a new life for herself and her young daughter in the US. She was passionate about one thing though: Communism and the abuse of the downtrodden in the world. This was a universal theme that ran through her long life. All of the girls tended to be attracted to very strong men, or as Muv once said, "Why do all my children fall in love with dictators" (thanks for the quote, Eddie Pattillo).

Each of these women were remarkably strong individuals in their own right but it seems the overwhelming tyranny of Lord Redesdale perhaps instilled in each of them a passionate rebellious streak and an affinity for men who were similar to their father.

Decca, like all of her sisters, received no formal education (they were all very well read however). She immediately determined as a new widow that she would need to acquire a skill. And so she went to typing school. She found work eventually with US government in DC. Eventually she relocated with her daughter, Constancia, to San Francisco, and was followed there by her suitor, the man who would become her second husband, Robert Treuhaft. He was a union attorney and, like Decca, was passionate about communism. They both joined the Communist Party and were subject to the McCarthy red scare hearings in the 50s.

Jessica and Robert also had a son, Benjamin. Nearing age 40, Decca started a period of introspection which was also marked with a return visit to her home of England after almost a twenty year absence. At the same time, Robert and Jessica both started to become disillusioned with the Communist Party, although not with communism itself. They quit the party, which for most of Decca's adult life had provided her with a full-time purpose.

She wrote a memoir which became quite famous. It was titled, Hons and Rebels (originally printed in US as Daughters and Rebels). This began the career which she became most notable for: as a journalist and writer.

Even though she turned to writing she remained a staunch advocate and defender of human rights, primarily black rights. She was heavily involved throughout the segregation battles in the South. Her husband, Bob, fought on behalf of many black people and communists who were jailed unfairly due to racism or the red scare. His role as a union lawyer caused him to be dubbed by McCarthy-ites as one of the most dangerous attorneys in the San Francisco bay area.

One of Treuhafts pet peeves was the funeral industry. This interest led Jessica to write her most famous book, The American Way of Death, which exposed the racket of the US funeral industry. It remains perhaps one of the most influential books of last century in terms of its powerful ability to transform an industry.

She wrote several other books, taught at several universities, wrote magazine and news articles and continued to fight for race issues throughout her life. She died in 1996.

This book, Decca, illustrates just how remarkable an individual Jessica Mitford was. Her most marked characteristics were her sense of humor, her fearlessness and her passionate belief in her principles. She became known as a muckraker and is perhaps the most famous and successful muckraker of all times. She has yet to have been eclipsed by anyone in this role.

I just cannot recommend this book enough. You will not believe the huge network of friends, colleagues and enemies (or as she called them "frenemies") that she developed. She was at times a very hard character and I suspect could be was quite a terrifying force if she were against you. She didn't seem to suffer fools gladly, one might say.

But she was always remained true to her families and friends, despite rather spectacular disagreements and feuds. Particularly between the sisters. Diana and Decca remained diametrically opposed politically and were estranged throughout the rest of their lives. Debo emerges as the familial leader (photo circa 1993, Jessica, Debo and Pamela, the only living sisters).

I read a couple of months ago, Pen Portraits, by Diana Mosley, which is a series of essays or profiles of several of the eccentric English characters she knew during her lifetime. It was a wonderful read as well.

I strongly suggest that you read The Mitfords: Letters between Six Sisters as well as an excellent biography, The Sisters: The Saga of the Mitford Family by Mary S. Lovell.


You can order copies of Sisters at our online website: www.jmvintage.com. Just click here.

Next up in my Mitford reading will be Nancy's book of letters, followed by the collection of letters between Nancy and her good friend, Evelyn Waugh.



The Mitfords are another one of my little obsessions, like courtesans. I think anyone will see why.

Wonderful book-THE BOOK OF LOST THINGS with a gorgeous cover

I just finished one of the best books I've read this year. It is The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly. The author is best known for his Charlie Parker-series of crime novels. I haven't read any of them as I must confess I'm not a big fan of that genre.

This is just a remarkably well-realized book. The book is about a young boy, David, who at 12 suffers the death of his mother to cancer. The novel is set in England in World War II. Although it is really a fairy tale or fable it is ultimately a coming of age/adolescent story and is the classic Odyssey in literature history.

David loves books. He loves reading (which of course is why I love this book...and the character). Following his mother's death, his father remarries. David cannot accept his new mother, Rose, and his new half-brother, George. (For fellow WE-philes reading this I am tempted to contact the author to find out if these names were deliberately used as oblique reference to David, King Edward VIII and the younger to whom he abdicated his throne, King George VI in 1936.)

David begins to suffer spells and is sent to a psychiatrist who is rather hopeless. Eventually David begins to hear all of his beloved books speaking to him. (Wouldn't that be fabulous....to hear nothing but your books talking to you). He also begins to have very strange visitations by odd creatures. One night the young boy goes out late at night to chase one of the visitors and finds himself falling through a rabbit hole so to speak. Only in the case of this book, David falls into a tree trunk and is transported to a other-land.

And so begins David's classic odyssey where he must face and defend himself from monsters, dragons, demons, wolves, witches, etc. Initially, he is befriended by "Woodman" and is rescued from the attack of half wolves/half men, who bedevil the lad throughout the novel. Woodman advises David that the only way that he can return home is to visit the King of this "other-land" (it has no name) who supposedly has a book that is very important, filled with "lost things" which perhaps has an answer for lost-David. David's journey to the king is so similar to Dorothy's journey to Oz to visit the wizard to return to Kansas (Woodman sort of reminded me of the Scarecrow or the Tin Man).

What is absolutely fascinating about the book and David's journey, and this fairy tale, is that along the way he encounters along the way other famous fairy tales of yore. Although slightly different, David encounters a witch who lives in a delicious tasting cottage. The witch lures children into the house and then boils and eats them (our hero David hears about a brother and sister). David encounters another strange character, a huntress, who takes children and splices them with animals (for example, one poor victim was a little girl who was spliced with the bottom half of a deer. The huntress by the way was somewhat evocative, for me, of the giant in Jack and the Beanstalk). All along the way though David must destroy these evil characters in order to continue on his journey to the castle where the king lives (there isn't a yellow brick road).

On his odyssey, David encounters other protagonists who help him face battles and occasionally save his life. One character is the a possibly-"gay" knight who arrives on a white horse. The boy is also abetted at one point by seven dwarfs who are Marxist and live in complete terror of a morbidly obese bitch shrew, Snow White.

Along the way David grows from a boy into a young man.

I won't spoil the story for you. You must read this book. Although it is a "fable" and deals with an adolescent, this is a very dark and adult novel which is quite graphically violent (although not gratuitously) and at times borders on "horror". So this isn't just a childrens book.

I wept frequently throughout the book. There are paragraphs of such astonishing beauty and wisdom that I found myself reading them over and over again. Perhaps my most favorite is at the beginning of the book. As David's mother is dying she shares with him as a gift, her love of reading:

"After school each day, he would sit by her bedside, sometimes talking with her if she was feeling strong enough, but at other times merely watching her sleep, counting ever labored, wheezing breath that emerged, willing her to remain with him. Often he would bring a book with him to read, and if his mother was awake and her head did not hurt too much, she would ask him to read aloud to her. She had books of her own--romances and mysteries and thick, black-garbed novels with tiny letters--but she preferred him to read to her as much older stories: myths and legends and fairy tales, stories of castles and quests and dangerous, talking animals......

Before she became ill, David's mother would often tell him that stories were alive. They weren't alive in the way that people were alive, or even dogs or cats. People were alive whether you chose to notice them or not, while dogs tended to make you notice them if they decided that you weren't paying them enough attention. Cats, meanwhile, were very good at pretending people didn't exist at all when it suited them, but that was another matter entirely.

Stories were different, though: they came alive in the telling. Without a human voice to read them aloud, or a pair of wide eyes following them by flashlight beneath a blanket, they had no real existence in our world. They were like seeds in the beak of a bird, waiting to fall to earth, or the notes of a song laid out on a sheet, yearning for an instrument to bring their music into being. They lay dormant, hoping for the chance to emerge. Once someone started to read them, they could begin to change. They could take root in the imagination, and transform the reader. Stories wanted to be read, David's mother would whisper. They needed it. It was the reason they forced themselves from their world into ours. They wanted us to give them life."

Is that not just exquisitely beautiful prose? Enjoy this beautiful (it is a very dark beauty though) novel.

Just finished a GREAT book--I SURVIVED SWISS BOARDING SCHOOLS by Richard Rene Silvin

I just finished this remarkable book last night, weeping right up to the end. What a wonderful book about triumph despite extreme adversity. Richard Rene Silvin's excellent account of matriculation through the prestigious Swiss boarding school Le Rosey is remarkable not just because of issues Silvin faces (homophobia, sexual and physical abuse) but Silvin's ability to treat each of his (for the most part) perpetrators with compassion which they don't really deserve.

This book was a work of catharsis, I suspect. And yet it is a book about redemption and even perhaps forgiveness.

Silvin, the son of a wealthy father, is sent early (his aunt says too early) to La Clairiere, a Swiss boarding school in the early sixties, a holding place for the young lad until he attains the age that he can go to Le Rosey, in Gstaad. This first school is a nightmare, with the head master and his wife truly fiendish villains of Dickinsian proportions. Silvin is eventually removed from the school after suffering both physical and sexual abuse which leaves him scarred (after parents of boys from the school discover the extent of abuse that is going on).

Silvin's heartless father immediately starts the boy in Le Rosey following his departure at La Clairiere. It is a few months later that the father learns that Silvin is about to be expelled from the school because of poor grades. It seems that in addition to be on the receiving end of abuse at his previous school he also had received a limited education. Pere Silvin strikes a deal with the militaristic head master of Le Rosey, Monsieur Johannot, that if after returning from summer break the boy is able to pass all of his tests he will be allowed to stay at the school. Pere Silvin then sends Richard to daily tutorials during the summer and in his typical fashion returns the boy to his fate at Le Rosey with these parting words: "'I need not tell you that you have no options here. You will pass these tests. Think of the embarrassment you have been to me. So just stop causing all this trouble!' he exclaimed as we drove along the lake road from Geneva and approached Rolle." (the author is shown in this 1966 photo at left which is from Silvin's website).

What is remarkable about the young boy Silvin despite the bleakest odds and saddled with sizable emotional baggage, goes on not only to pass the tests but to succeed wildly at Le Rosey.


Le Rosey, located in the fashionable ski resort of Gstaad, is a Swiss boarding school for the children (boys only at the time that Silvin attended) of wealthy and/or famous parents from around the world. Its students and their parents, since 1880, have included royalty, billionaires, movie stars, captains of industry, politicians and diplomats. It is an interesting learning experience which is open to children from all cultures, which Silvin talks about in the book. Le Rosey's website today contains the following description: "A friendly international atmosphere where differences are respected, where daily life is shared between adults and youngsters in a family atmosphere, and where social life aims to build independence and self-reliance against the backdrop of a harmonious community." (Visit the Le Rosey's website: http://www.rosey.ch/en/htmlRosey/esprit.html.) Alas, this isn't the same philosophy that was wielded by Monsier Johannot during Silvin's stay at the school.


Le Rosey is the exact opposite experience from Silvin's previous school, La Clairiere. The boys have maid service, their clothes and shoes are cleaned, they are treated by the staff with the utmost respect. But the school, despite its opulence, has its own failings. And our hero, Silvin, triumphs even when faced with very unsupportive father and initially an unsupportive head master, Johannot. Silvin, who suffers sexual abuse from an older student who eventually outs the boy as a "fairy," finds himself faced again with possible expulsion because of the homophobic Johannot. Tragicially, Silvin is again punished by his father for circumstances far beyond his control (the older boy was the sexual predator, just as Silvin's lack of education when he enters Le Rosey was the result of his father's decision to send him to La Clairiere). Most people could never overcome such psychological and spiritual challenges.

But Richard does that and proves to himself, as well as his readers, that in the end he can win. I won't spoil the wonderful circumstances that occur and the various ways Silvin triumphs, but suffice it to say that the story is reminiscent of the film Chariots of Fire (the book, according to Silvin, has been described as: "Jane Eyre meets Chariots of Fire.")

Along the way you meet some of 20th century's most interesting figures: Marlene Dietrich, Elizabeth Taylor, Sophia Loren, Rockefellers, the Shah of Iran, among just a few as Silvin and his fellow classmates grow into young men, amidst the rarefied world of the rich and powerful.

This is your classic "odyssey" as Silvin's lifelong friend and fellow classmate, Ahmed Yehia, writes on the book's back wrapper notes: "In world mythology, the archetype for greatness is the hero finding a way to extricate himself from the depths of abuse, despair, humiliation, etc. He challenges his monsters and comes out triumphant. This is as true of Ulysses as it is true of you [Silvin]."

In the end, though, I was astonished at Silvin's lack of bitterness or even retaliation to several villainous individuals. His triumphs are truly remarkable but what is most remarkable about the book is its authors ability to find a way to a better future.

Bravo! This book needs to be made into a film.

Read this great, uplifting and beautiful memoir!

For more information about the author, the book, or to order a copy visit: http://www.rrsilvin.com/. Silvin (shown below at his home in NC) is also the author of Walking the Rainbow: An Arc to Triumph, which is about the AIDS crisis in the 80's and 90's. Silvin lives in North Carolina and Palm Beach, Florida. He is currently writing another memoir titled Noblesse Oblige which is about his time as administrator at the American Hospital of Paris and his friendship with the Duchess of Windsor which will be published in 2010.



The photos above of Le Rosey are by Life Magazine © Time Inc., photography by Carlo Bavagnoli.

INCUNABULA--beautiful word

in⋅cu⋅nab⋅u⋅la

[in-kyoo-nab-yuh-luh, ing-]

–plural noun, singular -lum

1. extant copies of books produced in the earliest stages (before 1501) of printing from movable type.

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/INCUNABULA

Isn't that a great word! I was in Colorado Springs last week attending the Colorado Antiquarian Bookseller Seminar which is for booksellers, librarians, collectors. It was a most amazing experience. We were literally immersed for a week learning everything about books. If you're interested in the seminar visit their website at: CABS

Here's some examples of incunabula (see also my previous blog Poet & artist WILLIAM BLAKE-Colorado Springs-Thomas Jefferson and the Library of Congress-cool temperatures)\

click on images to enlarge