The Big Tiny by Dee Williams

Square Feet: 84. Possessions: 305.*

(*This headline is from the NY Times review – I had to swipe it.)

January is my time for sorting through clothes and books, cleaning out the freezer and diving into those mystery boxes under the stairs.   By necessity, we are already fairly simplified given our 1,100 sq. ft row house  — but after reading this inspirational memoir — we got nothing on Dee Williams.  

Ms. Williams decided to build an eighty-four-square-foot house on wheels, by herself — as a way to start building a simpler more meaningful life. 

This authentic memoir tells of her challenges both building-wise and health-wise.  She is not an experienced builder, but knows her way around tools, so she ventures ahead after meeting and studying others in the “tiny house” movement.  It’s not enough that she is dealing with a newly diagnosed heart condition and is often disabled and hospitalized, she also experiences grimace-worthy mishaps.  She glues her hair into the siding, almost shears off her ear when some plywood catches on an earring, tries to secure the roof (in flip flops!) and falls from her sleeping loft when the ladder shifts out from under her.

But beyond the Three-Stooges-like mishaps, this is a book to inspire.  How can you not be impressed (and perhaps even envious) of someone who can list everything she owns on one sheet of paper (the handwritten list is reproduced in the book).  Also enviable, Ms. Williams can clean her entire house in ten minutes and her monthly bills run approximately eight dollars.  Granted, she is living in a friend’s back yard and using this friends water, laundry and shower.  But Ms. Williams has her own kitchen (one burner),  her own toilet (compostable) and a sleeping loft with a view of the stars – risky ladder notwithstanding.

I was fascinated at Ms. Williams perseverance in the face of many hurdles — obstructive city codes, a newly prescribed oxygen contraption that meant snaking a breathing tube from a outside generator into her house, and an aging dog that she carries up and down the sleeping loft ladder.  But she remains positive and loving throughout. 

Happily, the author is also quirky and likeable, she still lusts after things she doesn’t need at Target (I have the same problem, I blame the hypnotic bulls-eye logo), she delights in fun underwear and prefers flip flops to shoes.  There is also a quiet soulfulness throughout, the reader is aware that Ms. Williams has a degenerative disease.  She writes with a quiet grace about her newly acquired time to savor every moment — as in this quote.

I stumbled into a new sort of ‘happiness’, one that didn’t hinge on always getting what I want but rather, on wanting what I have. It’s the kind of happiness that isn’t tied so tightly to being comfortable (or having money and property), but instead is linked to a deeper sense of satisfaction – to a sense of humility and gratitude, and a better understanding of who I am in my heart. I found a certain bigness in my little house – a sense of largeness, freedom, and happiness that comes when you see there’s no place else you’d rather be.

This book could have used some strong editing, it does ramble off the tracks, but it should provoke all of us to think on the question “how much is enough?”.  Given America’s self storage business is a $25-billion a year industry, Ms. Williams experiences are an inspiration. This book is not so much of a “how-to” guide but a “why to” memoir.   While not everyone (not me – see below) is suited to such an extremely tiny house, this book will make you contemplate the “too much stuff” syndrome  — why not simplify, declutter and live smaller?

N.B. Living in such a small space alone may be one thing, but can you image two people in 84 square feet?  I’m definitely not a candidate.  No way I’m making the middle of the night climbs up and down a sleeping loft ladder, I’d be lost without my book collection, I’d sorely miss my tea pots and at the very least — my husband and I already experience too much “togetherness” now we’re both retired — so count me out …. but I must go now and clean out a closet or two.  

Advanced reading copy provided by Penguin Group via NetGalley.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By the Book edited by Pamela Paul

By the Book:  Writers on Literature and the Literary Life from the New York Times Book Review

 

My friend Reiko saves me her Sunday NY Times Book Review section and gives me a big stack of them whenever we get together. We laugh because we can judge how long it’s been since we’ve seen each other by the size of the accumulation.

One of my favorite sections of the NY Times Book Review is called “By the Book”, wherein a writer is interviewed about their reading.  Each week we get a view into writers favorite books & writers, reading habits, their personal book collection, early childhood reads, etc.

The top interviews are gathered in this one book and while there’s nothing new here, I found it engrossing to read through them.  At almost 300 pages and 65 writers interviewed it’s no quick read.  I’ve been slowly savoring this book, making my way through this fascinating collection, underlining and making long lists of newly recommended books to read (like I really need more lists of books to read).

Included in the collection are interviews with the expected writers such as Anna Quindlen and John Irving, but also included are Sting and Arnold Schwarzenegger?  (The question mark is mine.)  But don’t let that dissuade you, this is a fascinating look at writers and their life with books. And, hey guess what? — the Arnold interview reveals he is surprisingly insightful.

When more than three of the authors listed the Patrick Melrose novels by Edward St. Aubyn as their favorites, I had to add them to my list.   It was also comforting to see that several writers also found the classics tough going – Dickens, Tolstoy etc. 

You’ll discover the vulnerabilities of some writers — who knew Hilary Mantel actively reads self help books or Anne Lamott secretly likes People and US Weekly?

Many writers are delightfully unpretentious in their reading choices.  Jhumpa Lahiri states:  I am drawn to any story that makes me want to read from one sentence to the next.  I have no other criterion.  And Scott Turow,  The only unfailing criterion is that I can hitch my heart to the imagined world and read on.  My favorite quote is from Isabel Allende.  A good novel or short story is like making love between clean ironed sheets: total pleasure.

Hilary Mantel wishes for a magic tablecloth to appear with dinner all prepared so she can have more time to read.  Sting has kept every book he’s ever read and doesn’t lend books. Scott Turow admits to “reading at” a book, putting it down and then months later picking it up and diving in with enormous enthusiasm. 

Jeanette Walls lists her favorite memoirs, which is like getting a food critics top restaurants.

And there’s lots of chuckles:   under “The last book that made you cry” – Jeffery Eugenides answers The South Beach Diet. 

Then there’s this:  James Patterson talks about his first Alex Cross book, “Along Came a Spider.” He said a movie studio would have optioned the book early on in his career, when he could have really used the money  –all he had to do was make Alex Cross a white man.

 I don’t recommend reading this book all at once.  Like the original interviews, it’s best to savor one or two at a time. 

Also this book should come with a warning:  Reading this book will increase your to-be-read wish list exponentially and may cause unbridled book purchases.   

Advanced Readers Copy provided by Henry Holt & Co.

 

 

 

A Tale of Two Covers

Two Days Until Christmas

Christmas Stories – Everyman’s Pocket Classics

I picked this up years ago at the library book sale – attracted by the pretty cover and because I’m fond of the Everyman’s editions, so handsomely done and always with sewn-in ribbon bookmarks (I’m such a sucker for those).  These small volumes always have this quote on their frontpiece:

Everyman, I will go with thee and be thy guide, in thy most need to go by thy side.

They really “get” bibliophiles and our most needs to always have a book by our side.

Christmas Stories is a treasury of short fiction by great writers of the past two centuries—including Dickens and Tolstoy to John Updike and Alice Munro. As a literary subject, Christmas has inspired everything from intimate domestic dramas to fanciful flights of the imagination, and the full range of its expression is represented in this wonderfully engaging anthology.

Admittedly, until this year I had only read a the first few stories – all Christmas classics, O’Henry, Dickens and Willa Cather’s delightful The Burglar’s Christmas (I never miss a chance to re-read that one) but last night I delved into the back of this collection and read two short stories that left me really quite depressed.  One by Richard Ford about a dispirited dysfunctional family on a ski vacation and then Alice Munro uses two workers to deliver a character study as they dismember turkeys at a slaughterhouse Ugh.  I had to make a cup of sleepytime tea just to get the bad taste out of my mouth.

So, I’m putting this charming looking book on trial, and will read a few more to determine its fate as a coveted member of my Christmas Books Collection.

 

A Literary Christmas – An Anthology from The British Library

From the fly leaf:  A Literary Christmas is a seasonal compendium that collects poems, short stories, and prose by some of the greatest poets and writers in the English language. Like Charles Dickens’s Ghosts of Christmas Past and Present, the selections featured here are representative of times old and new. Readers will enjoy a convivial Christmas Day with Samuel Pepys, Anthony Trollope, George Eliot, and Nancy Mitford; venture out into the snow in the company of Jane Austen, Henry James, and Charles Dickens’s ever-popular Mr. Pickwick; and warm up by the fire with the seasonal tales of Dylan Thomas, Kenneth Grahame, and Oscar Wilde.

This awful cover is proof that I shouldn’t be lured by a pretty one (see above) — this is a joyful collection of stories, poems, carols, essays and illustrations.  The editors cleverly organized the book in such categories as  “Before Christmas”, “Snow and Ice” and “Christmas Fare”.  

Look, here’s Samuel Pepys Christmas Day diary entry from 1662 and a treatise on a doctor-prescribed diet just before Christmas by P.G. Wodehouse.  An except from Cider with Rosie (an English coming of age classic) and Washington Irving’s description of a grand Christmas dinner.  Something for everyone in this lovely book.

Here’s a sample of some of the illustrations within (click to enlarge):

 

 

 

 

 

So the sage advice of don’t judge a book by its cover stands true.

BUSTED Uh Oh –both volumes include Trollope Christmas stories –despite my claims from this post.  However, we shall speak no further on this subject.

 

A (very special) Christmas Crime Story

Three Days Until Christmas

Mystery in White by J. Jefferson Farjeon

Get yourself a cup of tea, this is a long story.  Back in my college days, I spent several consecutive semesters living and working in the highlands of Scotland (that’s a whole other story).  At a local church rummage sale, I came across a beat up old paperback — I think it cost me 10P.  This snowy Christmas-time mystery got me through several icy evenings in my digs on the top floor of a frigid stone landowner’s manor, which lacked any sort of central heating.  I cuddled under my eiderdown with a hot water bottle (and yes it was a real eiderdown) and read several evenings away.  I was due to go home soon, homesick and looking forward to celebrating the holidays with my loved ones.

I lugged that poor paperback back to the states, and would re-read it with my other Christmas books until it had to be rubber banded together to prevent the pages from falling out.  During one of my moves, the rubber band broke, random pages went missing and I lost the back cover.  Then several years ago in a fit of “this is ridiculous” I tossed it in the recycling bin – the poor thing wasn’t even fit for my donation box.  I sometimes remembered  this 1930’s classic crime story that kept me mesmerized when I could barely feel my fingers while reading.

So what to my wondering eye should appear but the new British Library Crime Classics reprint series and there it was – my book!  Mystery in White – A Christmas Crime Story – all gussied up and sporting a fabulous new cover.  I was on Amazon and hitting checkout before I could even take a breath.   Originally published in 1937, Mystery in White apparently went out of print and is now republished as part of this new series. (Check out the series for the retro covers alone.) The author is not as well known as many others of the Golden Age yet he was popular in his day.  From the book cover:

On Christmas Eve, heavy snowfall brings a train to a halt near the village of Hemmersby. Several of the passengers take shelter in a deserted country house, where the fire has been lit and the table laid for tea – but no one is at home.
Trapped together for Christmas, the passengers are seeking to unravel the secrets of the empty house when a murderer strikes in their midst.

I’m only halfway through my new edition, I keep stopping to marvel at its new incarnation, but I remember this is a surprisingly unusual crime story.  While the language is typical of the 1930’s Golden Age and despite its classic situation (strangers-stranded-in-a-blizzard) Mr. Farjeon gives us mysticism, unexpected plot twists, a hapless police inspector who arrives too late to solve the crimes, a dose of romance and chuckle-worthy Noel Coward humor.   Some of the situations strain credibility – how do they see the stranded car at night without flashlights?   and why does no one seem wet or cold after thrashing about outside in the blizzard?  But you’ll soon forget those little reality fails because this is a clever mystery with a snowy Christmas setting that’s sure to keep you warm and happy.

I found an image of the original hardback edition.  My paperback had the same cover. 

Not a book – but Love Actually

Four Days Until Christmas

For my countdown to Christmas I’m going to add my favorite holiday film.  OK you precise people, I admit it’s not a book, but every year, I bring out my cherished DVD to watch it yet again.  (My husband just groans, rolls his eyes and goes to the den.)

In case you’ve been living in Kazakhstan, and are unaware of this film, let me explain.  Love Actually follows the lives of eight very different couples all immersed with love in various forms.  These loosely interrelated tales are set during a frantic month before Christmas in London.

Love Actually has a superb cast, including Bill Nighy as an aging rock star, Emma Thompson as a heartbroken wife, Hugh Grant is the Prime Minister (I know!), Laura Linney, a lonely woman with a secret crush, and Liam Neeson as a sad widower raising his young step-son (oh Liam, I could so cheer you up) .

The romantic entanglements range from comic — to charming  — to heartbreaking;  a couple fall in love while working in the porn film industry as stand-ins, another couple are unable to communicate given language barriers, and a married couple face an extramarital enticement.  And with Hugh Grant as Prime Minister there’s plenty of giggles.  Oh, and as a an added bonus, the soundtrack is delightful.

Try and see the film in its original uncut for TV form (cable or Netflix) but if not, Love Actually will undoubtedly come around as a holiday TV movie, so don’t miss it.  I dare you not to choke up during the final montage of airport scenes set to the Beach Boys music.

Trailer HERE

What is your favorite holiday film?

 

Christmas with Alcott and Trollope

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Five Days Until Christmas

The newest additions to my Christmas library – purchased for myself at The Booksmith, one of my favorite San Francisco independent bookstores. This store has intriguing events, one of which I have yet to attend  — their six times a year $25 open bar & book swap (tempting, oh so tempting – Melinda you in?).

I know quite a shock, me buying more books — but let’s change the subject…shall we?

I don’t own either of these story collections (see? I needed these) and while I know I’ll enjoy Louise May Alcott, I’ve always had trouble reading Trollope.  Maybe this small volume will get me over the Trollope hurdle and onto his other works.  My grandfather’s book collection includes Barchester Towers and it’s such a lovely edition I would so like to get past the first chapter.  Maybe now I will. (Can we say rationalization?)

These are sublime little volumes — beautifully designed—with foil-stamped jackets, decorative endpapers, and vintage nameplates.

They’re part of Penguin’s Christmas Classics series, they’ll publish only a few each year…here’s this year’s list.

• A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
• Christmas at Thompson Hall: And Other Christmas Stories by Anthony Trollope
• A Merry Christmas: And Other Christmas Stories by Louisa May Alcott
• The Night Before Christmas by Nikolai Gogol
• The Nutcracker by E. T. A. Hoffmann

 

I’m proud I limited myself to only two from the list.  I came very close to also owning the Nutcracker, but I pulled my errant hand back just in time.