To the Departed

Christmas was not always the biggest thing in the Scott household. When I was little we lived with my grandmother who hosted the whole unwrapping, watching football, devouring large meals (ambrosia I remember clearly) affair. After we moved out though, my memories of Christmas at home are rather scant. This isn’t to say my folks cruelly denied me happy memories or experiences, far from. But we tended to give each other little presents pretty regularly. And for the most part we did the gifts in January (uh sales, hello?). When I was quite small my mom worked at the hospital on Christmas so a postponement was a tradition in itself. We went to family functions (like my grandmother’s) so I never actually “missed” Christmas. Okay, except the year I had mono and slept for almost all of December. But on the whole, when I think of Christmas I think of watching “Star Wars” on cable, sleeping late, and reading.

Christmas Eve is forever imprinted in my mind as my Aunt’s (one of Dad’s sisters) night to shine. I picture roast beef, pearl onions, Yorkshire pudding and crackers. I did not know that Christmas crackers weren’t a regular American Christmas tradition until I was well into my teens. What kind of poor kids didn’t get to wear crowns and hear terrible jokes? I think of being with my Dad in particular, I usually stuck close to him at family events.

My Aunt did the dinner again this year and it was strange not having Dad there. But not as strange as I thought. I worried I’d be sullen and detached but I wasn’t. My cousin, who is now the mother of two (almost three) beautiful children, lost her father fairly recently as well. Perhaps I drew strength from her.

We talked about him and raised a toast to the departed. Maybe because his absence was addressed I was kept buoyed and didn’t have an inclination to drift off into a griever’s tempest. (It also helped that I didn’t go heavy on wine, I’m sure.)

I’m really glad it was almost like the “old days” though, to miss it would have been much harder, too much distance. The meal was as delicious as I remember and it was amusing to not be the little one in the room anymore. Plus, a quick glance to my aunt’s bookshelves revealed some nice treats (we Scotts are a well-read bunch :P)

But, as I told my aunt and grandmother, with tears in my eyes, “Everyday. I miss him everyday.”

(Above: Christmas 1991. L-R: My sister, myself, Dad and my Uncle. Love to the departed two.)

Hark! A Villain

There is a villain in the background of Amelia Peabody’s life being referenced in Lion in the Valley. I’m guessing I would know his exploits if I’d read the Amelia Peabody series in order. Anywho, he is referred to as “The Master Criminal”. I know I should be intrigued and concerned by his shadowy existence but all I can think of is “Nemesis” from the comic Hark! A Vagrant by Kate Beaton.This is comic #327, PS.

I will do this in Dad's name

I will do this in Dad's name

I think it would be lovely to have his name Ex Libris in an Enoch Pratt book. I wonder if they tell you what the title is or in which branch the book is housed.

Part of me would like to pick the book but the other half likes the possibility (as small as it may be) of coming across it one day. It would be unfortunate if it was a book about the KKK or something but my Dad, the ACLU proponent, would probably have understood.

The Lion in the Valley (Start)

There is some cold going around and it would appear I’ve now gotten it. Ah well, one strain is a stomach flu and so far (knock on wood) I just have traditional cold symptoms. I am a bit bothered because I wanted to donate platelets this week but it’s not going to happen with my germy self. Oh well, I’ll be sure to sign up once I’m well. I regret that Dad and I never did that together. He donated blood and platelets often. He said it was a pleasant experience being hooked up to an Apheresis machine for the hour and half it took. He was sometimes given a DVD player to keep in his lap. We made “sometime” plans to donate together and watch a movie. We went to movies a few times a year, just the two of us. Mom never liked the theater experience, it’s too loud and one can’t MST3K it in the public setting, not to mention the cost. So, Dad and I had father/daughter movie time. It was nice. I will definitely miss that by the time “The Hobbit” is in theaters. We would definitely have seen that together.

But anyway, in my convalescence I grabbed another Elizabeth Peters. This one is Lion in the Valley. I haven’t read any of the Amelia Peabody series before. It may have been sensible to start with the first, Crocodile on the Sandbank but the books in domo patris are not yet organized (though the way my mother has them stacked is quite smart looking). I’m hoping a romp in turn of the twentieth century Cairo will distract me from the sniffling.

I just noticed that the .50 price tag is quite similar to the one on Devil May Care. It appears that this one bears the date of 04.27.06 (almost my birthday.) Hmm. Wonder if Pop got them at the same time and at which store. I’m going to guess Salvation Army? Maybe I’ll try to keep track of his sources as well — The Book Thing will be a common one.

At Home & Devil May Care (Finish)

I finished Bill Bryson’s At Home: A Short History of Private Life last night. Fittingly, I finished it under my flannel sheets with a beagle at my feet. 1851. I will never forget that year. I also wonder if any future success I incur at pub “Jeopardy” (which means watching “Jeopardy” at the pub with friends) will be directly informed by Bill Bryson. From the outset it seemed like it would mostly be about structures themselves but by the end it seems obvious that we can trace most of modern living through our homes. With technological advances homesteads would be the foremost places to implement them. What I really enjoyed too was Bryson’s style. It felt like a conversation, as if he were giving you a tour of his home and happened to be full of other information. Actually, this is very much how my Dad behaved. When I was little I would ask him to read me a story at bedtime but would of course, be enraptured by the story and still awake at its end. I would then ask him a question that I was sure would dove-tail into logarithms or lengthy histories. All in all this will be one of my most cherished in the collection. It is a perfect holiday book, a cozy companion to be read on the couch (alliterative, much?) As I said, it was in fact a gift to my Dad last Christmas. I do no think he ever got to read it before he got sick but I think he would have adored it. As a homebody and giant brainy nerd (I say with love) this was practically written for him.

• Bryson, Bill. At Home: A Short History of Private Life. New York: DoubleDay. Hardback


• ISBN 13: 978-0767919388 


• 512 Pages

I finished Bryson last night and came quite close to concluding Elizabeth Peters in the same sitting. Alas for me I was too tuckered and it wasn’t until this morning that it was finished. Devil May Care is exactly what I wanted it to be, a lark. 

Set in late 1970s (originally published 1977) Virginia in a small but affluent town of “old families” it has all of my favorite Gothic elements. There were ghostly apparitions, mysterious family histories, old books and a secret, a creepy spinster librarian (!!) and of course, cats! I must say though, that the atmosphere got me a couple of times this week while I was reading. One night I heard strange noises coming from the kitchen. The cat and dog were beside me and the fiance and roommate upstairs in bed. Later that night there was a repetitive thumping from below (our bedroom is above the kitchen) which woke me. This sound I discovered was because the beagle was dreaming and occasionally thumping the foot board of the bed which reverberated and sounded as if it were coming from below. Then, as an old document is being studied in the novel I found strange text in the binding of my paperback! Okay, I’m sure it’s about alignment for the typeset but still — exciting! All in all I really had a lark reading this novel. A character even reminded me of my mother which was pleasant in this enterprise of Dad’s books. I would recommend this book to any of my booknerd friends who are looking for something fun, an in-betweener, “a summer girlfriend” in Black Books terms.

• Peters, Elizabeth. Devil May Care. New York: Avon Books. 2001. Paperback


• ISBN 10: 0-380-73115-0


• 330 Pages

A sad day for bibliophiles the world over

A sad day for bibliophiles the world over

I was only 10 when I traveled to Paris but I hoped to meet him on my honeymoon. Alas for that but my heart goes to his children more than I.

At Home: A Short History of Private Life

Reading in bed surrounded by beagle and cat with a big cup of coffee. Yes, I am my father’s daughter.

I’m about 70% through At Home: A Short History of Private Life by Bill Bryson. This was, I believe, the first book of Dad’s that I picked up after he passed. I have a terrible habit of reading numerous books af once. Technically I am working on about six at the moment, four of which came from Pop and two of my own devising. Goodness knows I love Bill Bryson. Bill Bryson is one of the best people on the planet. This is only the second book of his that I have read. The first being the classic, A Walk in the Woods. His style is fantastic. He’s so witty and fleshes out what could be mundane at a cursory glance. At Home is divided by rooms in a house, his own home actually, formerly a church in the countryside of Northern England. He manages to provide a history of modern civilization. 1851 has proven to be quite a pivotal year! I picked it out because it was given to him last Christmas. Thinking back I felt like it was an appropriate start because that was just before he got sick. He had a few symptoms at Christmas but we had no idea how bad it was yet. Truth be told he’d had other symptoms for about two years prior but they hadn’t been diagnosed at all. This book reminds me of the quiet before the storm. A nice Christmas, just after I’d gotten engaged.

Speaking of, my fiance is trucking his way through Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace. It’s good to know that when he is finished I’ll have a seventh book to work on.

‘Nothing in this modern life our ours,’ said Mr. Mulliner, taking a sip of his hot Scotch and lemon, ‘is more remarkable than the way in which the mystery novel has gripped the public. Your true enthusiast, deprived of his favorite reading, will stop at nothing in order to get it. He is like a victim of the drug habit when withheld from cocaine.’

‘Nothing in this modern life our ours,’ said Mr. Mulliner, taking a sip of his hot Scotch and lemon, ‘is more remarkable than the way in which the mystery novel has gripped the public. Your true enthusiast, deprived of his favorite reading, will stop at nothing in order to get it. He is like a victim of the drug habit when withheld from cocaine.’
P.G. Woodhouse’s Mulliner Nights. “Strychnine in the Soup”

I left the Elizabeth Peters novel in the car so today’s work book (as in read at work) is the awesome mystery writer P.D. James! This is a collection of three stories: “Cover Her Face” (1962), “A Mind to Murder” (1963), and “An Unsuitable Job For A Woman” (1977).

It was put out as a “Lost Classics Omnibus” by Mystery Guild in Garden City, NY. The collection is titled, A Suitable Job For A Woman. Seemed like a good one to take to my workplace, ha.

ISBN: 978-1-60751-426-8

Greetings and Salutations

The idea for this project came as I was writing in a joint blog. I realized that most of my posts were Dad-centric and book-centric. Also, I’ve never had a tumblr before but I’ve been following some others for quite awhile.

It’s been just over four months since I lost Dad. He and I were very close so its been a rough time. He was very ill and suffered two strokes before he passed. The first was rather mild but the second was devastating. It wasn’t until the last few weeks of his life that he was able to read again. And even then his ability was severely diminished. His vision was literally half what it had been (which was not all that great to begin with) as he lost the left visual fields in both eyes.

We worked together to get him back into reading, with dogged determination. My Dad was a book-hound before his illness so I feel like I can celebrate him by going through his library. I remember when he got a CueCat to get a database together for all the books in the house. He never got around to it, so at least I can do it for him posthumously.

I will be using LibraryThing.com to help me in this quest - or odyssey as it were. Also, I will provide links via WorldCat.org in case you want to find a book in a library near you! I also aim to stamp all of his books with a embossing stamp I’ve inherited. (This is where the title comes from.)The other challenge will be to sort them in Library of Congress Classification, or LCC.

I’ve already read three of his books so I will go back and review them before getting started with the book I am currently reading.