I was already thinking I’d like to read some collections of letters this year but it was only a vague amorphous desire that hadn’t congealed around anything. I just keep noticing the book Letters of the Century: America, 1900-1999 on one of my basement bookshelves every time I walk by it and then I think, “hmm, I should read that.”
But thanks to Melwyk at The Indextrious Reader, my desire now has a focus, the Postal Reading Challenge. It is a year-long challenge and you can sign up at anytime. No lists need to be made in advance, books can overlap with other challenges or be rereads, you just have to review them online somewhere be it a blog or Goodreads or LibraryThing. Books can be fiction or nonfiction, collections of letters, books about letter writing, epistolary fiction or a book in which letters or the post office are the main focus. Fun, right?
While I already send at least twelve pieces of mail every year, I don’t think I can commit to the Air Mail Express Level which also means reading twelve postal related books. I want to actually complete the challenge so I am going to aim for the Postcard Level, four books with a postal theme, and If I manage more it will be a bonus. Though I just now realize that I finished a book on Friday that will fit right in with this challenge so maybe Air Mail Express isn’t out of the question after all. I had better start the evidence trail for mail I put in the post just in case!
I have a list of letter collections and letter related fiction and nonfiction going at WorldCat that I am sure I will be adding to as time goes on. I also already own quite a few books as evidenced by my letters tag at LibraryThing. I’ll be making selections from these lists. Of course, whim might lead me to something on neither list. How exciting!
On a side note, Danielle has begun her Lost in the Stacks Home Edition featuring my bookshelves! Go check it out.
Letters of the century : America, 1900-1999 sounds like a book I would like to read!! I need more time. I did resolve to read more this year but I was somewhat vague on that resolution!!
LikeLike
Helen, doesn’t it sound like a good book? I am sure there are lots of interesting letters in there!
LikeLike
Oh, I am so glad to see that you’re joining on this challenge! I hope to find a lot of good reading within other people’s choices… and get some of my own tbr finally read.
I love the feature on Danielle’s blog, too – so true that books seem to have feet…mine end up in nearly every room of the house.
LikeLike
Melwyk, I think it was a great idea on your part! Letters are like catnip for me🙂 And thanks! I’ve never actually seen feet on my books but I think they must be there somewhere!
LikeLike
I just read “Letters From Black America” and highly, highly recommend it. There are letters from people both famous and not, grouped by theme, and presented chronologically within each theme.
LikeLike
stackwanderer, oh that sounds like a good book! I have added it to my worldcat letters list. Thanks!
LikeLike
I have a book of old Japanese correspondence which I want to read, that would be a start. I wonder if I have three more postal themed books in my mess that I call a bookshelf.
LikeLike
Bikkuri, I am sure you could find three other books with a postal theme on your bookshelf, and if not, you have an excuse to go books shopping😉
LikeLike
great idea. I remember reading a very moving collection of historical love letters at one point.
LikeLike
That should be a cue for me to tackle the monster of all epistolary novels- Clarissa by Samuel Richardson, a book so huge it has always discouraged me! Have you ever tackled it, Stefanie?
LikeLike
Ian, oh yes, I have tackled Clarissa! I did it a number of years ago and it took me about a year to read it. It is a book that is at times great fun and at other times infuriating because nothing happens for a hundred pages at a time. But it is worth the read. One of these days I’d like to try Pamela. Maybe this year since it is an epistolary novel!
LikeLike
I’m tackling Sir Charles Grandison! Long project, I think…
LikeLike
Melwyk, that will keep you busy for awhile!
LikeLike
Ophelia, didn’t Melwyk have a good idea? If you remember the title of the collection, let me know!
LikeLike
here it is! http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/234578.Love_Letters
LikeLike
Thanks! I’ve added it to my WorldCat list and my library has it too! Yay!
LikeLike
I have a feeling that I am going to give in and read a book or two of letters (and thus join in as well). I love epistolary novels and have already taken a peek at your list (will go back to it with pen in hand!). Thanks, too, for the link back to my lost in the stacks post and thanks for being the first reader to share her library!
LikeLike
Danielle, c’mon you know you want to do this challenge! It won’t be hard and you could choose novels and letter collections from you favorite historical period🙂 I rather enjoy sharing my library especially when I know others will be sharing theirs too!
LikeLike
If you have the time read Virginia Woolf’s letters. They are a marvel of social history of her time and class.
LikeLike
Alex, oh yes, I have all the volumes of her letters and hope to read at least one of them. I hope to read a collection of Vita and Harold’s letters too.
LikeLike
Stefanie, my daughter sent me the recipe she used for: Yemisir Azifa Salad
(Ethiopian Lentil Salad with a twist.) This is the Vegan dish she prepared for 12/21. We rounded it out with steamed asparagus and Black Rice. This lentil dish was superb and I plan to make it with some French Puy lentils I found:
In Kat’s words:
Ingredients:
-1 lb of steamed lentils
-1/2 red onion chopped
-1/2 green pepper chopped
-1 jalapeno seeded, minced
-1 clove garlic, minced
– 2 tbs of lemon juice
-1 tbs of olive oil
-salt and pepper to taste.
Cook lentils as package directs- let cool. add everything together and EAT!! I really dont measure anything, so whatever feels right for you, go for it!! also, sometimes i add cilantro, or use a red pepper instead of green. I also sometimes add a dash or red wine vinegar if I dont think the lemon did the trick. its always a hit at dinner parties or get together’s i think the key is GARLIC!! Also, it’s always better the next day once the flavors get to marry!
LikeLike
Grad, thank you! That looks delicious. Now that the Solstice is long over, Bookman is back to being the regular cook so I am passing the recipe on to him with the command to make it🙂
LikeLike
What a fun idea! I always have a book of letters or a published diary on the go, so I read a few a year – might sign up, since it won’t change my reading plans much!
LikeLike
Simon, it is a fun idea, isn’t it? I always enjoy reading other people’s mail and diaries but I would hate it of someone read mine!
LikeLike
I have to confess that I am not really a letter reader. No good reason, just that a whole bunch of them feels a bit choppy and fragmented to me. I think I am a sucker for the shapeliness of fiction, or of a good argument. But I will enjoy reading your posts all the more as I’ll learn interesting stuff I never would otherwise!🙂
LikeLike
Litlove, the voyeur in me loves letters and diaries and discovering bits of gossip and scandal. Plus, since I enjoy writing letters, I find reading other people’s letters, especially those of writers, gives inspiration in my own letter writing. Maybe I will discover a collection that will tempt you🙂
LikeLike
What an interesting challenge. It should take you into authors/genres that you might not have thought of otherwise. Good luck – will be keeping an eye on what you discover
LikeLike
kheenand, isn’t it a good challenge? I am hoping to make some good discoveries!
LikeLike
What an interesting challenge … I popped over to Melwyk’s blog but didn’t sign up as I don’t imagine I’ll do it but, like you, I think it’s the voyeur in me that makes me like letters. My Jane Austen group has been reading her letters bit by bit over the years. For one meeting each year we’ve read a “chunk” and we’ve all enjoyed it.
I’ve read Pamela (and the satire Shamela) but not Clarissa. Jane Austen wrote a few epistolary novels in her youth … including Lady Susan. It’s believed a couple of her finished novels (S&S and maybe P&P?) started life as epistolary novels.
I understand what litlove is saying though because whenever I confront an epistolary novel I am always uncertain. Will it be too limited, too perhaps shapeless. However a good one is great. I have never forgotten John Marsden’s YA epistolary novel, Letters from the inside. It’s a gutwrenching story. And The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society was a good read, with the characters and plot coming through well.
Then, of course, there’s always 84 Charing Cross Road – non-fiction – but what a story it has.
LikeLike
Whisperinggums, oh I’d like to try and read a collection of Austen’s letters this year. We’ll see if I actually manage it. I’d forgotten about Lady Susan. I’m glad none of her published novels were epistolary. I do enjoy the letter writing between Willoughby and Marianne and of course Mr. Darcy’s letter to Lizzy in P&P, but I don’t think the books would be as good as they are if they had been epistolary. They’d certainly be very different!
I find it interesting you and Litlove both feel an uncertainty when beginning an epistolary novel. I just dive right in and never think about it, have never thought about it until now! 84 Charing Cross Road is great fun. I hope to read Guernsey as part of the challenge. Have you ever read Dangerous Liaisons? It is all letters and such great fun.
LikeLike
No I haven’t read it … will keep it in mind … sometimes fun is what you need!
LikeLike
If you have seen and enjoyed the movie and thought it a wicked good time, the book is even better!
LikeLike
No, I haven’t the movie either, though was aware of it.
LikeLike
Well you are going to be in for some fun should you ever watch the movie or read the book!
LikeLike