Day: August 15, 2018
Elizabeth von Arnim: The Solitary Summer – Reading Progress Update: 30 of 190 Pages
“What a blessing it is to love books. Everybody must love something, and I know of no objects of love that give such substantial and unfailing returns as books and a garden.” No contest on the books — and love of flowers … And Elizabeth has an honest-to-God favorites shelf! Go figure! “In the centre […]
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Elizabeth von Arnim: The Solitary Summer – Reading Progress Update: 22 of 190 Pages
Aaand there we are — there had to be a veritable Thoreau eulogy sooner rather than later. I love the sense of spiritual companionship coming through here, though — and I love how she is attributing different times of day and environments to different authors. Ah, the luxury of being able to do that in the […]
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Elizabeth von Arnim: The Solitary Summer – Reading Progress Update: 14 of 190 Pages
“I sometimes literally ache with envy as I watch the men going about their pleasant work in the sunshine, turning up the luscious damp earth, raking, weeding, watering, planting, cutting the grass, pruning the trees — not a thing that they do from the first uncovering of the roses in the spring to the November […]
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Elizabeth von Arnim: The Solitary Summer – Reading Progress Update: 9 of 190 Pages
“A great deal that is poetical has been written by English people about May Day, and the impression left on the foreign mind is an impression of posies, and garlands, and village greens, and youths and maidens much be-ribboned, and lambs, and general friskiness. I was in England once on a May Day, and we […]
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Elizabeth von Arnim: The Solitary Summer – Reading Progress Update: 3 of 190 Pages
“Last night after dinner, when we were in the garden, I said, ‘I want to be alone for a whole summer, and get to the very dregs of life. I want to be as idle as I can, so that my soul may have time to grow. Nobody shall be invited to stay with me, […]
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