In Which I Plan Some Armchair Travel

It's a three-day weekend here - we are celebrating Labor Day which honors the contributions of American workers and also pretty much puts a cap on summer. 

I have plenty to read since I just brought home eight books from the recent used book sale (here and here).

I will be traveling up the Seine with Mort Rosenblum (The Secret Life of the Seine). I also would like to get started on Bill Bryson's tale of hiking the Appalachian Trail (A Walk in the Woods). And, I will be dipping into the two books of essays (Best American Essays 1994 and 2000).

The temperature will be hovering in the mid-90s which is as good an excuse as any to stay indoors and relax with a good book.

What's on your list this weekend? 

A River Runs Through It

The Seine at Bougival in the Evening
Claude Monet
1869

Cleopatra had her Nile. Caesar had his Tiber. Mark Twain had the Mississippi River and Lewis and Clark had the Missouri. The Queen has the Thames. And author Mort Rosenblum has the Seine.

In The Secret Life of the Seine (1994) Mr. Rosenblum, an American journalist living in Paris, tells tales of living on and exploring this river after he bought and moved onto La Vieille, a fifty-four-foot-long, thirteen-foot-wide boat. 

It was not something he would normally have aspired to, he writes, but circumstances aligned themselves. He was forced to move from his apartment on the Ile Saint-Louis and at the same time a co-worker, who owned and lived on the boat, was moving to England and had to sell it. 

This was in 1987 and already the La Vieille was almost 100 years old. She had served in the British Royal Navy at the turn of the century and after World War II was turned into a motor yacht.

I have only dipped into the first 25 pages of the book, but already am looking forward to Mr. Rosenblum's journey from the Seine's source near Dijon to where it merges with the English Channel at Honfleur. All 482 miles of it. 

Having only experienced the river from the quais in Paris and its final destination in Honfleur, I am excited to learn about its wending course through France.

From the beginning, the French soul has bobbed in the waters of the Seine. On its bridges, love blooms; beneath them, lives end. Hardly anyone can tell you exactly where the river starts, or much else about it, but it flows through every romantic's spirit. It nourished Maupassant's pen and watered Monet's lily pond.

Paris was the City of Light long before there were switches to flip. The rayonnement, that radiance which the French have always beamed to the less enlightened, emanates from the pinks and oranges and sparkling flashes of the sun sinking into the Seine. 

People who live in towns or cities on a river are lucky indeed. It gives them an ever-changing scene. My river is the Ohio. What's yours?

Summer Used Book Sale 2013 - The Hardcovers

I only purchased three hardcover books at Locust Grove's Summer Used Book Sale on Friday, but I am quite happy with all three and will be proud to add them to my bookshelves.

The Secret Life of the Seine (1994) by Mort Rosenblum - This is an account of Mr. Rosenblum's life on a boat docked in Paris and his exploration of this most famous of rivers. This is a discarded library book but I swear it doesn't look as if it has been touched. I am not familiar with this work but I was attracted by its lovely cover. And, of course, Paris! 

Bound to Please (2005) by Michael Dirda - Here is another book about books. I may have read this 'one-volume literary education' but it doesn't matter as Mr. Dirda always has my attention and affection. In over 100 essays, he covers books from The Histories of Herodotus to The Letters of Kingsley Amis. 

The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street (1973) by Helene Hanff - I let out a small shriek of excitement when I saw this book. This is Ms. Hanff's follow-up to 84, Charing Cross Road, a very bookish book indeed. Here her dream comes true and she finally arrives in London. This book is in wonderful condition for being 40 years old. There is one slight tear on the bookjacket but it was quickly repaired with a small piece of tape. I am sure my own copy of 84 CCR will be happy to have this companion next to it on the shelf.