07 Words + Paper
There is not another book in my home more underlined than this one! When I realize I’m fruitlessly scrolling through social media for some nugget of wisdom or inspiration or connection, I try to pick up this book instead. My 4-year old asked “is that picture a figure of speech?”
- Molly, New Haven, CT
A friend and past housemate, J, recommended this author from her apartment near Southwark, London and I’ve been diving in from time to time. It is a strange mix of meditations, commentary, and narrative that touches on themes particularly relevant today, at least to my mind: the primacy and beauty of the corporeal body, the psychology of movement and travel, the character of self-crafted solitude.
J came to Boston from Switzerland to study with a nearby professor and landed with me after a sub-optimal experience living with two older people in Central Square. Her room had a hanging sheet in place of a door?!? Anyway, someone put us in touch, she moved in, and
during the year we had many impromptu conversations over tea… about Croatia, where her parents were from, psychedelics, the history of which she was studying, Hong Kong, where she had lived, her time as a waitress on an overnight train…and America.
In September I attended a conference in London and J and I met for dinner. I was the visitor and she the host. It was a nice switch. Three months ago London was an easy place to get to if you had a bit of money and a few days. Now we’re planted where we are and it, like most places, feels distant. The earth has reclaimed its vastness. In turn, the ability to share a recommendation across an ocean feels refreshingly significant.
-T&T, Somerville, MA
Crossword. A gift from the curator and a life saver. - Bill, Hamilton, MA
During our isolation in my grandparents’ summer place, we’ve uncovered all kinds of gems - old wedding photos, jaunty notes on pale blue paper, long-abandoned biscuit cutters.
Perhaps the most charming discovery is this small book, The Art of Drinking, written by one Dexter Mason and published by Farrar & Rinehart (New York) in 1930.
The relevance of this book in these solitary times only deepens upon reading the subtitle: “Or, What to Make with What You Have?” Indeed.
For modern drinkers, most of the recipes contain an off-putting quantity of egg white and grenadine, but there are some worthy of a try, such as “The Ace.”
My favorite part of the book, though, are the pasted-in additions and handwritten recipes tucked into the pages.
One imagines a red-haired newlywed carefully cutting them from newspapers and magazines, envisioning a lifetime ahead of cocktail parties and elaborate dinners. She would have grown up, of course, without any of these things, in a house more cold than cheerful, more empty than full, under the care of an unmarried aunt who hadn’t planned on guardianship. But the red-haired young woman had made it north, and there were parties to plan, and new friends to make, and better days ahead.
- Caroline, South Newfane, VT
