Tuesday, December 18, 2018

Jacob's Room is Full of Books - December


"I come inside. And close the door."
With these words, Susan Hill ends the month of December, and this wonderful book. I felt a sadness that surprised me. I am thankful I'm going to begin her book The Magic Apple Tree in three days, but I am still hoping so much that she will continue writing these nonfiction gems which are Howards End is on the Landing and Jacob's Room is Full of Books. I don't really have words for how much these books mean to me. She pulls me into her heart and into her thoughts over and over again. And it is just where I want to be.

If she continues on, I hope that she writes about the book which the title comes from. I was hoping for a few pages on Jacob's Room by Virginia Woolf. I am missing VW. It has been too long since I have been completely caught up in her books. I believe Mrs Dalloway was the last one I read, and that over a decade ago. I would also like to read Howards End again. It has been ages. I tried to watch the latest television version but just didn't enjoy it.

After reading,
Some words, some sentences, some names, some stories are part of the fabric of my mind, part of the store of references and images I was certainly not born with but which I began to acquire and memorise as a child and continued to absorb through all my growing up and into adulthood. I heard the Bible being read and the prayers of the Church of England services - the words of Morning Prayer, the Eucharist and Evensong, the Collects - all from The Book of Common Prayer and the hymns from The English Hymnal. I am still surprised at how much I know of all this by heart, and I was not from a vicarage family. I wasn't alone. Everyone used to know chunks of the Bible because they heard it without fail every Sunday, and those who could not read it did not really need to, they listened and remembered over the years. ...
It makes me sad that the Bible, the Prayer Book, the Classical canon are not part of my own children's fabric. The rot set in forty years ago or more. I doubt if they know anything much by heart and it is not their fault. Schools regard learning by rote as time-wasting and sterile and how does a rich store of literary and cultural references help one in Real Life? 
The Collects are a particular source of beautiful cadences and deep meaning. They are inspiring, and comforting, and they are all quite short, so reading the Collect of the Day each morning takes only a couple of minutes. You need not be a believer to gain a lot. This reading is a form of meditation and mindfulness and goodness knows, those are all the rage. I think the Collects strengthen one's mental immune system and guard against all manner of ills. Is that just me? 
Oh God, 
you know us to be set
in the midst of so many and great dangers,
that by reason of the frailty of our nature 
we cannot always stand upright:
grant to us such strength and protection
as may support us in all dangers 
and carry us through all temptations;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord. 
I decided that I'm going to take her words to heart and begin reading a Collect every day from the Prayer Book I received when I was confirmed.



She tells a lovely little story about being on the beach at this wonderful time of year when not many people are about.
A man came towards me and said in a low voice that on the old gate down there was an arctic finch. I followed his pointing finger to it. Pretty, nervous little bird, but sitting bold as brass on the top strut of the gate, and unmistakeable. 
Soon some birdwatchers appear. "Word had got out, It only takes one text message." But as she walked back to her car she was "hugging myself with secret delight that for a moment or two, the quiet man and I had had it all to ourselves."


She mentions in passing a book that I bought almost three years ago for Tom.


He loved this book, and learned a lot from it. Susan Hill said it was a best seller! Who would have thought. Makes me very happy.

And she introduced me to something completely new! Fat balls. I'm sure all my UK readers know exactly what they are. Over here we call it suet, and it comes in little square plastic containers. No plastic with the fat balls. I'm looking into getting some. They sound like a great idea. For my American readers, this is what they look like.

There are special holders/feeders for them. There's even an Alan Titchmarsh one!


So, Collects and fat balls! I ask you, does a writer get more eclectic than this?!

The pleasure I've gotten from reading this book over the past 12 months is immense. As I did with Howards End is on the Landing, I'm certain to read it again. And, as I said, I do so hope she continues on.

24 comments:

  1. And I'm sure I speak for lots of people, Nan, when I say that I've loved, loved, loved your monthly posts on Jacob's Room, so thoughtful and beautifully written. I will miss them. But... am so thrilled that you will be reading The Magic Apple Tree very soon.

    And yes, I know what fatballs are! LOL

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    1. Oh, thank you so much for your kind words! You and I are really big fans of hers! Do you serve them to the birds in your yard?

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  2. I wondered what fat balls were too but didn't look it up, now I know! And I also thought I'd start reading a Collect every day. One has been on my bed table since I asked a used bookstore owner to find me an old one back before we were able to find them for ourselves online but I've only read it randomly. Nan, I have enjoyed your monthly posts on Hill's books so much! And I'm so glad you mentioned starting The Magic Apple Tree in 3 days because I had laid it aside to begin in January. But of course it does begin in Winter and that is almost here. So I just stopped to pull it out of my stack of books to be read.

    I just finished reading again Hill's Christmas book, Lanterns Across the Snow where her fictional Fanny remembers back to when she was nine years old growing up in a rectory. John Lawrence who did the wood engravings for Magic Apple Tree also did them for this Christmas story.

    You know, I think I'm going to start all over again in January with Jacob's Room. With my memory, it probably will read as new again! But I hope Hill will bring out another one of its type again too.

    I couldn't get interested in the new Howard's End on television either.

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  3. I love it that you are going to do this, as well!

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  4. Your eclectic approach is so friendly, Nan. I love the writing in the Book of Common Prayer, especially the prayers for various occasions. Even no-longer-church-going me has one of those in my last wishes, to be said at my funeral. Meanwhile, I'm relieved to discover fat balls are for the birds and not for humans! I kept expecting a recipe . . . .

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    1. I feel the same way about the writing. And that's hilarious about the fat balls!

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  5. We know the fat balls as Meisenknödel (tits' dumplings). They come in a small yellow net (plastic, I'm afraid) each and are hung on low branches of trees and shrubs in the garden, or from the stands of birdhouses, so that the tits can fly there, hold on to them and eat.
    Howards End - now this is a book I've read maybe 20 years ago and really liked it; there is one TV adaption I enjoyed but it is not a new one, I didn't know there was a new one.

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    1. Here it is the woodpeckers and blue jays who most like the suet.

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  6. Lovely ideas I get from each of your posts, Nan! I need to get some presents for the birds these cold days...Thank you for reminding me...
    And I am intrigued by the collects idea. I've been reading a book with a poem for each day of Advent, and then really good commentary on each one.

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    1. Thank you so much! And that's a wonderful idea for Advent.

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  7. I love the Prayer Book! Now, you will have to get the one from New Zealand! ☺

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    1. I do, too. The size increased over the years, but I like the little one best.

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  8. I have enjoyed your Jacob's Room posts. I'm hoping Santa may bring it me for Christmas, but in the meantime I have gone back to re-reading Howards End is on the Landing.

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  9. I should have mentioned the book and author....It's Waiting on the Word by Malcolm Guite.

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    1. Thank you for coming back to tell me! I shall check it out.

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  10. I loved your posts about Jacobs Room. I know I will enjoy your next read. I just love the way you share your readings. You write so well. You are an inspiration to me to read and write more.

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    1. What a very, very nice thing to say. Thank you, Lisa.

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  11. I have so enjoyed the Jacob's Room posts and all the interesting comments that accompany them.
    Just ordered it on Amazon to start reading in the new year. I pulled the Winter anthology for the Changing Seasons off the shelf to start reading tomorrow. Perhaps those essays will serve as my inspirational reading but I do love the idea of reading the collects or a poem too.
    Thank you for all the wonderful books that you share with us - so many fine books. I just bought Sy Montgomery's "How to be a Good Creature." She's a fine nature writer and writes very beautifully about animals and our connection to them. You might enjoy her works.
    Mary

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    1. That pleases me no end that you bought it! There are so many wonderful seasonal books. It was hard this year to settle on the two that I am doing. Next year I have my eye on some others on the shelf! I have Sy's Octopus book but haven't read it yet (story of my life!). Her husband is also a writer, and there is one of his books around here, too. Thank you for the encouragement to read her.

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  12. I'll echo Lisa's comment. You have such a way of telling us about what you've read and how it has left a mark on you. I might still have a little gift money in my Amazon account and think I will buy either Howards End is on the Landing or Jacob's Room is Full of Books. As far as a daily reading of the Collects, I might do the same beginning in 2019. My father (an Episcopal priest) left quite a collection of Prayer books, which my stepmom has said all of us kids are welcome to. Although not a church-goer any longer, it might be a nice way to honor and connect to my dad in the coming year. Thank you for the inspiration.

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    1. I don't go either, but how I love the old words - the ones I grew up with. I have quite a few Prayer Books and Hymnals. I can't seem to let any of them go. There's a great one that was my father's - a combination of both. Now, I believe, they use paper leaflets. To me, that is very sad. So, I live in my memories of church, and that's okay.

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    2. I love the old words, too. I don't know if I ever told you, but at one point, I could almost recite the entire Episcopal service (not the sermon, of course) from memory. I guess that's what comes from being raised in the church, as well as being a PK. :) I love the old hymns and might have to see about getting one of my dad's. I'd love to sit at the piano and just pick out some of my old favorites. I'll be curious to see what his memorial service is like since it's in the Cathedral in Seattle. I hope they don't use paper leaflets.

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    3. I probably could have, too! Sometimes lines still pop into my head. I found them beautiful and meaningful. Some of the new ones were good, too, but they should have just added them instead of changing, I thought. I hope they don't either.

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