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“The only way to spend New Year’s Eve is either quietly with friends or in a brothel. Otherwise when the evening ends and people pair off, someone is bound to be left in tears.” —W.H. Auden
“Be always at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let each new year find you a better man.” —Benjamin Franklin
“New Year’s Day: Now is the accepted time to make your regular annual good resolutions. Next week you can begin paving hell with them as usual.” —Mark Twain
▫ Some 745 miles of shelves in three buildings on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., house the Library of Congress’ bounty of books and other materials. Visitors should head for the Thomas Jefferson Building, where a visual extravaganza awaits.
▫ The Library was initially located in a boarding house after its founding in 1800 and was later moved to the U.S. Capitol. Its first permanent building—bearing former president Jefferson’s moniker—opened in 1897, making it the oldest federal cultural institution in the country.
▫ Why does Jefferson have the honors? After British troops burned the Capitol building and destroyed the library’s core collection of 3,000 volumes, Congress approved the purchase of Jefferson’s personal library—6,487 books bought for $23,950. The volumes that Jefferson originally contributed are on display (southwest pavilion, second floor).
▫ A bibliophile could move in and be right at home in the dazzling, octagon-shaped Reading Room (photo top row, center). It’s spacious (several stories high); gorgeously decorated with golden-color marble columns, statues of writers, artists, and thinkers like Michelangelo and Shakespeare, and a Renaissance-style dome; and has plenty of reading material. The Reading Room can be viewed from an upper level platform called the Overlook. Standing behind a clear plastic partition takes away some of the grandeur, but it’s still an impressive sight.
▫ Let there be light. The library’s light bulb budget is $100,000 a year.
▫ Bacchus, the Roman god of wine, is one of the images adorning the Thomas Jefferson Building’s main chamber. The Great Hall soars 75 feet, rising from a marble floor to a stained glass ceiling. Take some time to soak up the splendor of the Great Hall. Look up, down, and sideways, or you’ll miss its nuances. Woven into the eye-catching display of mosaics, statues, paintings, and decorative details—some of it drawing on the Italian Renaissance style—are themes of literature, music, philosophy, education, and architecture, along with references to the zodiac and mythology and tributes to other countries.
▫ The Guttenberg Bible, on display in the Great Hall, is one of a three-volume set. To reduce wear and tear on the fragile documents, it’s changed out periodically—under armed guard.
▫ Size matters. The collection contains nearly 145 million items, making it the largest library in the world. Of those, 31 million are bound books (including Novel Destinations). The rest are films, photos, prints, maps, manuscripts, and sheet music. About half of the books and serials are in languages other than English.
▫ Pick and choose. Every day the library receives 22,000 new items, approximately 10,000 of which are added to the collection.
▫ It’s well worth the time to take a free 45-minute, docent-led tour. It gives a fascinating, more in-depth perspective than strolling through the building on your own (I’ve done both). Learn about the library’s creation and collection, as well as its impressive architectural details. Tours are given several times daily Monday through Saturday, and there’s no need to reserve a spot. Even if 50 or 60 people show up, guides break tour-goers into smaller groups.
▫ Only members of Congress and their staff can check out books. The rest of us can view the digital collection online.
–Shannon McKenna Schmidt
Novelist and poet Collin Kelley, who has visited the UK annually for the past 15 years, shares ten Literary Hot Spots in London on AOL Travel. The bookish sites range from the place where Geoffrey Chaucer’s pilgrims set out in The Canterbury Tales to the abodes of Sherlock Holmes and James Bond.
Our favorite is one where classic meets contemporary. Audrey Niffenegger worked at Highgate Cemetery, a Victorian Gothic graveyard and final resting place for famous figures like George Eliot, as a tour guide while researching the 2009 novel Her Fearful Symmetry. The story’s main characters live in a haunted house next to Highgate.
Charles Dickens made headlines this month after two of his novels, Great Expectations and A Tale of Two Cities, were chosen as selections for Oprah Winfrey’s high-profile book club. Whether or not you plan to read along with Oprah, here are a few ways to get into the Dickens spirit this month in London, New York, and Washington, D.C.
CELEBRATE CHRISTMAS VICTORIAN-STYLE
The Charles Dickens Museum in London is going all out with holiday festivities, including events on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and Boxing Day. Stop by to see the house decked in greenery and decorations as described by the writer and enjoy mulled wine and minced pies, learn about Victorian Christmas traditions, listen to readings of Dickens’ tales, and more. Charity readings of A Christmas Carol will take place at 6:30 p.m. tonight and on December 21. Visit DickensMuseum.com for details on times and ticket prices.
MARVEL AT A CHRISTMAS CAROL’S MOMENT OF CREATION
Ebenezer Scrooge, Tiny Tim, Mr. Fezziwig, Bob Cratchit, the Ghost of Christmas Past, and the other colorful characters in Dickens’ A Christmas Carol were created during a six-week flurry of activity in late 1843. The manuscript, which Dickens had bound in red Moroccan leather and presented as a gift to his solicitor, was acquired by financier Pierpont Morgan in the 1800s. The spectacular volume is put on display each year during the holiday season at the Morgan Library & Museum in New York City. Also on view is the first edition A Christmas Carol (1843), open to the title page and an engraved, hand-colored frontispiece of Mr. Fezziwig’s ball (at left). See Dickens’ handiwork through January 9, 2001. TheMorgan.org
WATCH THE DRAMA UNFOLD
A Christmas Carol is being staged at “America’s most famous theatre” in Washington, D.C. until January 2, 2011. Showgoers can catch a performance of Charles Dickens’ spirited tale at Ford’s Theatre and also extend some generosity to those in need. The theatre has partnered with So Others Might Eat, an interfaith, community-based organization in D.C. that offers assistance to the homeless such as housing and job training. At curtain calls during the production’s run, cast members are collecting monetary donations. Tiny Tim would be proud. FordsTheatre.org
[photos top to bottom © Oprah.com, Flickr/Matt From London, Dickens Museum, Morgan Library & Museum, and Ford's Theatre]
Vintage Typewriter Charm Pendant
Each hand-crafted necklace features a vintage typewriter key and is an elegant, one-of-a-kind accessory.
$24.50 etsy.com
Fanciful Body Cream
The founder of Latherati, a soapmaker and self-proclaimed bibliophile, combined her two interests in a delectable array of body products. The inspiration for Fanciful Body Cream–made with mango and shea butters and scented with lavender, cedarwood, cardamom, warm amber, spicy pepper, vetiver, and tonka bean–is Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey about novel-reading Catherine Morland. Other page-turning muses are Philipa Gregory’s The Other Boleyn Girl (Beguile Lotion) and Milan Kundera’s The Unbearable Lilghtness of Being (Ethereal Roll On Perfume). $8 etsy.com
Book Wreath
Pages from an antique book were used to create this gorgeous wreath, crafted to look like a flower and accented in either yellow, blue, or pink.
$40 etsy.com
Mockingbird T-Shirt
Fashion meets fiction with this To Kill a Mockingbird t-shirt from Out of Print Clothing, whose apparel features iconic and often out of print book covers. For each shirt sold, one book is donated to the nonprofit organization Books for Africa. $28 outofprintclothing.com
Reading is Sexy Mug
Reading is indeed sexy. Need we say more?
$12 buyolympia.com
Membership to an Author House
A year’s worth of unlimited admission and invites to private events are some of the perks that come with an author house membership. At the Margaret Mitchell House in Atlanta, Georgia–a Tudor Revival-style building where she wrote Gone With the Wind–an individual $50 membership also includes admission to select other historical museums across the country. margaretmitchellhouse.com
Recycled Sari Journal
Stylish and small enough to tuck in a handbag, these eye-catching journals are made with recycled saris by local community groups and artisans in India. They come in orange and gold, mauve and gold, cranberry and gold, and turquoise and gold.
$24. worldofgood.ebay.com
Shakespeare Fortune Cookies
Literary dessert. Tucked inside each of these vanilla-flavored fortune cookies is a witty quote by the Bard, made exclusively for the Folger Shakespeare Library.
Quart: 10 cookies, $7.95 folger.edu
Charles Dickens Library Candle
Pair a copy of the time-honored holiday read, A Christmas Carol, with this literary-inspired candle. It’s adorned with a quote from Charles Dickens’ tale—“I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year,” uttered by Scrooge—and is infused with scents of tangerine, juniper, and clove. Other scribes honored in the Library Candle Collection are Edgar Allan Poe, Jane Austen, and Walt Whitman. Proceeds benefit the Los Angeles Public Library. $24 lfla.org
“Find Your Inner Nancy Drew” Hoodie
This year marked the 80th anniversary of Nancy Drew’s introduction in print. Mystery fans can flaunt their affinity for the fictional sleuth with this cozy hoodie.
$39.95 basbleu.com
We couldn’t have said it better ourselves. A big thank you goes to Stephanie at the book review blog Stephanie’s Written Word, who before she left on a trip to literary mecca Ireland recommended Novel Destinations for holiday gift-giving. In her post “Gifts for the Literary Minded,” Stephanie gives a great, detailed description of the book and calls it “a delightful read for any book lover.” Music to our ears!
In the post Stephanie also features a second book, one that is on both of our holiday wish lists: Pride and Prejudice: An Annotated Edition
Making a list, checking it twice…
Later in the week we’ll be sharing gift suggestions for bibliophiles, including some Jane Austen-themed items.
