Personalities and Bookcases

Each had his past shut in him like the leaves of a book known to him by heart; and his friends could only read the title. - (Virginia Woolf, Jacob's Room)

I just finished reading an article on npr's website written by Tom Rachman about his eccentric collection of obituary compilations that he keeps on the bottom shelf of his bookcase. I think we all maybe have one of those "shelves" that we don't necessarily point out to neighbors or certain family members. I also think that we all have some topic that we find ourselves reading about over and over, whether it be obituaries, zombies, or in my case, Hurricane Katrina books. Some take it one step further and make it an obsession whereas others just dabble occasionally.

After contemplating Rachman's article, I stared for quite a while at my own bookcase. With the idea of soon installing built-ins for the living room, I am now double-stacking various cheap Wal-Mart bookcases throughout our house. One small bookcase holds signed editions that I hold dear to my heart, another holds my husband's fantasy and military novels. But the one that I happen to be looking at from the comforts of my couch is an interesting mix. It is a home for my college anthologies of art and dramatic literature; popular novels; an odd collection of non-fiction about the Black Death of Europe, and of course, my Katrina/Louisiana shelf. Peppered from one ledge to another are little trinkets...my curiosities. A little wooden box full of my grandfather's old keys; a milk glass candy jar given to my by my husband's grandmother; a treasure box holding my late father's cheesy leather belt, true 80's style; Mardi Gras beads depicting funny little Voodoo dolls; a Mexican jar candle and chocolate grinder; and no doubt, much dust. So what does your bookcases say about you?

Typewriters, Typewriters, Everywhere!

Monroeville County Courthouse in Monroeville, Alabama (home of Harper Lee and Truman Capote) has an eclectic collection of vintage typewriters. Notice, the small gray one in the case was actually used by Truman himself! Aside from typewriters, the courthouse also has a collection of old dictaphones and cameras.

Singers and Storytellers

I saw this couple perform live in Franklin, Tennessee at the Battleground Brewery. This song proves that great writing has no boundaries.

Robert Hicks And The Real Widow Of The South

When I first read Robert Hicks' historical novel Widow of the South, I knew that I just had to visit the place that gave Hicks the inspiration for such a riveting book, Carnton Plantation in Franklin, Tennessee (just south of Nashville).

Carnton Plantation and Confederate cemetery have no doubt gotten an onslaught of visitors due to Hicks' novel, however, on its own, Carnton is one of the most exciting plantation tours I've ever taken. After reading page after page about how heroine Carrie McGavock helped transform her beautiful home into a Civil War hospital, it was amazing to see her portraits on the walls, for it seemed as if she was still keeping house. The numerous blood stains and makeshift operating tables throughout the house brought to life that the Battle of Franklin, was in fact, the worst battle of the Civil War. The casualties top Gettysburg by leaps and bounds.

A few yards from the big house sits the McGavock and Confederate cemeteries. Unknown soldiers from every Southern state lay in even grids thanks to Mrs. Carrie who tended the cemetery until the day she died...including recovering the soldiers' bodies from mass graves and helping to locate names and relatives. It was a massive undertaking and one that Robert Hicks uses to make his novel come to life.

August Louisiana Road Trips

My article Mrs. Vera: The Patron Saint of Hurricane Katrina is on page 18.

Alabama Excursion - Part 2

In Monroeville, Alabama...home of author Harper Lee and Truman Capote, it is a sin to kill a mockingbird. It is not, however, a sin to think that every little gray-haired lady that crosses your path is Harper Lee herself. (is that sort of like so many years of bad luck? I hope it's not 50 since this is the 50th anniversary!)

We arrived in Monroeville (a.k.a. Maycomb) at about 6:30pm with no brisk hotel check-in. Apparently Expedia and Days Inn of Monroeville do not communicate well. After dinner, we relaxed in our room and I tried to be strong and not rip any pages out of the phone book as souvenirs. Alas, I did not come home with the page of L's from the Yellow Pages.

I was eager to get into town the next morning. We headed straight for the courthouse and were surprised that we were, in fact, the only visitors! We had the courthouse all to ourselves! We took picture after picture of the courtroom. You would have thought my husband was a professional photographer as many ways as he had me posing at the judge's bench. As I was taking a gander at Truman Capote's typewriter, I saw a short gray haired lady stomp into an office a few feet away. I thought I was going to have an "episode" for I thought that this woman was Harper Lee (or Nelle, as locals call her). The resemblance was uncanny. I was NOT trying to convince myself that every elderly lady in town was a famous author, but this woman could have been Nelle's twin. A couple walking through the building stopped and spoke to the lady, about town goings ons and I later asked them if that was actually Harper Lee. After a little stumbling around, they told me no, that Harper was in an assisted living facility in town. I was bummed but have found myself analyzing the photos I snapped quickly of the older lady in the office since I returned from the trip. Maybe she and Elvis are hanging out somewhere having coffee.

Of course I bought enough souvenirs it felt as if I were carrying around a bag full of bricks. We bought books at the Beehive book shop in the square and had buffet lunch at the Mockingbird Grill (your quintessential small town diner). On the way out of town I took photos of the rock wall dividing what was once the Lee property and the Faulk property (Capote's aunts lived here). You can now buy ice cream at a place called Mel's Dairy Dream, directly on the spot that the Lee family called home. On a lucky day, you can even catch Nelle's sister Alice in her pant suit and tennis shoes going into work, a lawyer at age 98.

Alabama Excursion - Part 1

So...I lived in Montgomery, Alabama for a few years. Had my daughter at Baptist Hospital and even met one of the best friends my family has ever had (we all moved away together). One weekend when my mom came to visit, we toured the F.Scott & Zelda Fitzgerald house in the old Cloverdale neighborhood of Montgomery. Zelda had family there and, according to my grandmother-in-law who had family in the same area, threw lavish parties that were the talk of the town.

5 or so years later, the photographs that I took of the Fitzgerald house had still not surfaced in my home. I do not remember ever downloading or developing anything remotely similar. Now, during my first visit to Montgomery since moving to the Pelican State, one of the first things I do (aside from being a bit glum after discovering that our favorite restaurants have closed up shop), is drive into old Cloverdale (near the historic Huntingdon College where To Kill A Mockingbird's Harper Lee went to college for a time) to replace the photographs that I did or did not take. We did not take another tour, but I had fun traipsing throughout the yard, taking snap shots of various angles of the home, now museum.