What We're Reading Now

Reflections on the Written Word and the Natural World

10 June 2014

Allison read books by Beatrix Potter, poems by William Wordsworth and a draft of Barbara Linney’s memoir, Learning to Love Flat Shoes, while on vacation in England’s Lake District last week and celebrated the wonder of the written word and the natural world.

Tags: allison read, balance, social media

Yesterday I returned from a ten-day vacation with my mother to London and the Lake District. It’s been on her bucket list for most of her life and it was a treat to join her. One of the things I wanted to do for her was document our journey on Facebook each day so that her friends and mine could “be” with us and she’d have a record of everything to help her make a scrapbook when she got home. All the posts were public so you’re welcome to take a look.

Before I get down to the business of today’s post, I want to pause and thank Julie Arbelaez, the owner of Peace Frogs Travel/Outfitters for planning the most perfect trip for us. Each hotel was delightful and our train tickets, rental car, bus tour tickets in London and the timing of everything unfolded in exactly the way we hoped. Also, I'd like to especially thank one of the best tour guides I've ever been with, Rozie Boulter. We caught the last Hop-On Hop-Off London Tour on Tuesday night of our trip and  with just four of us on the bus, Rozie gave us a stunning and wonderfully personal 2.5 hour sunset tour of London. There's nothing quite like being with a story-teller of Rozie's caliber who so clearly loves what she does for a living.

Mama and I were both English majors and that’s a lot of what inspired this trip. We especially reveled in the written word during our three days in the Lake District. This area was inspiration to so many writers, but today I’ll tell you about three of them. First, Beatrix Potter’s love of this part of England is seen in her 23 children’s books. This website does a beautiful job of chronicling Potter’s unique story as a writer, illustrator, conservationist, natural scientist, farmer, activist, and more.

While I'll confess I've never been a huge fan of her most famous book, The Tale of Peter Rabbit, with what feels like its somewhat punitive and guilt-ridden message, I’ve enjoyed her illustrations and admired all that Potter accomplished in her life at a time when it was almost impossible for women to get published. So it was definitely a treat for me to discover a book that resonated with me a bit more. The Tale of Two Bad Mice is the story of the husband / wife team of Tom Thumb and Hunca Munca (love that name). I enjoyed the trouble they got into and everything they did to clean up and make it right going forward. When you take in the ode to nature in all of Potter’s books with the stories of what she did to preserve 15 farms and more than 4,000 acres of Lake District land, you begin to get a sense that something powerfully restorative and inspiring seems to rise up out of the misty grey (and sometimes sunny) gardens, farmland lakes and hillsides.

one of the views of Lake Windermere during our stay

Much of William Wordsworth poetry was inspired by his life in the Lake District, too. This poem of his clearly captures the importance of turning away from our work, and ironically, the written word, that we might turn toward nature and restore our sense of balance:

“The Tables Turned” published in 1798 and published in his collection, Lyrical Ballads.

Up! up! my Friend, and quit your books;
Or surely you'll grow double:
Up! up! my Friend, and clear your looks;
Why all this toil and trouble?

The sun above the mountain's head,
A freshening lustre mellow
Through all the long green fields has spread,
His first sweet evening yellow.

Books! 'tis a dull and endless strife:
Come, hear the woodland linnet,
How sweet his music! on my life,
There's more of wisdom in it.

And hark! how blithe the throstle sings!
He, too, is no mean preacher:
Come forth into the light of things,
Let Nature be your teacher.

She has a world of ready wealth,
Our minds and hearts to bless—
Spontaneous wisdom breathed by health,
Truth breathed by cheerfulness.

One impulse from a vernal wood
May teach you more of man,
Of moral evil and of good,
Than all the sages can.

Sweet is the lore which Nature brings;
Our meddling intellect
Mis-shapes the beauteous forms of things:—
We murder to dissect.

Enough of Science and of Art;
Close up those barren leaves;
Come forth, and bring with you a heart
That watches and receives.

Finally, let me now tell you about my most favorite writer of all, my mama and vacation partner, Barbara Linney. If you haven’t had a chance to read her book, Turn Your Face: How to Be Heard and Get What You Want Most of the Time, I hope you’ll fix that soon. She also read me 20 chapters of her new memoir, Learning to Love Flat Shoes, while we gazed onto Lake Windermere and Fell Foot from our fabulous resort, Lakeside Hotel & Spa. I can absolutely promise you that you’re in for lots of laughter and life lessons about how to live well and have it all (just not all at once).

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