Library, itself a miracle, serves up magic
My favorite teacher was Mrs. Ketler. While renovations and expansions were under way at Franklin Sherman Elementary School in McLean, Virginia, she operated out of a quonset hut that sounded like tin cans in a barbershop during a heavy rain.
Mrs. Ketler read to us at lunch hour while we ate at our desks. (I distinctly remember “Tom Sawyer.” I was Tom Sawyer. But I dressed a lot better.) She also took us on plenty of expeditions across the athletic field to the school library, so we could check out books. Mrs. Ketler pushed me past comics to the classics.
Mrs. Ketler not only led me to the library, she also made going to the library a habit for the rest of my life.
Recently, I visited the Slover
Library in downtown Norfolk. I am one of the many patrons who are very grateful for the work of the ever helpful staff who have kept the libraries accessible during the long coronavirus ordeal (we all kept our customary masks and distancing).
Inevitably I came out with a lot of books. Two that stood out:
“Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear” by Elizabeth Gilbert (Riverhead Books, 304 pp., $17, 2015).
Gilbert’s hits include the bestselling “Eat, Pray, Love.” The primary goal of “Big Magic” is not only to educate but also to summon and encourage would-be writers to grow and go. She makes the endeavor exciting and interesting. She is the Mrs. Ketler pulling us in. Like this:
“And you have treasures hidden within you — extraordinary treasures — and so do I, and so does everyone around us. And bringing those treasures to light takes work and faith and focus and courage and hours of devotion, and the clock is ticking, and the world is spinning, and we simply do not have time anymore to think so small.”
Gilbert maintains: “Keep your eyes open. Listen. Follow your curiosity. Ask questions. Sniff around. Remain open. Trust in the miraculous truth that new and marvelous ideas are looking for human collaborators every single day. Ideas of every kind are constantly galloping toward us, constantly passing through us, constantly trying to get our attention. Let them know you’re available.”
Mrs. Ketler’s observations after sharing stories and dreams were similar: Get on with it.
The second book, again inevitably, was about Sherlock Holmes.
Welcome news: He’s back. So popular have his adventures been in film and television, one could argue he never really left us.
True story:
One of the many actors who has played Holmes, Benedict Cumberbatch, actually jumped from a moving cab and scattered a group of muggers in London. They had broken a bottle over a delivery man’s head, and were trying to steal his bike. Cumberbatch chased the crooks down.
“The Mammoth Book of Sherlock Holmes Abroad: A Treasure Trove of 15 ‘Hitherto Lost’ Overseas Mysteries Investigated by the Great Detective Himself,” edited by Simon Clark (Running Press, 512 pp., $14.95, 2015) is a collection of stories by numerous mystery writers. They are keeping alive the compelling Sherlockian tradition. Thus the justly unanimous admiration for Doyle’s famous creation and enduring literary achievement, penned by Ernest Hornung (his brother-in-law and himself a writer):
“Though he might be more humble, there’s no police like Holmes.”