If you live to be a hundred, I want to live to be a hundred minus one day, so I never have to live without you.
--A.A. Milne, Winnie the Pooh.
A.A. Milne and the real Christopher Robin
Who doesn't love Winnie the Pooh? Well, when I was about 5 years old, I thought Disney's Winnie the Pooh character was a bit too babyish. I had a 4 year old friend who always talked about "Pooh Bear this" and "Pooh Bear that" and I would think to myself, "Oh, grow up already!" A few years later, however, I changed my tune when I discovered the philosophical novels of A.A. Milne with delicately drawn "decorations" by Ernest H. Shepard.
Shop Indie Bookstores
Shop Indie Bookstores
Shop Indie Bookstores
Shop Indie Bookstores
ps. Here is an interesting article about how Disney ruined Winnie the Pooh: Who killed Christopher Robin? Disney, that's who.
pps. The title of the article is a reference to the true crime book about the murder of Brian Jones.
Shop Indie Bookstores
ppps. The name of the book is a reference to the fact that Brian Jones lived in Cotchford Farm, the former home of A.A. Milne.
pppps. I never read the book about Brian Jones, but I absolutely LOVED the Keith Richards autobiography, Life.
Shop Indie Bookstores
By chance, three of the books I borrowed last week touch upon the topic of amnesia:
Gabrielle Zevin's Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac is classified as a young adult novel, but I think a lot of older folks will like it, too. It's a love story about a boy and a girl, Will and Naomi, who work together on their yearbook staff as co-editors. This book is full of wonderful music references, plus, the theme of their yearbook is The White Album.
Meg Cabot's Airhead is a fluffy, girly read. If Airhead and Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac were movies, Airhead would be Mean Girls and Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesic would be Juno.
Here is Amazon's description of the Terri Jentz memoir, Strange Piece of Paradise:
In the summer of 1977, Terri Jentz and her Yale roommate, Shayna Weiss, make a cross-country bike trip. They pitch a tent in the desert of central Oregon. As they are sleeping, a man in a pickup truck deliberately runs over the tent. He then attacks them with an ax. The horrific crime is reported in newspapers across the country. No one is ever arrested. Both women survive, but Shayna suffers from amnesia, while Terri is left alone with memories of the attack. Their friendship is shattered.
Since the true crime books I reviewed last week left me feeling a bit depressed, I'm going to save Strange Piece of Paradise for another day. I know that once I start reading, I won't be able to put it down.
A.A. Milne and the real Christopher Robin
