I’m still incognito today. So, if you’re reading this, you’re really not; if anyone says you did, tell them they must be confused, because my blog post specifically said that you had, in fact, not read a thing. Curiouser and curiouser, don’t you think?

Chasing the White Rabbit

I’m reading two books this week: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (children’s fiction) during homeschool time, and The Lady with the Borzoi (adult, nonfiction) during my so-called “free” time.

Comparing my experience with my daughter’s is making me feel very old. Whereas my mind used to run off chasing the illusive white rabbits of my wildest imaginings, now here I am, two-thousand years old, wishing to chase a nonfiction person (who happens to share my maiden name, just FYI) down the rabbit hole of her past. Worse? I’m ridiculously excited about it!

Granted, for my vacation, I’d been looking for some motivational reads. Not inspy stuff, but been-there-done-that nonfiction; you know, the nose to the grindstone, believe-it-until-you-achieve-it sort of reading material. I’d love to do some of those journaling, how-to books, but they really just are not my thing yet (in time, I hope they will be, though). Anyway, imagine my excitement when I was thumbing through Publisher’s Weekly and spotted the book I’d been unknowingly searching for: Blanche Knopf: Literary Tastemaker Extraordinaire. By golly, they might as well have put a white rabbit on the cover with a ticking clock, because there was no way I wasn’t getting a glimpse inside of this rabbit hole. Just imagine all the secrets to success that may be in store–secrets about the who, rather than just the how. How extraordinary!

A World Made Up of Impossible Things

This is a woman who, as the cover so boldly states, was a “literary tastemaker extraordinaire.” Who wouldn’t want that tag line attached to him/her? An impossible feat accomplished by a strong woman, who (back then, at least) surely would have been seen as a less-than-safe bet. Yet, she succeeded. She did it. She decided to make it in the publishing industry, believed in herself and that she had what it took, and she did it. End of story. Well, maybe. Either way, I want to see that; I want to know that it’s possible.

Are my expectations a trite too lofty for this book? Quite possibly, and I’m not so out of my gourd to believe that by reading the book, I’ll somehow become the next Blanche Knopf. My hope is simply that I’ll enjoy the glimpse into her life and find little nuggets that are relatable enough to suggest I might contain some of the same classy grit that she must have been made of.

Anything’s possible, right?

Want it, too? (Affiliated links.)

Ambiance: Country Plum

Reading: The Lady with the Borzoi and Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

Drinking: Purple Acai & Blueberry Green Tea