Ann-alog, a Pixel Remix, where Ann Torrence blogs about photographing for a book on U.S. Highway 89, the greatest road trip route in America. Photography tips, locations, trip reports, and real life.

Page 39 from Katy Comes Next

When I was little, I loved the book Katy Comes Next by Laura Bannon. Katy is a sadly worn doll belonging to a little girl named Ruth. Ruth's parents own a doll hospital, but never have time to fix Katy. Then one magical day, the parents close the shop, fix their daughter's doll and let Ruth pick out a doll's trunk full of new clothes.

I used to pore over all the drawings and choose my own outfits for Katy. My mom let me check it out from the library almost every time they had it, and patiently read it to me over and over. Sometimes she'd say I'd have to leave it at the library so other children could have a turn. Amazon, seller-of-all, turned up a not too ridiculously priced copy when I remembered to check last month. I ordered it and the Fort Sumner Municipal School library copy is mine.

When something becomes an iconic memory, re-visiting it as an adult bears some risk - it might not be as charming, beautiful or grand as I remembered. However, Katy Comes Next is just as wonderful as my recollection, and I had a great time sharing its reappearance with my Mom over the holidays.

Thinking about this long-lost treasure, I asked myself, "what books would I replace first if the house burned down?" I don't think it's necessarily the same as the books that have had the great influence on me, or even the ones I have read the most. Some have information I consult regularly, some give comfort just by being at hand. So here's my list (with links to the Amazon database for more info):

1. Fup, by Jim Dodge. A story about love, loss, resurrection. I first heard this read aloud on Pacifica radio in California when I was in college. I have it on tape and print, but I've never been able to find it on CD.
2. Passion Below Zero Essays from Last Chance Idaho. I wish for a winter in a cabin in the snow. This book and One Man's Wilderness inject some reality into my rich fantasy life. I bought this in Jackson on a road trip, and I doubted I could find it again, although Amazon claims five copies exist. If David Hays wrote anything else, I would like to know about it.
3. Rocky Mountain Wildflowers I have many, many nature guides but this is the only one with entries like this: "Alpine Forget-me-not, Flowering season: Early July to Aug. The pika is busily harvesting a winter supply of mt. plants and curing them in 'haystacks' when this flower is in full bloom."
4. Artist Way by Julia Cameron. Learning to quiet the doubting voice long enough to get some work done. I've been following the principles in this book for over 5 years, am too superstitious to stop now.
5. Joy of Cooking, third edition. There is a new version out, but I learned to cook with the third edition. I know where to find things in it, and I enjoy the language of its authors' opinions, like "The souffle is considered the prima donna of the culinary world. The timbale is her more even-tempered relative. On closer acquaintance, both become quite tractable and are great glamorizers for leftover foods."
6. Alcoholics Anonymous ("the Big Book") I'm not an alcoholic, but many of my friends are recovering from the disease. I know several people who learned to read as adults, from this book, in order to stay sober (and thus alive). I've heard them read sections of it aloud; the memory gives me chills. Read it for the prose alone; become inspired by those who have found freedom from despair.
7. The Milepost A driving guide to the Alaskan Highway. I hope to drive to Alaska someday. Until then, I can imagine the voyage and all its permutations. One of my favorites to read when I am stuck on the sofa with a bad cold. By the time I can go on this trip, I wonder what gasoline will cost.
8. Geometry of Design is so elegant that when I saw it in an Auckland bookshop, I wanted it immediately. But I put it back on the shelf, because I figured I would wait to get it when we got home, where it would be half the price, and not in our luggage. R found it on that same shelf, and brought it to the cash register as we checked out together. But by the moral authority of having found it first, it rests on MY bookshelf.
9. Master and Commander, or even the whole set of Patrick O'Brian's novels about Lucky Jack Aubrey and spy/physician Steven Maturin. T.R. Reed said you are either a Hornblower or an Aubrey fan. He's right, and I will re-read O'Brian a hundred times before I pick up another Hornblower novel. If my house has burnt up, I will need an escape.
10. Not Man Apart Text from Robinson Jeffers, photographs of the Big Sur Coast. The father of one of my best friends in high school read the title poem at my first grown-up dinner party. I didn't see the book itself until I reached college, and I stole it out of my dorm library. Issued by the Sierra Club, it was one of my first photo books, with all the California masters like Bullock, the Westons, Adams. I always liked these lines:
    
    

    And we know that the enormous invulnerable beauty of things
    Is the face of God, to live gladly in its presence and die without grief or fear knowing it survives us.

    - from Robinson Jeffers' poem Nova

Would my own books be on that list? Dunno, might be others I'd need more. I observe that there is not a useful book in the mix, like an atlas or dictionary, nor is it presented in a logical order. My books aren't very tidy on the shelf either. But they are old friends, and I am glad to introduce them. I'm not into meme's but for this post I'm leaving the trackbacks open. Please link back if you have literary gems to share.