Vintage Books - Blog Posts
Adhesive color plates for Science Services’ Science Program series booklet Man in Space. Nelson Doubleday - 1965.
vintage book shopping. came across this curiosity(?)/monstrosity(?). no idea what to make of it.
To Live - Yu Hua
Quotes that I really liked and felt the need to underline:
"All it took was a word from the higher-ups and we'd all think and do whatever they wanted."
"You still owe us a life, hold on to your life to repay us."
"No matter how lucky a person is, the moment he decides he wants to die, there's nothing that will keep him alive."
"No matter how many hardships and difficulties people face in life, they always find a way to console themselves when they get close to death."
"If you go on striving for this and that, you’ll end up paying with your life."
"I thought it must be terrible to be an ox. All their lives they're driven to the point of exhaustion for the work of man, and as soon as they get old and their energy starts to go they get sent off to be slaughteted and eaten."
"My memories of Fengxia are my only happiness."
I was walking down the main street of my town when I came by my favourite vintage book shop - it was closed, but they have a little free section outside of the shop (it's just books lying on the pavement...) And I found THIS. I am feeling blessed.
(added the Prada perfume as an ironic little detail, and it's even more ironic that the fragrance is awful.)
I have recently started to become more ecologically conscious in my everyday life - eating out less, buying less, using more of the possessions I already own, etc... - and that includes shopping for clothes in second hand shops. And I am ASTONISHED at how many well kept, good quality pieces are simply lying around at some dim lit room downtown. Honestly, I urge everyone reading this to go to the worst rated second hand shop in their area. Avoid the trendy ones, go for the ones with 70 year old witches who'll smoke a whole pack inside the store in the hour you'll spend there. The true gems lie there.
Stay yourself, stay curious.
Frog and Toad; Tales of a simpler life
Hello. This is my first essay post - maybe I'll make a masterlist, maybe I won't.
''Frog and Toad'', a short book series written and illustrated by Arnold Lobel in the 1970s, is a collection of tales about two friends - Frog and Toad. They both live in the forest and go on many adventures together. Every time my mind reminds me of the existence of the duo, one word comes to my mind - Home. Frog and Toad is a cozy sort of series, and every tale has a comforting feeling attached to it. In this post, I'd like to address the philosophy of Frog and Toad - Simple living.
• Most Frog and Toad stories have a similar premise - one of our two protagonists has an everyday issue he has to face and the other helps him overcome this. When we think about everyday life, we think about moving forward - getting promoted, making more money, moving away, getting fitter - always an additive, and fast. A great example for this is hustle culture - the glamorization of putting all of your self into your line of work. I personally strongly dislike hustle culture - as a communist I believe that the improvement of the self should not be calculated with money, but with health and happiness, and that instead of success being isolated to an individual, if someone succeeds it should benefit their surroundings. "Frog and Toad" doesn't fit with those sort of ideals of hustle and constant improvement. The duo's problems are, well, very simple.
• Arnold Lobel describes himself as a domestic kind of person ;
"I'm really not much of a traveler or wanderer or adventurer and I think that feeling certainly comes into my books. I notice that all of my books are rather homebound"
He is certainly right. In his writing and illustrations, Lobel creates a very welcoming (ahem cottagecore ahem ahem) atmosphere - his language is simple and inviting and his coloring style consists of warm earth tones. Even the protagonist's houses have this feeling, consisting of wooden furniture and warm, fluffy pillows. (I'd like to add Frog and Toad are both very middle class, and these stories are affected by their privilege). Although they don't own many possessions - honestly, the most common item you'll see that costs any money in the Frog and Toad series is the protagonist's bed - Frog and Toad find their place in moments and people.
• Allow me to give an example (my favourite personally). The story "A list" follows Toad - a usually anxious and worried type. He wakes up and realizes he has many things to do, and so he writes a list of the things he wants to get done that day;
- wake up
- eat breakfast
- get dressed
- go to frog's house
- take (a) walk with frog
- eat lunch
- take (a) nap
- play games with Frog
- eat supper
- go to sleep
Before the story even starts, we can see Toad doesn't really have many things to do that day, and yet he puts heavy emphasis on what he does have. That is one of the building stones of simple living - the silent agreement to enjoy every minute you get out of your life.
As the day progresses, Toad crosses out what he accomplished, until he takes a walk with Frog. As they are walking, a gust of wind blows over his list, and he is frozen in place. Frog starts running towards the list, while Toad stays back, claiming that running after his list is not on his list, and thus not something that he should engage in.
• Frog didn't manage to catch Toad's list. Toad claims "I cannot remember any of the things I wrote on my list of things to do. I will just have to sit here and do nothing." In this instance, Label criticizes the close minded way people who are only interested in 'the grind' (Jesus Christ I can't believe I just wrote that) think - they only see the things they want to achieve as goals worthy of energy, and nothing else. Toad may have wanted to play games with Frog to strengthen their bond, but the intention or the way didn't matter - it was the goal that did.
• Frog and Toad sit around all day. After a lot of nothing, Frog says "Toad, it is getting dark, we should be going to sleep now". Suddenly, frog realizes that was the last thing on his list, to sleep, and they both slip into unconsciousness. I think this ending really clears out they way Label thinks about always moving forward - sure, maybe they weren't on Toad's list, but there were many activities he and Frog could have partook in he skipped out on out of sheer stubbornness. Instead of trying to make the most out of his day, he wallowed in his own sadness over not achieving every goal he had, and let a whole afternoon slip by.
• to summarize, Frog and Toad are friends. They are friends and they enjoy each other's company. They prefer to have a cup of tea instead of building a bigger house, and they'd never call each other on the telephone, if they want to talk to each other, they simply walk over to their friend's house. I personally have started to pick up some of their habits - I now drink my morning Tea or coffe without any distractions, I spend more time outside, and I try to not get hung up on every little detail. As a perfectionist this is a... Hard task, at the least, but it's worth it. I have calmed down. I have become more at peace with less.
Thank you for reading - Stay yourself, stay curious.
A girl I don't like just posted that she found a perfectly preserved vintage copy of crime and punishment in a second hand book shop.
I am livid and about to commit petty theft.