The Bookstall
by Linda Pastan

Just looking at them
I grow greedy, as if they were
freshly baked loaves
waiting on their shelves
to be broken open—that one
and that—and I make my choice
in a mood of exalted luck,
browsing among them
like a cow in sweetest pasture.

For life is continuous
as long as they wait
to be read—these inked paths
opening into the future, page
after page, every book
its own receding horizon.
And I hold them, one in each hand,
a curious ballast weighting me
here to the earth.

“The Bookstall” by Linda Pastan. Edition: CARNIVAL EVENING by Linda Pastan published by W.W. Norton. © 1998, 2002 by Linda Pastan. Used by permission of Linda Pastan in care of the Jean V. Naggar Literary Agency, Inc. (permissions@jvnla.com) (buy now)

It was on this day in 1935 that the most successful self-help organization of the 20th century was founded: Alcoholics Anonymous. It's 85 years old today. It began in Akron, Ohio, started by a stockbroker named Bill Wilson and a surgeon named Bob Smith. Bill Wilson had gone to Akron on a business trip in May of 1935. He had been trying to give up drinking for years, and he'd always found that the best way to keep from drinking was to spend time with other men who were trying to keep from drinking. But on his business trip to Akron, he was alone, and he felt tempted to go to the local bar.

Instead, he went to a church group meeting, looking for someone else who was struggling with the drink. It was there that he met the surgeon Bob Smith. The two men became friends and promised to help keep each other sober.

Wilson decided to write a book about his ideas to help spread the message, called Alcoholics Anonymous (1939). The group began to get coverage in local newspapers. Then in 1941, a journalist for The Saturday Evening Post heard about the organization and wrote an article about it. Suddenly, requests for literature and membership soared. By the end of the year, there were more than 6,000 members.

It's the birthday of the biologist E.O. Wilson, (books by this author) born Edward Osborne Wilson in Birmingham, Alabama (1929).

He studied biology at the University of Tennessee and Harvard, and then spent years traveling and studying ants. He started teaching at Harvard, and he published The Theory of Island Biogeography (1967), which was very influential in the fields of ecology and conservation biology.

In 1975, he wrote Sociobiology. The basic concept of sociobiology is that there is a biological foundation for behavior, in everything from ants to humans. The book was extremely controversial; some people were concerned that it justified racism and sexism. Wilson was attacked for it. So he wrote a rebuttal, On Human Nature (1978), explaining how the concepts of sociobiology could help lead us to a more fair and just society, not the opposite. It was a best-seller and won the Pulitzer Prize.

Wilson has continued to publish books, include Biophilia (1984), The Ants (1990), all about ants; an autobiography, Naturalist (1995); and a study of humans’ ability to work together called Genesis: The Deep Origin of Societies (2019).

Wilson said, "Destroying rainforest for economic gain is like burning a Renaissance painting to cook a meal."

It's the birthday of Saul Bellow, (books by this author) born Solomon Bellows in Lachine, Quebec, in 1915, two years after his parents emigrated from Russia. He was born in Canada, but when he was young he was smuggled across the border into Chicago, and so he grew up as an illegal immigrant. His dad was an onion importer and a bootlegger. His mom was religious, and she hoped he would be a rabbi or maybe a concert pianist. But when he was eight years old, he read Uncle Tom's Cabin and he decided he would become a writer. He wrote two novels that didn't sell very well. But then he won a Guggenheim Fellowship and moved to Paris to write. And while he was there, he realized how much he loved Chicago. So he started a new novel whose opening lines are: "I am an American, Chicago born — Chicago, that somber city — and go at things as I have taught myself, free-style, and will make the record in my own way." That was The Adventures of Augie March (1953),which became his first real success and won the National Book Award. He continued writing plays, nonfiction, and more novels, including Henderson the Rain King (1959), Herzog (1964), and Humboldt's Gift (1975).

He said, "In expressing love we belong among the undeveloped countries." And, "You never have to change anything you got up in the middle of the night to write." And, "I discovered that rejections are not altogether a bad thing. They teach a writer to rely on his own judgment and to say in his heart of hearts, 'To hell with you.'"

It's the birthday of Judy Garland, born Frances Ethel Gumm in 1922 in Grand Rapids, Minnesota, where her father operated the only movie theater in town. She starred in The Wizard of Oz (1939), Meet Me In St. Louis (1944), Easter Parade (1948), and many more movies.

It's the birthday of the children's author and illustrator Maurice Sendak, (books by this author) born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1928. His parents were Polish immigrants, and as Maurice was growing up, many extended family members died in the Holocaust. So his parents were constantly grieving for their family back in Poland, and they were worried about Maurice, who was a very sick child. He almost never went outside — most of what he knew about the world outside his bedroom came from visiting family members, from the view through his window, and from books. His dad read to him before bed every night, and his mom was constantly hovering around, making sure he was all right. So when he eventually became an illustrator, he oftentimes painted a moon in the background as a symbol of his watchful mother. He started drawing, got a job in high school drawing the Mutt and Jeff  cartoon strip into comic books, and went on to art school. When he was 19, he illustrated a physics book, Atomics for the Millions (1947). Then he worked for years designing the window displays for FAO Schwartz while he took night classes at art school.

And eventually he started writing and illustrating his own books for children, books about normal kids who end up in surreal settings where strange things happen, books like Where the Wild Things Are (1963) and In the Night Kitchen (1970). Maurice Sendak has illustrated more than 90 books. He said: "You cannot write for children. They're much too complicated. You can only write books that are of interest to them."

Be well, do good work, and keep in touch.^®

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