LA RUE BIJOU - Books! Hope, Resilience and Joy in Uncertain Times

 

I have always found reassurance and joy in books. My love of reading began at our elementary school, where teachers rewarded good academic work with permission to walk down the hall to the library.  Throughout my life, I’ve relied on books to get through childhood illnesses, the trials and tribulations of adolescence and my undergraduate years in college as well as a range of weather events, holidays and the dog days of summer.

 

Photo courtesy of SR 

In my travels, my happy memories have been a library card in a new town or the discovery of used books at a flea market. I've had moments of regret also. Given my too frequent long-distance moves, I’ve had to downsize and donate many of these treasures.

When I packed for a move in early January 2020, I gave boxes of books to the public library for its spring sale. Then COVID struck. I had no books, and libraries closed. Family and friends formed small lending libraries. We donned our masks, gloves and came armed with sanitizers and wipes and kept our distance for the book exchange.

Today, we face an unimaginable crisis relating to freedom of the press and the marketplace of ideas along with threats to other aspects of our lives. In response, there is a plethora of articles on the importance of books. A Guardian writer Francesca Segal (Nov. 9, 2024) has compiled a list to “renew your faith in humanity.” In an article in Vogue (Singapore), Ting Shing Koh (July 14, 2025) offers a short list of books and reminds us “to take comfort in knowing is that we are not alone.”

 Columnist Robert Reich advises us to “keep a tally of what is still good and beautiful in our lives and in the world, lest we succumb to despair” (July 13, 2025). Books rank high for what is “good and beautiful” for me. At this time, I’m not reading nonfiction that focuses on what went wrong with our government but rather those books that convey messages of hope, joy and resilience.

 I’ve started a short list below, all of which have excellent plots, characterization and writing. 

 

 Graham Greene – Travels With My Aunt. The story begins when retired banker Henry Pulling meets his Aunt Agatha at his mother’s funeral. The book follows Henry  as he adapts the challenges of travel and eccentricities of his aunt and her friends.

 

Valérie Pérrin – Fresh Water for Flowers. It’s reassuring to see Violette, the main character, overcome abuse and numerous obstacles yet retain her sense of compassion and happiness and generosity.

 

Josephine Tey – The Daughter of Time. When a hospitalized police inspector begins reading about Richard III, he embarks on research that brings into question accepted historical accounts.

 

Alexander McCall Smith – The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency. From her small office in Botswana, Mma Precious Ramatswe uses her understanding of human nature and a mug of redbush tea to solve local mysteries. She is someone with few material possessions yet she has a wealth of happiness, generosity, wisdom and humor to share.

 

Richard Osman – The Thursday Murder Club. A group of four unlikely seniors comes together in a retirement community to solve cold cases and gain the respect of local police.Endearing characters! 

 Eva Jurczy – The Department of Rare Books and Special Collections. Here, interim director Liesel must navigate university administration, patrons and a few colleagues in her attempt to locate a missing and priceless rare book.  

 Alan Furst - The World at Night. Paris, 1940. Protagonist Jean Casson, film producer, and others attempt to maintain their previous festive lifestyles during the Nazi Occupation. But at some point, Casson becomes an unwilling collaborator but then takes a stand and begins work with the Resistance. Furst's series provides parallels with events in the USA today.  Hum! 

 For a good laugh, you might try fiction books on Florida by Miami Herald columnist Carl Hiaasen (the bad guys often lose to a reptile, and good characters get rewarded) or return to Mark Twain's Innocents Abroad. 

 

Others come to mind--Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility and her other works. Antoine de St. Exupéry's The Little Prince. Madeleine L'Engle's Wrinkle in Time. Various travel accounts like Frances Mayes's Under A Tuscan Sun (the book, not the film) and Tahir Shah's The Caliph's House or E.M. Forster's A Passage to India or some by D.H. Lawrence. And, a recent series I plan to reread, A.J. Pearce's Dear Mrs. Bird. 

 And what books help you through uncertain times?

 

LA RUE BIJOU - Staging With a Cat

 

 

   

 

 

 Dusty baseboards. Countertops stacked high with notebooks. Mugs of cold coffee. Mounds of paperbacks, library books and magazines. Until recently, this has been my life.

What was an occasional cleaning in past years has now become a daily obsession (or penance) as I polish appliances, mop hardwood floors and check rugs for hairballs as I prepare for a realtor to show my house.  

 During an initial conversation with my realtor, she used two terms—declutter and deep clean. Declutter entered household lexicon when Marie Kondo, the Japanese declutter expert, advised readers to keep only those objects that “spark joy.” A subjective concept! Deep clean seems to be a form of spring cleaning that you pay someone else to do. 

Decluttering has required days or even weeks to sort things into piles for landfill, thrift or move. It also has brought about the question—how did I accumulate so much in three years? 

 

I eyed rooms critically for what sparked joy--the tattered family furniture (no joy) and the cat tree (joy, for the cat anyway).

 

Years ago, listing a house with a realtor meant a tidy house, one which still had occupants and traces of their lifestyle—coffee tables with neatly stacked books, playrooms with Lego blocks and bathrooms with matching towels. 

 

 These days, realtors and buyers expect a minimalistic approach. No towels, no family photos, no knickknacks. In other words, no hint of occupants. Such expectations create unnecessary angst for those of us and pets who still live in the house. 

However, for those well-heeled sellers, it’s a different world. They move to another house then turnover their empty house to the realtor. 

 

Once you sign an agreement with your realtor, the lockbox goes on the front door and the sign goes up in the yard.

An app, ShowingTime, sends a request for a showing. The seller can confirm or decline. But in the current buyer’s market, sellers do their best to make a house available, even on short notice.  After the showing, potential buyers fill out a brief survey, rating the overall experience, pricing and interest.  

The possibility of a showing means beds are made first thing in the morning. No showers or laundry or elaborate meals that leave cooking smells between the hours of 9 am and 6 pm or later.  Many sellers like me have last-minute reminders that read like a NASA checklist.  Put out the sleek Nespresso Pixie. Put away towels, makeup and shower gels. Turn on lights. Open shades. Buy cut flowers. Put the cat in the kennel. Leave home quickly. But it's too late to address the lack of landscape--why do the beautiful flowers grow in the neighbors' yards! 

 

Ah, the importance of first impressions. Potential buyers have less than an hour to make a decision.  Will this showing convince buyers to make an offer? Or is it a dress rehearsal? Those cut flowers become expensive. What about a bowl of lemons or colorful bottles of wine instead?

 

The take aways—I’ve developed a routine of good enough cleaning. I have the number of the donation center that does pickup on speed dial. I’ve gotten moving estimates. I’ve have to unpack glasses and plates so I can invite the neighbors for wine and tapas. I’ve come to love a decluttered house, but I look forward to the day when I clean for a final time, and I become a buyer who expects to see someone else's decluttered home.

 

 I look forward to hearing what you have to say about staging. Finding that "spark of joy"?