Silver and Gold
Old and new make the warp and woof of every moment.
There is no thread that is not a twist of these two strands.
–Ralph Waldo Emerson
In the book world it is often a temptation to focus solely on newer publications, but the new often draws me back into the full circle of old and new that round out the literary experience. The publication of a new title by a beloved author recalls how significant an earlier work of theirs was.
It is a good rule after reading a new book never to allow yourself another new one till you have read an old one in between.
-C.S. Lewis
One very recent example of this is Bernhard Schlink’s excellent new novel, The Granddaughter, that was published earlier this month.
Translated from German, Schlink’s writing provides a slightly different voice and expression from many other contemporary authors. He has a way of capturing the essence of something in much the way that a poet does, though I wouldn’t characterize his writing as exactly poetic.
He is best known for his international bestselling novel, The Reader, but The Granddaughter sent me back to enjoy my own personal favorite of his from 2018, titled Olga.
The geological layers of our lives rest so tightly one on top of the other that we always come up against earlier events in later ones.
-Bernhard Schlink
Jami Attenberg first caught my attention with her moving and hilarious novel The Middlesteins back in 2012. With plenty of books in between (including a memoir in 2022), the 2024 release of A Reason to See You Again reminded me of all the things I absolutely love about her writing. While being smart and very funny, her portrayal of less-than-perfect family life hits the mark in a way that allows room for true empathy through her nuanced development of characters.
Michael Cunningham delighted the literary world with his 1998 Pulitzer prize winning publication of The Hours, beautifully weaving together the stories of three women from three different eras. He deftly explored the deepest concerns of love, friendship, alienation and mortality while also observing, in a very intimate way, the impact of the AIDs crisis.
We become the stories we tell ourselves.
-Michael Cunningham
His most recent novel, Day, is the best I have found that depicts characters living though the Covid pandemic. His engaging and wise story takes us inside a family from the year before the pandemic through 2021. We are able to recognize ourselves as they face the crisis, each in their own way. Cunningham invites us to contemplate the challenges and losses and revelations that occurred during that time, both collectively and very personally.
In the circle of old and new, sometimes an older title informs a newer one as we see the seeds of an idea, a theme, or characters being developed through more than one book.
I am particularly struck by this in Kate DiCamillo’s outstanding sequence of touching and funny novels: Raymie Nightingale, Louisiana’s Way Home, and finally, Beverly, Right Here.
DiCamillo explores themes of camaraderie, loss, and perseverance throughout the trilogy of books. Raymie’s story begins with the characters as 10-year-olds, Louisiana’s takes place two years later, and in the final book, featuring Beverly, they are all two years older as fourteen-year-old adolescents. DiCamillo brings continuity to the three stories through her quick-witted and poignant braiding together of memory, repetition of phrase, and individual idiosyncrasies.
The world was beautiful.
It surprised me, how beautiful
it kept on insisting on being.
In spite of all the lies, it was beautiful.
-Kate DiCamillo, Louisiana’s Way Home
Additional pairings you may enjoy from favorite authors:
Always be reading something, he said. Even when we’re not physically reading. How else will we read the world? Think of it as a constant.
-Ali Smith, Autumn
Amongst thousands of new publications each year and a myriad of old favorites, there remains the glorious circle of old and new. Even an occasional “miss” by an author, or an author who goes a different direction with their writing, doesn’t change the affinity we feel for an earlier exceptional book. Akin to some literary rendition of “make new friends but keep the old,” we as readers enjoy the good company of both.
Happy Reading!
Heidi Schmidt
Manager/Buyer
heidi@townhousebooks.com
