Postcards from World War II: Sights and Sentiments from the Second World War

Robynn and Matt Clairday 

2001

Weight: 14.4 oz

Method of Disposal: Donating

The ideal honeymoon involves The United States Postal Museum and an Air and Space museum (one housing a shuttle) if you ask me.  I've been to that magical place with the stamps, mail trucks, and Owney the dog once.  It was amazing.  I bought this book of postcards there (amongst too many other things) and just got around to reading it a year later.  Sure, it is full of patriotism and propaganda, but it also has actual notes written by soldiers to their loved ones, and the voyeur in me thrills at that.  I love reading other people's mail.  Since that is a felony, the only way for me to live out this dream is to read published letters and dream......

224 books, 236.22 lbs

Art Nouveau Poster Cards in Full Color 24 Cards Edited by Hayward and Blance Cirker
1983
Weight: 4 oz
Method of disposal: Taking apart into postcards and sending them to all my friends, recycling the cover

I am attempting to quit smoking and so I am highly distracted and disjointed. That is why I have decided to go with the easy-to-get-rid-of and 4 oz book of postcards. Can it really even be considered a book? I have carried it around with me since Waldenbooks, like all the other books. I have a stack of cards, right now, on my kitchen table. They are all written on, stamped, and ready to go out tomorrow. I love the USPS.

Mailman

Mailman by J. Robert Lennon 2003 Weight: 1.9lbs Method of Disposal: Giving Away



Mailman has become something separate from the book I read. It has become a way of showing disapproval of something I have done. It is an insult slung out in unexpected times. It is a struggle and a disturbance. Sometimes, it is a fascination that when described makes others cringe and look at the speaker with disdain.

It took me a month to read this book. I could not get into it for the first 100 pages and so my mind wandered, and I read other books. Perused my stack of New Yorkers. I would look at the book and fall asleep out of fear that I would force myself to read it. Then, after all those pages, something happened, and I became invested. I started wish my day would end more quickly so I could crawl into bed with Mailman. Towards the end, it dropped off again, but it never got back to its first time low. I tried to discuss it with a friend and couldn’t tell if I had, indeed, found things to respect in the book. Was a feeling more than annoyance? I believe so. I felt conflicted. There are some great one-liners in this book. There were moments (very few) where I could relate to one of the characters, and I would be shocked. Every woman character in this was lacking something, and it was never clear why they all either fell in love with or slept with Mailman. He is a totally unlikeable and unsympathetic character. He is lacking so much. It is not the incest, the ibs, the total disregard of social cues. Those things are o.k. , but wasn’t there anything else to him? Was that the point? Probably.

It is not the fault of the author that I wanted there to be so much more dealing with being a mailman and the postal service. One of my many fascinations. Luckily, I have a string of fiction books about “snail mail” so there is hope yet. I write and send letters every week and am fascinated by other people’s letters. Not that it was trying to in any way, but Mailman had nothing on Mona Simpson’s LAWNS, which incorporates the mail system, theft, incest, and disturbing storylines also.

I don’t think I recommend Mailman, but many people do, and I am just not sure. It is sticking with me, which probably means something. If you would like to have a free copy let me know.

Dear Sarah

Dear Exile: The True Story of Two Friends Seperated (for a Year) by an Ocean
By Hilary Liftin and Kate Montgomery
1999
Weight: 8 oz
Method of Disposal: Leaving somewhere, unless you want it



Dear Exile is another book from my Waldenbook days, and thus the first year or two of my friendship with Sarah G-A, whom I still love. We both purchased Dear Exile and read it. We thought we might end up writing each other important letters one day about feminism, books, and friendship. I would have been 16, maybe 17, at the time.

The book is, amazingly, still in impeccable condition and, much to my disappointment, it has no smell. Books usually have some fragrance. They smell old or new or, in the case of a particular children’s book we carried at Barnes and Nobel before it was recalled, like gasoline. It is one of the most wonderful things about an actual book.

They sell library and book perfume now so I guess it will be alright. I can spray Dear Exile with a Demeter fragrance before passing it on. I mean, if I am feeling dedicated. This book really might be in the exact same condition it was in when I bought it. How did that happen?

Before you think it, I did read it. I thought it was enjoyable but not life-changing. It was sweet and, like I said, it inspired a brief dream about letter writing way back when. One woman is in the Peace Corps and one woman is dating and living in her first real apartment. They obviously care about each other, and they write each other letters that make up this book. I guess I am sort of ambivalent about it.

I am not, however, ambivalent about how much fun it was to get to know Sarah G-A. through books, through working together, through Riot Grrrl, and through everything else in between. I am also not ambivalent about letter writing. I love it. I love mail. I love packages, letters, postcards, address labels, and stamps. I probably send out around 5 letters every week to a variety of friends all over the map, and it makes me quite happy. Who does not enjoy receiving real mail, not junk or bills? Holding this book releases all of these thoughts in me, and that is not such a bad thing.