Literally a Literary Calendar

 

In 2024, I entered a post every day. This exercise was to make a yearlong calendar-to have a story about books from my library, for each and every day of the full year. Some days were holidays, special historical events, or perhaps celebrations; other days might be for the birth or death of someone. There was always an interesting connection of books to the date. I then put the date (e.g. April 5 or September 9) first in the title, along then with a perceived cleverness of title pun-work. There was something special every day of the year, with a book I own (or several books) and a story.

If someone would like to revisit a date-or even better, read in advance for a specific day coming up(!), I wanted to ensure there is a search bar on various pages of my blog. What an interesting way to begin one’s morning. All that is required will be to type the date into the search bar. That post will be shown. I have also added various tags to my posts, so that one can also look up topics, or authors, or specific books on any of my entries, whether it is from the 2024 project, or any other story I write.

Thanks for reading.

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P.S. (Post scripts should only be a sentence or two, but what the heck. Grammer police?)

Why do I like calendars? First, because of I book I found years ago at the Salvation Army bookstore in Waukegan Illinois. It is “Character Calendar” by Sister Mary Fidelis and Sister Mary Charitas, published in 1931. I have referenced it many times.

This is a wonderful book to read the daily passage for when one is beginning their day. It gives the Saint of the Day (their Feast Day), a quick story of their life, what they are venerated for, and what we can achieve by modeling an attribute of theirs. It is an uplifting focus for the day. I wanted to create a similar enthusiasm with books to a specific date, rather than saints.

Second, I have a small collection of calendars. Some of the more interesting ones are below.

This set is missing the first two months. It is of 1906.

These remaining pages were given to me by my mother-in-law, and were my wife’s grandmother’s. She was born in 1900. There is a handwritten poem next to each month.

The next calendar was given to me from my mom, given to her by her mom. It is a linen towel calendar from 1958, the year I was born. Grandma may have been hinting how my mom’s life was now going to change. At least it is a family souvenir, and a big one at about 27 by 15 inches.

Then I have “Artist’s Sketch Pad” calendar for 1946. It is slightly risqué. It is also titled “Around the World”, with each month portraying a new pinup and a new country. The illustrator was Knute Munson.

A bolder calendar is “Treasure Chests” for 1969. This calendar has nude photos that are a little unusual. For each month, a photograph was airbrushed and manipulated, along with a bawdy limerick added.

I was trying to find a book by the same name (and women and limericks) when I found this. I have only seen the book once, at Westfield Junior High School. One of my fellow classmates in eighth grade homeroom secretly passed this book for us to snicker at and drool over. Even though it has been well over 50 years, the visions are still locked in my brain.

The book was “Treasure Chests” by Mel Sherman. While I still have not found a copy of the book yet for my library, when I came across this calendar, I bought it. The photographs are unusual, in that they were done decades before computers and photoshop.

I also have small popup calendar from Japan for 2002. It has the features of the Kintai Bridge in Iwakuni, Japan. This five arch wooden bridge was built in 1673.

I keep this calendar with my popup book collection. It also holds great memories because I was able to see this bridge in person. We were only a week away from the Cherry Blossum Festival, the trees just starting to bloom.

Whether for saints, sinners, or cities, calendars have held an attraction for me.

Thanks again for reading…and don’t forget to do a little searching for older stories.

P.P.S. I also made this post into a separate page, on the main menu, to ensure it is always readily seen.

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