Bookish Boston

 

Boston's Bookish Scene

Within walking distance from where I stayed, I could go to 4-5 bookshops. Plus two libraries. You can imagine (if you know me) how long I could spend in just these aforementioned places. Each day was a new adventure. 

I'd been to Brattle Bookshop before. Many years ago on my last visit to Boston. It boasts a large outdoor space next to the actual shop. Carts are rolled out each day, with $3 and $5 books, plus the walls are built-in shelves. One could spend a good hour or more just browsing those. I found a book on Boston + Cambridge (the first book I picked up). I love finding some local history book for the place I am in, to read while I am there. When I went inside I found two more books I couldn't leave behind - a Nathaniel Hawthorne short story collection (he was a Boston resident over on Beacon Hill), and a G.K. Chesterton essay collection I didn't have (you never know where Chesterton will pop up!).

I took my Brattle books and walked over to the Public Garden and sat there for a good hour or more, wrote several pages in my travel journal and people-watched. This was the busiest day (a Saturday) so people were everywhere, and the leaves were falling with each breeze.  Plenty to look at. Lovely day with sun. Everyone was out.

A little later I went over to visit with Edgar Allan Poe. His sculpture that is. Set along the sidewalk just across the street from the Public Garde and Boston Common is this spectacular sculpture of Poe striding back into Boston after his absence. Poe actually had a tumultuous relationship with Boston, he didn't like it mostly due to his foster father relationship, but Boston embraces him now. Poe was a critic for some of his career, and he was critical of many of the Boston authors, including the well-loved Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Nevertheless, Poe was a genius writer, poet, storyteller, and critic. He admired the English writers (Coleridge, Shelley, Keats, Byron) and critiqued with the perspective that American writers were not nearly up to par with the English ones - he wanted them to be better writers. I love how this blueish hued bronze sculpture sweeps you into his dramatic coat flowing in the chilly Boston breeze, as he is walking confidently and full of ideas toward his foster parents home with his briefcase overflowing with his imagination - out of which you catch the raven and the tell-tale heart, for two of his most well-known tales.

Another morning I stopped in at Trident Booksellers, along the main shopping street, Newbury St. After browsing and heading up the creative book-spine stairs, I sat at the "bar" for some breakfast in their cafe, and read the Boston book I had gotten at Brattle.

Later, I went to the Boston Public Library. I had been here before, too, but only as a brief visit. I wanted to sit and write for a while this time. It was jam packed with students and tourists. But what a gorgeous library - marble and artwork everywhere. This is a true testament to a time when reading and literature was valued highly for the public to access and enjoy. This is the golden age of American libraries - they don't make them like this anymore. While the grand reading room was packed, I managed to find a seat when I reached the center of the room, gleefully sitting down at the table full of students, got out my travel journal and wrote for quite a while. Enjoying the ambience of quiet, the names of the great authors etched in gold near the ceiling circling the whole room, and the famous green shaded lamps, tourists walking by every minute or two. I was just blending in (pretending) like I belonged there.

The next library I spent time in was a private library called the Boston Athenaeum. Holding more than 500,000 books over 5 floors and an amazing tightly packed "drum" of metal shelves that spanned between the floors, this historic and beautiful library is a members-only library. However, if you want to buy a day pass, you can be a member for the day, which is what I did. Naturally I wanted to be able to search all the books and spend a whole day there researching, specifically the Boston authors. I had made a list of books to look for whilst I was there, and I enjoyed the hunt. One employee even asked if I needed help finding some books, or if I was enjoying the hunt. He understood. Maybe he saw me ogling over a Dante book from the 1800s. I tend to get distracted in libraries like this, finding way more than I can possible read in the day. I had to keep myself to the mission at hand - researching Boston authors. I sat in several locations and hunted for books, finding 5 over the course of my day. I got to search in the drum (which felt a lot like the Gladstone Link in the Bodleian) finding 3 of my books amongst those shelves. It was just lovely spending a day there. It is a well-used library. It was very busy I was afraid I would not get a seat when I went up to the 5th floor. 

Then, off to visit the charming area of Beacon Hill, where many of these Boston authors lived. Beacon Hill Books and Cafe is a newer spot (maybe 2-3 years old) in a fully restored 3 floor building. It is gorgeous inside, no detail is missed in the interior design and displays. I browsed and got many ideas, but decided on a Barbara Pym book that looked very Autumnal, and walked a block or two to Blank Street Coffee and sat to start reading the book over an iced matcha. I finished reading that book on the plane back home.

This was all walking distance - what a joy! And the perfect time of year - Autumn tones and chilly air. Perfect for bookish adventures. 

Autumn in Boston

 

Boston, Massachusetts 

October 2025

Leaves galore - all I could dream of. I cross into the Public Garden and the trees are bold, vibrant, garnets, golden, russet - the landscape is absolute technicolor - bright and fulfilling of all my dreams of Autumn. 

I checked into my room at the B&B and came out to gaze at the trees. I walk down the paths saying hello to all the different trees dressed in their Autumn colors - Yellowwood, Maple, Elm, Linden, Redwood, Birch. All of them alive with boldness in the chilly air. Clouds move in to shadow the sun and the light changes in seconds. The air is seasonal in the low 50s in the afternoon, the breeze makes it feel colder. Everyone is out today - it's the weekend, with sun and cloud dancing overhead. Photo opportunities everywhere you look. 

I am sitting on a bench surrounded by the crunchy fallen leaves - caramel and golden. It's so beautiful. I could sit here each day with this prime Autumnal view and be filled up like I'd been super productive all day. Nature, oh how I need to spend time appreciating your seasonal splendor.

Chubby squirrels dash about, rising on their hind legs looking like they are begging. A group of geese (a gaggle?) are making their way over into the lawn from the lake. I am sitting on a bench off the main path. I love how benches are all around the garden, inviting you to stay and appreciate. I am astounded by these trees. They are old, tall, sturdy, stately. It's such a leafy space - the city breathes through this garden. 

There's a bride and groom across the lake, taking wedding photos. How gorgeous. The backdrop everywhere you look is Autumnal. The grass is carpeting with leaves, and yet most of the trees still have a ton of leaves. The trees are the best feature of this public space. 

It's 3:30 now and the sun is starting to draw closer to the tops of the city scape. As the light changes, a golden glow begins to cast its rays over the trees. The leaves catch the fire of the sun, in the form of light and color. People are fascinated with the squirrels. I am fascinated with the trees.

A group of people over there to my right are spread out on the lawn, perched on a large blanket with snacks and carving pumpkins. A chilly breeze comes through every now and then. The leaves adorning the tree to my right are orange like pumpkins. Eventually I stand up and slowly walk out of the garden for my next location, crossing into the cityscape.

Oxford Literarium - Sneak Peak

 

Greetings!

I hope you are doing well and enjoying this lovely seasonal shift into Autumn when all things books and cosy spaces abound. Pull up a comfortable spot and make a cup of tea. 

Here's another little snippet of my forthcoming book - Oxford Literarium: Oxford Writers in Time and Place

This is from my chapter on C.S. Lewis:

In Lewis’s time at Oxford, there was plenty of debate in society, and he seemed to not shy away from it but welcome it as a way to engage with other opinions. He encouraged differing opinions to defend their position; while he listened to their defense, he would be able to determine if it was well thought out, or not.  A lot was changing in the inter-war years, and some student spaces for debate were needed for them to grapple with the big questions. Just as we need that space today, Lewis was supportive of debate, whether in a tutorial or out in public for philosophical discussions with students and colleagues.

He was the president of the Socratic Club, a popular club open to debating the difficult, philosophical questions. The club provided a setting where the big questions could be explored by non-Christians and Christians together in dialogue and debate. Lewis would typically open the meetings and serve as the overseer figure as debates would ensue across the spectrum of differing opinions. 

Austen Farrer records his experiences coming to the Socratic Club meetings. He would come in fear and trembling; afraid he’d be called out in a debate and let them down. But he noted that Lewis was there “snuffing the imminent battle and saying ‘Aha!’ at the sound of the trumpet. My anxieties rolled away. Whatever ineptitudes I might commit, he would maintain the cause; and nobody could put Lewis down.”

 Nevill Coghill was a student with Lewis and a long-time friend and Inkling. He called Lewis “formidable” explaining that he was certain, but not arrogant. Coghill explained that he could diminish you to dust in an argument, but he enjoyed debates too much to do that. Per Coghill: “Genius is formidable and so is goodness; he had both.” The more that I pondered this description of Lewis, the more it made sense. 

Lewis had immense talent in communication - he would adjust himself in any situation, rapidly shifting as if from one foot to the other, the correct amount of weight on one thing, versus another. Behind all of that was the scholarly mind, a fabulous memory, and a deep sense of truth. He would quote almost perfectly accurately from his photographic memory.

Slices of "almost" Autumn

 

I anticipate the coming of Autumn like the buds of flowers anticipate their time to open into bloom. We are still in the waiting period before we see any sense of "sweater weather", however after around six months of summer heat I am so eager to enter into the gradual change of season. These are some favourite snippets of a proto-Autumn as I hold onto the hope that some cooler air will venture this way soon.

Tea, of course, is a staple every day, but when the evening temperature is a few degrees cooler it feel all that more comforting to make a tiny pot of loose leaf tea to enjoy with a book. My book (I just finished it) is A Little Learning by Evelyn Waugh.

I built out my own personal curriculum. I plan out for each week of the month different topics and/or authors I want to research and read more about. I select articles and books to read, and I take notes in this pretty notebook I picked up in Oxford earlier this year. Then I write an essay about what I've been learning so I can comprehend and retain it better. I am loving this habit; it's something I've wanted to implement for years, and never have. It just takes some time for planning the month ahead and using some way to track your progress (as accountability).

Autumn gives me the inspiration to write a lot more. Maybe it's the start of a new school year that I still love coupled with the cosier vibes of the season when cooler air comes sweaters are needed along with hot drinks, and books go along with that to me. You need a stack of books to read when Autumn comes around, right? I just picked up this book about C.S. Lewis and his writing life. 

I liked this note from the author:

"The classic works, reading, the life of escaping into great fictive worlds defined Lewis's most formative years. But Lewis didn't merely long to read great literature, as his many letters to his father show; he wanted people to talk to about them."

A I mentioned, tea is essential. I drink it each morning with some breakfast, and herbal tea each evening after dinner at a minimum. Sometimes I will drink tea other times of day if I have time to enjoy it. My hands-down choice for breakfast is the Bird & Blend Chocolate Digestives tea (from the UK). It's black tea that perfectly pairs with breakfast, or anytime later. It's cosy, warm, and perfectly flavored. I'm totally obsessed.

In quiet anticipation of the coming cooler air, I found this fair isle cardigan that I can't wait to wear. I've been looking for a fair isle sweater for years and never found one that I liked, until now. It's invoking all the Autumn colours and darker tones that will go into the winter season, plus it gives off a little sense of the bookish nature, to be worn with jeans or skirts. Now I am really eager for that cooler weather to come!

I have lots of different notebooks for all kinds of different ways I write. The softcover Moleskine pocket notebooks are perfect for taking with me everywhere I go, for jotting poems, thoughts, notes, ideas. This is my new one to replace my now full little spiral pocket notebook that I got in Oxford. I usually lean toward lined pages, but I went with dotted pages for this time to see how I like it. I think I will enjoy it, and I am not super particular about the pages (blank, lined, dotted), though maybe I will be a dotted fan now, other than I never want a wide ruled notebook (no wide ruled!). 

Exploring The City of God

 

For in the ruin of the city it was stone and timber which fell to the ground; but in the lives of those Romans we saw the collapse not of material but of moral defences, not of material but of spiritual grandeur. The lust that burned in their hearts was more deadly than the flame which consumed their dwellings.

-City of God, Saint Augustine

Augustine started writing a mammoth work - City of God, in 413 AD, as the world was in a tumultuous time. Rome had fallen at the hands of the barbaric Goths (from the German north) and someone was to be blamed, the Christians. Christianity had been growing as the fall of Rome was unfolding. Augustine was a Bishop by that time in Northern Africa. He started writing this book as a response to the blame Christianity was receiving due to the reasoning that because they didn't worship the gods of Rome, it angered them.

Through a series of organized thoughts in books and chapters, Augustine places his argument and reasons using historical, theological, and philosophical means to build his case. In it, he contrasts the city of God with the city of man, starting with Adam who occupied the city of God. When sin entered the world, it thus began the city of man, leaving the rest of history to the present day intermingling the two cities.

The city of man represents the love of self (inward seeking only ones own selfish desires). And he explains with historical details how the fall of Rome was on a path long before the birth of Christ. The moral degeneration of the empire caused the collapse of the empire, not Christianity. The Roman world had once held high standards, but their demise was in the fact that they lost all that objective sense of morality. It came upon them not as any loss of a material deficit, but in a spiritual and moral collapse across the society. It became the norm to murder politicians and anyone you didn't agree with to gain power. The loss of respect of leadership and the human person degraded the values once held. Yet even as evil is done, human nature still has its own worth and the evil is evidence of God's existence, for evil presupposes good. But good doesn't presuppose evil.

In contrast, the city of God is founded on the love of God, dwelling in the virtues of love, humility, and charity. Augustine recognizes the importance of separation of church and state, noting that the church has a higher calling, that is, the salvation of souls. Further, the church should not seek power of the state to push its doctrine. 

Both of the cities pass along into our present time, intermingled, interwoven. But eventually the city of man will be judged and destroyed in final judgment, while the city of God will bloom fully being in the forever presence of God. Augustine covers topics such as creation, time, human freedom, forgiveness, sin, grace, happiness, and divine knowledge of the future. He brings 400,000 words into a developed argument that emphasize how the love of God is what is worth living for, and the earthly life is a small portion of our overall existence. Our purpose is fulfilled when we love God with all our hearth, soul, mind, and strength. But when we live through love of self, we lead lives that head to destruction due to glorifying earthly love and materials things. The lasting community which is rooted in faith and outward looking love is that which encourages spiritual growth and true understand of human connection and purpose.