M.J. Rose

Happy Holidays Readers!

Here is a gem from M.J.’s most recent newsletter (you can sign up for the newsletter on the blog, see the sidebar, or click here.)

What’s your favorite book you’ve received as a gift, and why?

Here’s M.J.’s –

The Best Book I Ever Got:

I’m Jewish but we celebrated Christmas growing up. My dad was in the toy business, and to a man in the toy business, December 25th is a holy day no matter who you pray to the rest of the year.

Imagine: it’s Christmas and your dad is the EVP at one of the top three toy companies in New York City. Imagine the sight under the tree. Nah . . . double that. Practically all of FAO Schwarz was under our tree (the tree, by the way, was five feet tall, plastic, pink and decorated with pink and silver ornaments.)

We had a rule in our house: no matter what time my sister and I woke up on December 25th, we couldn’t wake up our parents until 6 a.m. And then, painfully, excruciatingly, agonizingly, we had to wait until my mother made coffee and my sister and I each drank down a full glass of orange juice before we could start opening presents.

And then it was a wild free for all.

When the dust and the ribbons and the wrappings settled, no matter how many Barbies and Barbie clothes and doll houses and stuffed animals and games there were under that fashion tree, my favorite presents were the books.

To this day I still have almost all those books and none of the toys, and my favorite is ELOISE AT CHRISTMASTIME. Every year on December 25, at some point during the day, I pull it out and read it again.

Of all the characters, in all the books I had, I related to Eloise the most. She lived in the Plaza Hotel on 59th and Fifth — only twelve blocks away from where we lived. I got into same kinds of trouble she got into. She had a turtle. I had a turtle. My school uniform was a carbon copy of what she wore. My hair was just like hers: stringy and messy. And she was always with her nanny, never her parents, because they were always away. While my mom was there, my father wasn’t around as much as I wished he was.

Part of that toy business job required him to travel constantly, and I missed him so very much so very often. Somehow, because of that, there was a special bond between us, and every year at Christmas he gave me something special — something just from him to me. This is one of the reasons ELOISE AT CHRISTMASTIME is such a special book to me.

On the first page, the illustrious Hilary Knight drew Eloise holding up a giant-sized wrapped gift with an overly large gift card tied to it. On the card are spaces for the giver of the book to fill in the appropriate inscriptions.

My copy says: To Melisse With Love From Daddy.

We don’t have the pink tree anymore, but every year I give my father a copy of my latest book hoping it means as much to him as my copy of ELOISE AT CHRISTMASTIME still means to me.

And I always write To Daddy With Love from Melisse.

(By M.J. Rose)

Note from the editor: My five-year-old is a big fan of this book too, we read it every Christmastime.

We love a good literary mystery…

Let’s see what Scientific American has to say about this one –

[FAMOUS FOLLICLES: Scientists have the technology to test Jane Austen’s hair for lethal levels of arsenic. Image: Wikimedia Commons]

Was Jane Austen Poisoned by Arsenic? Science May Soon Find Out

Modern techniques could reveal whether the celebrated English novelist’s surviving hair contains unusually high levels of arsenic

By Ferris Jabr

On April 27, 1817, Jane Austen sat down and wrote her will, leaving almost all of her assets—valued at less than 800 pounds sterling—to her sister Cassandra. In May, the sisters moved to Winchester, England, so the bedridden Jane would be near her doctor. On July 18, only a few days after dictating 24 lines of comic verse to Cassandra, Jane died.

Since at least the 1960s Austen scholars, doctors and fans have tried to retrospectively identify the curious illness that killed the 41-year-old English author…

For the complete article click here.

OBEs, or Out of Body Experiences, are indeed, mysterious. Are they a function of our brain’s neurons? A mystical transformation? A result of otherworldly spirits guiding us to an experience of the other realms? A “near death”? A lucid dream? An astral projection or soul trip to inner space or outer space?

In the following piece from The Daily Grail, some enlightenment on the subject is offered. Enjoy!

How to Have an OBE

The following is a modified excerpt from Paul and Charla Devereux’s book Lucid Dreaming: Accessing Your Inner Virtual Realities (Daily Grail Publishing, 2011).

The techniques used for inducing out-of-body experiences (OBEs) are essentially similar to lucid dream inductions, but with a different emphasis. The power of place (spatial programming) takes on special importance, and ways of developing a dual awareness can be helpful. Most OBE practitioners agree that when inducing the experience, physical relaxation is most important. A state of relaxed alertness is the ideal to be sought.

There seems to be no special dietary advice for OBE induction, though pioneering ‘astral projector’ Sylvan Muldoon recommended fasting and a reduction in the taking of liquids on days when induction is being attempted. On the other hand, dream researcher Patricia Garfield found that she had her strongest (and most frightening) OBE when she had been “inordinately stuffed with food”! As far as posture is concerned, there are likewise no universal rules. Muldoon felt that sleeping on one’s back was best, and failing that, the right side. Garfield felt that lying on one’s back or left side best facilitated OBEs. Robert Monroe, one of the most prominent OBE proponents of the last half century, said that the aspiring OBE practitioner should lie with his or her head towards the north, but Garfield argued that it made no difference what direction one slept in. Perhaps the only golden rule is to simply experiment! You have to find what works for you…

For the complete article, click here to go to The Daily Grail.