The Ins & Outs of Book Dedications

Every time I read a book, one of first things I do is check the front for the dedication page. I love reading dedications as they can be very interesting and/or sweet, and usually reveal a little bit (sometimes more) about the author's personality/feelings/state of mind etc.

Quick disclaimer: I've never read any of the Harry Potter books. But I searched multiple image sites for most of the dedication pages listed below to no avail. The only dedication page I could find on google images was the one to the last Harry Potter book (and I actually kind of like the dedication, so that will have to do for a picture of a dedication.)

In May 1999, when I was 15 and had just returned from my three month exchange to France, I had to write a history paper for the half course on 20th century World History that I had missed almost all of because I was in the little town of Beaupreau. My teacher, Mr. Bentley, said I should write a paper about an event in 20th century French history. I chose the liberation of Paris at the end of World War II. I don't remember much about my paper (except that I enjoyed writing it and found the topic super interesting) but I have always remembered the dedication in one of the books on the topic which I checked out of the library (unfortunately I can remember neither the name nor the author of the book). The dedication said: "For Eugenia - for making even happier my happy memories of Paris." I remember thinking then and I still think now, what a wonderful dedication and that Eugenia was a lucky lady to have someone write such a nice dedication about her!! And that the author and Eugenia obviously loved Paris as much as I did/do was a bonus!

Continuing in the academic book vein, here is another dedication. This one is from the book Winning the Ph. D Game by Richard W. Moore, which J. happens to have on his book shelf (a gift from his cousin). When I was glancing through the book, I read the dedication, which I liked so much I had to write down: "This book is dedicated to Yvonne T. Guy, Ph.D, fellow graduate student, critic, motivator, and most recently, my wife." It's sweet, it's cute, and it explains that Yvonne is the author's wife.

I am going to write a post either next month or September about vampires and vampire books and True Blood and I will talk a lot about Charlaine Harris (the writer of the Sookie Stackhouse books) in that. So for this post, I'll limit what I want to say about her to her funny and sweet dedications. My personal favourites are from the third Sookie book, Club Dead, where she writes: "This book is dedicated to my middle child , Timothy Schultz, who told me flatly he wanted a book all to himself." I find that such an endearing and funny dedication! And if I were Timothy, I know I'd want a book all to myself too! My other favourite is from Touch of Dead, a collection of Sookie short stories, where Charlaine Harris writes: "For all those readers who want every last sip of Sookie." I love that one too because a. I am one of those readers who wants every last sip of Sookie, and b. I like the vampire reference. Charlaine's dedications are good because they are funny, and they reveal the relationship between her and the person (people) to whom she is dedicating the book.

I first heard about the writer Elizabeth McCracken last spring when I read Ann Patchett's memoir Truth and Beauty (which I highly recommend!) - the bulk of the book is about Ann Patchett's other friend, Lucy Grealy, but she also discusses how she met and became friends with Elizabeth McCracken. (Interesting side note: Ann Patchett's book The Magician's Assistant is dedicated to both Lucy Grealy and Elizabeth McCracken.) After finding out about her thanks to Ann Patchett's memoir, I googled Elizabeth McCracken, discovered that her books sounded very interesting and I ended up taking her memoir An Exact Replica of a Figment of my Imagination out of the library. It was so good that I ordered one of her novels The Giant's House on Amazon. I have yet to read it but I did take a sneak peek at the dedication page and I really liked it: "for Robert Sidney Phelps a giant of a friend" It's a good dedication, in my opinion, because it is concise, kind, relates to the title of her book, and explains her relationship to Robert Sidney Phelps.

Another dedication I like is L.M. Montgomery's in Anne of the Island: "To all the girls around the world who "wanted more" about Anne." I enjoy this one because it's nice to all her fans around the world, and I'm sure it made them all feel very special - and glad that they had another book about Anne to read!

Elizabeth Gilbert is probably best known as the writer of Eat, Pray, Love but she also wrote a short story collection and a novel back before all the events of EPL ever took place. I actually recently bought a (very slightly used) copy of her novel Stern Men for very cheap. Despite not yet reading it (although I am looking forward to doing so) I really wanted to look at the dedication page because I had once read an article about Gilbert's first husband (the man she divorces at the beginning of EPL) and how she had dedicated her novel to him. The dedication reads: "To Michael Cooper - for playing it cool." I have to admit I like the dedication; it's intriguing. In what ways did Michael Cooper play it cool? I want to know!! But I also don't like when writers don't explain their relationship to the person to whom they dedicated the book. I know Michael Cooper is her ex (current at the time) husband's name, but only because of that article I read. Other people probably wonder who he is... At the same time, maybe I would find it annoying if she had dedicated it to: "To my husband Michael Cooper - for playing it cool." That just doesn't sound the same...Clearly I can't be satisfied :) I wonder if Elizabeth Gilbert regrets dedicating that book to him now. I hope she doesn't; because in some ways it would have been weird for her not to have dedicated a book to her husband, as most people presumably don't go into their marriage thinking they'll eventually get a divorce. I was so into G. in June 2004 and when we parted ways for the summer, I gave him this really gushy card in which I said all these really nice things about him. When I came back to Berkeley in the fall and he turned out to be an asshole I was so mad at myself for having written him that card. But I then realized that the card was a reflection of how I felt in June, and I think the same goes with dedications. Michael Cooper must have played it cool during their marriage, and how was Elizabeth Gilbert to know that eventually they would have a terrible, messy divorce?

Back several years ago, I tried, every once and a while, to write short stories. (I have now mostly abandoned that pursuit for writing non-fiction, but I do still have a Word document with story ideas and I suspect I will at some point try again.) Part of my problem with short stories was that I always wanted to include way too many details about each character. It was actually reading Elizabeth Gilbert's short story collection - Pilgrims- that made me realize that a lot of backstory wasn't necessary, and wasn't conducive, to short stories. I think the same idea probably applies to dedications - the shorter, the better; and then add sweet and sincere, and you have the ideal book dedication.

Berries Galore

My order of preference for berries is: 1. Raspberries 2. Strawberries 3. Blueberries and 4. Blackberries.

Raspberries, along with my spaghetti, are my favourite food. If I were to be confined to a desert island and was only allowed one food to bring, I’d choose raspberries without missing a beat. I love spaghetti too but on a hot desert island I think raspberries are a more practical choice. My favourite way to eat raspberries is on their own, something I do pretty much every single morning of the year. This past May, there were lots of specials on raspberries at my grocery store (2 for $5, and once 3 for $6) and I bought the special every time. It was great because I then had a few days where I could eat the entire package of raspberries. Barbara Kingsolver is one of my favourite writers but a few years ago I was reading a book of her essays - Small Wonder - and I came across this passage where she was talking about the importance of eating local and in season fruits and vegetables. She told this anecdote about being invited to a friend's house in New York in the month of January and how the friend was excitedly telling Barbara on the phone about the amazing raspberry dessert she had planned for her. Barbara's response (which I hope/think she kept to herself) was: "Fresh raspberries? in January?" I know eating local and in season is better but raspberries are one thing I won't stop eating... even in January! Plus, what I more took away from that story was how the friend was just trying to make Barbara a nice dessert and she had to use it as an example of how shocked she was that her friend wanted raspberries out of season.

I also like raspberries with chocolate cake or other chocolate desserts. Café Figaro in Montreal has an amazing raspberry mousse cake – so good! A good friend of mine (who was actually my student when I taught English in Paris and then we became friends) F. and her husband S. live outside Paris in this nice little town called Perreux-sur-Marne, right on the Marne river. F. invited me and our other friend G. (also an English student/turned friend) to her house a few times and cooked us an amazing lunch. Prior to eating, we sat around and S. served us raspberry kir royales (a classic kir royale is champagne with creme de cassis (blackcurrant liqueur) but you can substitute the creme de cassis for raspberry or blackberry or peach liqueur; a classic kir is white wine instead of champagne) using S.'s mom's own creme de framboise. It was delicious and they knew I liked it so much that the next summer when I saw them again they gave me a bottle of it to take back to Toronto. After our kir royales and our lunch, we went for a long walk along the Marne, which is a really pretty greeney colour. Those two times we went for lunch at her house are among my favourite memories from France.

Strawberries not only taste delicious but are also my favourite berry to have in non-edible forms. For example, I have little dessert plates that I bought in Tokyo that have strawberries around the edges, I have a hand knit strawberry pot/kettle holder, and some strawberry stationery. I also want to eventually get a poster with strawberries on it to hang on my wall. I always love going to N.'s house in Toronto because he has the best, most lovely and most comforting and calming kitchen in the world. During the summer, N. and his family often go strawberry picking, and if I'm lucky enough to go over soon after they came back, we get to sit around in his kitchen and eat the freshly picked strawberries. N. puts the leftovers in his freezer and when he opened it to show me, it was nice to see a freezer filled to the brim with bright red strawberries. I have vague (but fun) memories of going strawberry picking as a kid and I really should make more of an effort to go in the summers.

Once a long time ago, E. told me she smiled whenever she ate blueberries. When I reminded her of this a few years ago, she denied ever saying that. Whether I got her mixed up with someone else, or she has since changed her mind doesn't matter, because now whenever I eat blueberries I think about someone smiling, which in turn causes me to smile. I like blueberries on their own; however, I particularly like to eat blueberries in baked goods. Of all the berries, I think blueberries are best for baking. I love to bake blueberry cobbler (see picture below) -delicious on its own or with vanilla ice cream- and blueberry muffins. I've never baked but like to eat blueberry pie, and blueberry buns. When I was a kid my dad and I used to go get bagels at this place near our house on Sunday mornings and in addition to bagels, this place made these really good blueberry buns. I looked forward all week to eating them. In addition to blueberry baked desserts, I adore chocolate covered blueberries. Unfortunately, Peet's Coffee and Tea (a coffee shop originally started in California, but also located in some other states) - home to the most amazing chocolate covered blueberries on the planet (I think their secret is that the chocolate is dark blue and is blueberry flavoured, as opposed to just dark chocolate) - does not have any locations in Toronto/Montreal or all of Canada for that matter. Well actually, I should amend that to "fortunately" because whenever I am in California and am able to go to Peet's, I go through a package in 2 days. So it is good I do not have unlimited access to them. L. worked at Peet's for a while in 2006 and got me hooked on them, and five years later I am still obsessed.

Blackberries are too tart for me to eat them on their own. Instead, I like to eat blackberries in two ways. First, by adding two to a glass of champagne. It is very good and the blackberries add just the right little something. Second, I enjoy eating blackberry lemon cake. Back in Austin, I used to sometimes get a piece of delicious blackberry lemon cake at Wholefoods. I've found a recipe online and plan to make it sometime.

Berries are wonderful! In addition to everything I wrote above, I love how berries are very good for you. Overall, they are a winning food!