Bits and Bobs III

Letters Live

The Letters Live channel is a repository of outstanding letters read by a remarkable host of artists. I’ve chosen a mere bubble from this delightful froth, enjoy.

Two of dozens of Darwin’s children’s drawings found on some of the remaining pages of the original manuscript of *On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection*. “The drawings are lively and full of color, made in pencil, ink, and watercolor, depicting real and imagined worlds, always with a Darwinian eye for detail. Part of the joy of these images, of course, is what they imply about Darwin—not the stereotype of a tortured, isolated great thinker but the abettor of scientific curiosity in others as much as in himself. Indeed, he often put his children to work on his research.”

My Dad, My Boy

“You sold or mortgaged something and booked a family Euro-tour — not my dream, but you were so happy to give me this trip you couldn’t afford that I acted excited, hoping there would be a boy on a train who would not know English and kiss me. But there were no cute boys, only a man on a pier in Monte Carlo who thought I was a prostitute. Europe was a series of museums that my brother and I tried to navigate between a mother who could stare at a Delacroix for an hour without blinking and you, who once you started to walk couldn’t stop.”

I reread this old piece by Marie-Louise Parker which, like the best writing, gripped me afresh with its imagination and conceit. Discovering she can write such tender, piercing prose was not dissimilar to discovering Hugh Laurie can sing (the dead to life).

*Dressing Table* (Self Portrait) by Margaret Olley, 1982

Around My Room and Back Again

Bits and Bobs is a new fortnightly newsletter curated for your reading pleasure: interesting ‘bits and bobs’ that have caught our eye about art, culture, and more! Hope you enjoy this series.

Bits and Bobs is brought to you by Simar Puneet, Content and Marketing Director at Boxwalla. Simar has been an editor in publishing for the last fifteen years during which time she has commissioned, edited, and worked with the finest authors in the South Asian literary firmament. Her passion for books is only rivaled by her abiding interest in art, history, and, yes, skincare!