Hey, Mr. Postman

And I gathered up all of the books mentioned in The Correspondent

It was a very charming weekend in our little wine country town!! The Homecoming Parade (my favorite) marched down Main Street, throwing candy to everyone sporting the school colors. I love to see those perfect, shiny teenagers in their fancy dresses, sitting on the back of some parent’s convertible. I feel like I’m in a scene from Friday Night Lights, even though I never make it to the actual football game.

It was also the Sidewalk Sale when all of the shops put out last year’s wares at a discount. I scooped up pillows and pottery and some great big Swedish-y Christmas ornaments. It’s madness in the best possible way. The bookstore was rocking, which was terrific after a slower summer. And now I’m wiped out, so we’re going to get right to it!! See you ChickLits Book Clubbers over in the thread (my new favorite place on the internet!!).

🍏 This perfume company, Ffern, is fascinating. You enter your name in a drawing to receive a bottle. Like magic. And, even though I can’t imagine a “golden scent of an orchard at harvest time,” I immediately hit submit. I am too intrigued by the exclusivity and mystery of it all. Will let you know if I manage to snag a bottle!

🤠 Needed these boots for the rodeo a few weeks ago!! Perfection.

🤍 A perfect white long sleeved shirt to layer under sweaters (so you can delay trips to the dry cleaners).

🌸 Added this new Ilia soft focus blush to my cart when I was shopping for Taylor Swift-ish red lipstick and black eyeliner for my 6 year old’s Halloween costume. I look like a corpse without blush and this one sounds excellent.

👟 By the time I clicked on the Sezane x New Balance email, the sneakers were long gone. I have them on alert! Aren’t they so good?? But I am really into this entire look, especially that gray vest. It’d be the perfect thing to layer over the long sleeved tee.

🌀 Toni Collette was born to play this role! Her hair, her glasses, her homemade energy bars and general sense of menace. I also want her three-wheeled bike to tool around in. Wayward is weird, freaky and just want I want for October.

💚 This silky, chartreuse Doen-inspired skirt (it’s Banana Republic!) gives me all of the heart eyes.

The Correspondent by Virginia Evans

This beautiful, quiet, smart, cozy, heartbreaking, lovely novel is entirely made up of letters. Sybil Van Antwerp is a woman in her late seventies who has spent her life writing letters to everyone from Joan Didion to her adopted brother, Felix, to her neighbor, to the customer service rep at a DNA company.

“Imagine, the letters one has sent out into the world, the letters received back in turn, are like the pieces of a magnificent puzzle, or, a better metaphor, if dated, the links in a long chain… isn’t there something wonderful in that, to think that a story of one’s life is preserved in some way, that this very letter may one day mean something, even if it is a very small thing, to someone?”

The Correspondent had a bit of the saltiness of Olive Kitteridge and the loveliness of a Kim Fay novel (more great letter writing) and was entirely original. I was so moved by it. Through Sybil’s letters we understand her joys, her fears, her regrets and her reconciliations.

Like so many of the books that I love, it’s about human connection and what makes a life worth living. As the blurb says, it’s about a small life expanding — a notion that gives me the chills in the best way.

1. Sybil makes it clear that she only uses one type of letter writing paper that she “sends away to England for.” Smythson is the best for reason! She orders the writing paper, but I’d like to start with these bordered cards instead.

2. A bright, beautiful yellow leather folder to keep all of Sybil’s letter writing bits and bobs organized.

3. Geriatric style? Sign me up. Like your grandpa’s medical bracelet, but so much cooler. Sybil would get it engraved with the name of her late son, Gilbert.

4. Sybil strikes me as the kind of person who would have these beautiful Santa Maria Novella wax tablets lining her drawers (and a stack to bring as hostess gifts).

5. I am not spoiling anything by saying that Sybil discovers that she is going blind, which holds an enormous amount of grief for someone who dedicates so much time to letter writing. These are not inexpensive, but I think she’d invest in a pair of timeless, beautiful eyeglasses.

6. House pants in the coziest flannel, but make them enormously chic.

7. The Correspondent by Virginia Evans

8. When Ngaio Parr added this retractable hose to her last newsletter (definitely worth subscribing!), my jaw was on the floor. And Sybil, with her gorgeous garden, would appreciate the simplicity and sheer cleanliness of a hose that goes back into it’s little house. Terrific.

9. A classic looking (faux and inexpensive) pewter vase for her desk — wouldn’t it look so nice filled with Theodore Lübeck’s freshly cut roses? I also love the look of this espresso ceramic one, but think it’s too rustic for Sybil’s tastes.

10. A subtle, elegant nod to her home with the view of the Bay, these earrings would add a bit of interest to the every day.

11. The most gorgeous deck of cards I have ever seen. Would be perfect for games of Gin Rummy with her neighbor, Theodore Lübeck.

I loved when the letter writer mentioned what they were currently reading, something that happened often. It felt like such an intimate detail and, of course, I gobbled up them up. So many incredible titles (and a few too many to include below). I grabbed covers from some of my favorites and created a Bookshop.org collection for you to peruse at your leisure! Can you believe I’ve never read State of Wonder? Or Never Let Me Go??

A little 💚 below means so much to me!!

Hope you’re reading something good.