“Which seed shall prosper thou shalt never know.”
Chance, circumstance and fate – the playing cards of life are a mixed hand, but it always includes this trinity of what are essentially events beyond our control. The analogy I’ve always used for a bookselling business like ours is we’re small craft at sea, we’ve checked the wind, loaded our provisions, set our sails and off we go – we have the charts to guide us, but we also know this trio of influences are always sitting there on deck – awaiting their opportunity to nudge us off our course. In a way, if you look at the uncertainties of life with a positive view, they can bring excitement, the thrill of the unexpected can be both stimulating and transformative – chance, circumstance and fate can be a good thing.
Reading an article recently about the creation of Island Records by Chris Blackwell I realised how fundamental these playing cards of life are – Chris’s small boat, not an analogy in this case, was wrecked of the coast of a Caribbean island and he was rescued by a group of Rastafarians. He became immersed in their culture and their music, borrowed some money from his parents and started his record label – without that wrecking of that small boat, the rise of Reggae, and in particular Bob Marley and the Wailers, may well have taken a different route, if one at all, to the summit of popular culture. Whether we like it or not, we’re all at the card table – life is about playing the cards we are dealt.
Chance by Helen Hunt Jackson
These things wondering I saw beneath the sun:
That never yet the race was to the swift,
The fight unto the mightiest to lift,
Nor favours unto men whose skill had done
Great works, nor riches ever unto one
Wise man of understanding. All is drift
Of time and chance, and none may stay or sift
Or know the end of that which is begun.
Who waits until the wind shall silent keep,
Will never find the ready hour to sow.
Who watcheth clouds will have no time to reap.
At daydawn plant thy seed, and be not slow
At night. God doth not slumber take nor sleep:
Which seed shall prosper thou shalt never know.
As sunnier days approach, the bookshelves grow plentiful. This week, Ben and David Crystal share their love of Shakespeare; a talking tabby is let loose in the local library; and Mark Lawrence completes his beloved book-themed trilogy.
In non-fiction, the story of parkrun is an emotive tale of community; Rachel Lance explores how scientists led the allies to victory; and Marian Boswall gives insight into regenerative gardening.
For little ones, time travel makes history a blast in The Kid Who Fell Through Time, and Julia Donaldson delights with a new rhyming story in the Tales of Acorn Wood series.
As always, if there’s anything you need, just pop by or reply to this email!
From Sophie
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