A. A. Milne love-fest

Yesterday I came across this link (on the marvelous A. Victoria Mixon's site ... but she's a story for another day) and stayed up way too late reading off of it:

It's a collection of essays by A. A. Milne - a man who is fast becoming my favorite all time writer.

Half of you are thinking who is that?

And half of you are thinking, oh yeah, the Winnie-the-Pooh guy.

Please let me tell you, this man is brilliant.

I first discovered him through the Winnie-the-Pooh stories - Winnie-the-Pooh and The House at Pooh Corner - which are funny and sweet and not just kid's stories. If you haven't read them, do yourself a favor. I am a huge classic Pooh fan and I kind of collect what little classic Pooh paraphernalia I can find, but that is not the only reason I love Milne.




I moved on from the Pooh stories to his poetry - When We Were Very Young and Now We Are Six are his two collections. Again they are billed as children's poems, but they are rich and the rhyme schemes are brilliant and catchy.




Then, a few years ago, we got in at Borders a book called The Sunny Side, which is a collection of his essays. I devoured it and wished that I could be best friends with him and his family. He has a dry, quirky sense of humor and, even though most of them were written in the 20's they're still so pertinent to today. Some of them are almost precursors to Dave Barry with a wry look at every day life that will have you laughing because you've LIVED it - or at least can relate to it.

After that I set off on a mission to find other stuff that he had written and I stumbled across The Red House Mystery. It's a tongue in cheek Sherlock Holmesian type mystery story that is absolutely charming. It was recently re-released.


I also discovered Once On a Time, a hilarious parody on fairy tales that he wrote for his wife. (I found it in e-books. It hasn't been re-released recently, but there are used copies available) I also picked up a biography, which I haven't gotten to yet, but think I'm going to attack over break.

Go check out the site with some of his essays. They're all short (a lot of them were written for Punch) and it will be a great pick me up for your day.

Have you ever been in the quandary of how to sort and organize your personal library? Yeah, Milne too.

Get frustrated when other people move your things? Check out his essay, "The Old Order Changes."

Or read about the TRUE pleasure of writing!

If you love a good story with a wry sense of humor then please, do yourself a favor and pick up any of A. A. Milne's works. I guarantee you will enjoy it!