Most Recent Reread: From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler

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The next installment in the sibling book club was From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E. L. Konigsburg.  This classic book follows Claudia and James (Jamie) Kincaid, who run away from home and hide-out in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  I throughly enjoyed rereading this book and would definitely recommend it.

Some of my favorite quotes:

[Mrs. Frankweiler] "Both Jamie and Claudia had acquired a talent for being near but never part of a group...Some people, Saxonberg, never learn to do that all their lives, and some learn it all too well" (78). [Ezio Auditore da Firenze?]

[Mrs. Frankweiler] "You see, Saxonberg, Claudia had found the article about the statue too easily.  She didn't even look at the first sections of the paper.  I keep telling you that often the search proves more profitable then the goal.  Keep that in mind when you're looking for something in my files" (73).

[Claudia Kincaid] "How can that be? A statue isn't something like an umbrella that you leave in a taxi and lose" (85).

[James Kincaid] "Claudia, dear, I'm no angel" (88).

"'Someone very rich must have tossed in this quarter,' Jamie whispered.  'Someone very poor,' Claudia corrected. 'Rich people have only penny wishes'" (98).

[Mrs. Frankweiler] "The adventure is over.  Everything gets over, and nothing is ever enough.  Except the part you carry with you.  It's the same as going on a vacation.  Some people spend all their time on a vacation taking pictures so that when they get home they can show their friends evidence that they had a good time.  They don't pause to let the vacation enter inside them and take that home" (161).

[Claudia Kincaid] "Five minutes of planning are worth fifteen minutes of just looking" (165).

[Mrs. Frankweiler] "When the stakes are high, I never cheat.  I consider myself too important to do that" (170).

[Mrs. Frankweiler] "I think you should learn, of course, and some days you must learn a great deal.  But you should also have days when you allow what is already in you to swell up inside of you until it touches everything.  And you can feel it inside you.  If you never take time out to let that happen, then you just accumulate facts, and they begin to rattle around inside of you.  You can make noise with them, but never really feel anything with them.  It's hollow" (175-176).

Works Cited

Konigsburg, E. L. From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler,. New York: Atheneum, 1967. Print.