I’ve been reading The Wind in the Willows this year. It’s a nice little book. I really enjoy the friendship between the Rat and the Mole.

The book’s introduction includes some sad details about the author, Kenneth Grahame. He had an unhappy marriage and one son, for whom he wrote the book, who died two days before his 20th birthday. After his son died, he stopped writing the stories about the animals who lived on the riverbank. He died twelve years later. It’s so sad reconciling the cheeriness and sentimental scenes between the characters in the book with the sad realities of the author’s life.