October 18, 2026
Welcome to a new feature of this weekly newsletter, periodic essays on literature and life from friends of the West Falmouth Library. This week we hear from President and Board Chair, Charles Roussel.
About Blankets and Books
If someone offers you a blanket, take it. You probably look like you need it. And the person offering it to you is deeply kind in a way that should be acknowledged.
A former Green Beret Captain, my tent mate during an Outward-Bound retreat, offered me a blanket after I’d followed him down a 40-story high zip line over Pecos River in New Mexico. I had to do it backwards. Unsurprisingly, I was shaking. When the blanket wasn’t enough, he asked what else he could do. I said, “Sing a few bars from Alice’s Restaurant”. (If you know the lyrics, you also know that this was a BIG ask of this kind man, who obliged me.)
What books and blankets have in common is comfort. You can wrap yourself in a good story. Like blankets, books are spun from finely crafted threads and woven into something that makes us feel held in a way that few things can.
So, if someone offers you a book, read it. Even if you don’t think you need it. You probably do. We are entering the season for blankets and books, and I know just the place where you can find something to take away the cold.
(Oh, and some wisdom: Don’t sleep in the buff when visiting California and never jump off a cliff backwards. Really…never do that!
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