“What you think ‘the
real world’ is is composed directly of the stuff you see and read. If you
choose to read awful things, you’re going to think you live in an awful world.”
—Leonie
Dawson
Back to the Classics
Reading from the Mountain, Playing Mystery Bingo and Back to the Classics
January 08, 2014
It’s reading challenge time again. In 2014, I’m signing up
for two challenges, ones I’ve done before, and using a third challenge as
inspiration: the Back to the Classics Challenge. Reading is practically my favorite thing, and
I’ve decided to use that to gently step outside my usual comfort zone.
I’m returning to Bev’s (My Reader’s Block) Mount TBR Challenge in 2014, but stepping it up to the Mt.
Vancouver
Vintage mysteries are my favorite, possibly because I grew
up reading Agatha Christie, Ngaio Marsh, and Erle Stanley Gardner, and this
will be my third vintage mystery challenge. This year, I’m playing Vintage Mystery Bingo, also hosted by Bev. I’m doing the Golden level, and might
consider the Silver level as well if I find myself reading enough books from
that era without putting strain on the other two challenges. I’ve already
finished Georgette Heyer’s A Blunt
Instrument and have started Sheila Pim’s Creeping Venom. This will be by far my easiest challenge—these
books are the equivalent of eating cookies: delicious and comforting.
And finally, I’m using the Back to the Classics Challenge,
hosted by Karen at Books and Chocolate, as inspiration for reading more
classics. (I’m not officially signing up because I’m not planning to write a
blog post about each classic that I read—I’m just going to use the categories
as guidelines.) I’ve wanted to read more classic literature but haven’t been
able to discipline myself to do so, even though “classic” doesn’t have to mean
difficult, long or boring. (Pride and
Prejudice is a classic and one of my all-time favorite books, for example).
This challenge seems within my reach, with six required books, and four more
optional choices. Of course, I have a number of unread classics on my TBR
shelves to choose from. (Thank you to Danielle at A Work in Progress for
linking to Karen’s challenge.)
It’s likely I’m biting off more than I can chew—but it’s a
new year and everything seems possible! Even putting a dent in my (almost
literal) mountain of unread books. (See the sidebar left for a link to my 2014 reading challenge log.)
Will you join any reading challenges in 2014?
I did it! I completed both the reading challenges I joined
in 2013.
I got off to a strong start with my Mount
TBR Jan. 1, 2013 . I continued to buy books throughout the year
(possibly ending up with more than I started with—I’m afraid to count) and read
quite a few of those during 2013, too. I will continue to read from my shelves
in 2014, but I’ve resigned myself to the fact that the only way I’ll be able to
make any real headway in reducing the stacks will be if I put myself on a
book-buying fast for a few months. I may do this, though I know I’ll find it
quite painful!
While I came it at “just” 24 (my goal) for the Mount
TBR
I’m down to two books left to finish for my year-end
reading, Personal Pleasures and Wherever You Go, There You Are. I don’t
think I’ll finish them by the end of the year, but you never know. I plan to
take the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day to relax and do some extra
reading
Other than the two books mentioned above, what will I be reading? I’m so glad you
asked!
I went a little crazy with the library holds, which, of
course, all came in at the same time. (I don’t expect to finish all these
within my three-week borrowing period—I’m sure several of them will have to be
renewed.)
Here is the book bounty:
Unpacking My Bookshelves—Writers and Their Books, Leah Price. I can hardly think of a
more appealing book to a nosy book fiend like me. This book will probably
inspire a post all on its own.
The Heroine’s Bookshelf, Erin Blakemore. I’ve only just flipped through this book, but
already I wish I had written it.
Thin Is the New Happy,
Valerie Frankel. I’m already halfway
through this memoir of Frankel’s efforts to “exorcise her bad body-image
demons, to uncover the truths behind what put them there, and to learn how to
truly love herself.”
Ten Dollar Dinners,
Melissa D’Arabian. I am always looking for creative and inexpensive ways to feed the
family.
The Myths of Happiness,
Sonja Lyubomirsky. Subtitled: What Should Make You Happy, but Doesn't, What
Shouldn't Make You Happy, but Does.” I’m looking forward to reading this book
that “empowers readers to look beyond their first response, sharing scientific
evidence that often it is our mindset—not our circumstances—that matters most.”
Why We Ride: Women Writers on the Horses in Their Lives, edited by Verna Dreisbach. I can’t
wait to read this collection of essays exploring the ways horses have enriched
the lives of the contributors, including Jacqueline Winspear, author of the
Maisie Dobbs mysteries. With an introduction by Jane Smiley.
You’re probably wondering where the fiction is. I’m already
reading Every Secret Thing by Susanna
Kearsley, and I’ll pick something else from my own overloaded shelves when I
finish that.
So you see I’ll have plenty to occupy me as the 2013 reading
year comes to an end. I’m looking forward to curling up with a cup of tea or
coffee and immersing myself in some of these.
What are your plans for year’s end, reading or otherwise?
It’s the end of November and you know what that means…only
one more month to finish all the books I’ve started in 2013, and plan for next
year’s reading! Danielle at A Work in Progress recently put up a post about
finishing the books she’s started so she can start fresh in 2014—admirable
plan. I told her I planned to steal her idea, so I rounded up all the books I’m
currently reading and I have more in progress than I thought:
- No Name, Wilkie Collins. My copy has just over 600 pages and I’m a little more than halfway through. This is challenging but doable if I read about 60 pages a week. I’m enjoying the story and the writing immensely, but it’s not a book you can whiz through or you’ll miss too much.
- Against Wind and Tide, Anne Morrow
Lindbergh. The final collection of
- Some Buried Caesar, Rex Stout. Light reading at bedtime, featuring Nero Wolfe, Archie Goodwin and a prize bull (the Caesar in question).
- Flourish: A Visionary New Understanding of Happiness and Well-being, Martin Seligman. Happiness research that deserves and hopefully will get its own blog post.
- Personal Pleasures, Rose Macaulay. Essays. I just started this book, and it deserves to be savored also, so if any book makes the cross over into 2014, it will be this one.
- The Daily Mirror, David Lehman. A journal in poetry. A few times a week, I read a couple of poems before bed. I’m in December already, so should have not trouble finishing.
- Wherever You Go, There You Are, Jon Kabat-Zinn. I read a few pages of this book (on meditation) every morning. As long as I continue that, I’ll finish by Dec. 31st.
Looks like I have a lot of reading to do between now and the end of December!
Then what? There’s that unending TBR stack that I’ve barely
made a dent in. There are new reading challenges on the horizon. I’m
sure there will be reading at whim, detours and bookish wanderings…and I
wouldn’t want it any other way. Reading
is one of my favorite simple pleasures and contributes greatly to my happiness.
Do you have any end-of-the-year reading plans? Have you
already started thinking of what you want to read in 2014?
I’ve been a mystery fan practically since I could read, especially enjoying “cozy” mysteries by Agatha Christie
and Patricia Wentworth. I will always love Miss Marple, Hercule Poirot
(Christie) and Miss Silver (Wentworth), but recently, I’ve been introduced to
more modern (and younger) detectives who have become new favorites, most
notably Jacqueline Winspear’s Maisie Dobbs and Kerry Greenwood’s Phryne Fisher. I find both
heroines appealing.
The two share a few similarities: they operate during the
same general time period, between the first and second world wars. Both served
in World War I, Maisie as a nurse, Phryne as an ambulance driver. Both came
from humble beginnings, though Phryne has had the good fortune to inherit
wealth. Both women decide to become detectives.
Phryne (pronounced “fry-nee”), a resident of 1920s Melbourne ,
is smart, sophisticated, confident, brave, kind and generous. Despite tragedy
in her past, she lives to the fullest and in the moment. Maisie lives
in London in the late 1920s/early
30s. She’s much less well off, but just as clever and resourceful. The scars
from her past haunt her just as much as Phryne’s do, and I imagine I’ll learn
more about them as I continue through the series. Maisie studies psychology
(and is referred to, in fact, as a “psychologist and investigator”) in solving
her cases.
Though I’ve read the first few Maisie Dobbs books (there are
10 so far), I’ve only met Phryne on DVD . I
plan to read Greenwood’s first Phryne Fisher book (there are 20!)
as soon as I can—in fact, I just requested it from my library. I’m completely
charmed by the characters as brought to life in the TV series, and I imagine
the books will be even better. I love what Greenwood
had to say about her creation: “…Phryne is a hero, just like James Bond or the
Saint, but with fewer product endorsements and a better class of lovers. I
decided to try a female hero and made her as free as a male hero, to see what
she would do.” Doesn’t that sound like fun?
When I hear that someone has never read Jane Austen, I somehow manage not to drag him or her to the library or bookstore and load them up with Miss Austen’s body of work. She’s one of my favorite authors, and I’ve read all her novels, some of them several times. Pride and Prejudice is my favorite (possibly because of the marvelous British mini-series with Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy and Jennifer Ehle as Elizabeth Bennett), with Emma a close second.
In addition to her six novels, the Austen fan can find multiple
movies made from her books, as well as sequels, spoofs and take-offs, including the intriguingly-titled, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, and the movies Clueless (Emma) and Bridget Jones’s Diary (Pride
and Prejudice).
I bring this up now because there’s a slew of new books
about Miss Austen and her work, this flurry of interest likely related to this
year’s 200th anniversary of the publication of Pride & Prejudice. I spent most of August happily engrossed in
my own little Jane Austen project.
Why has her work remained so popular when on the surface it
appears that the stories are all about young women finding love and getting
married? I already knew I enjoyed her sly wit, language usage, and characterization.
I learned to respect her even more after reading the books below, each of which
has its own take on why she remains popular. So without further ado, if you
want to begin an excursion into Austenland, here are some books to make your
trip more enjoyable:
If you’re interested in Miss Austen herself, the Penguin
Lives biography, Jane Austen, by Carol
Shields is a great place to start. It’s an easy-to-read, compact (185 pages)
overview of her life. An excerpt:
“The young often read Austen’s novels as love stories.
Later, more knowing readers respond to their intricate structures, their
narrative drive, their quiet insistence that we keep turning over the page even
though we know the ending, which is invariably one of reconciliation and a
projection of future happiness in the form of marriage….Marriage reached beyond
its moment of rhetoric and gestured, eloquently and also innocently, toward the
only pledge a young woman was capable of giving. She had one chance in her life
to say ‘I do,’ and these words rhyme psychologically with the phrase: I am, I exist.”
One of the interesting points Shields brought out was that
Miss Austen wrote during a time that the novel form was still in its infancy. “Her novels were conceived and composed in
isolation. She invented their characters, their scenes and scenery, and their
moral framework. The novelistic architecture may have been borrowed from the
eighteenth-century novelists, but she made it new, clean, and rational, just as
though she’d taken a broom to the old fussiness of plot and action. She did all
this alone.”
The Bedside, Bathtub & Armchair Companion to Jane Austen, by Carol Adams, Douglas Buchanan
and Kelly Gesch. I enjoyed dipping into this lighthearted book. Austen
newcomers can learn a little bit about the author and her novels, and dedicated
Janeites can delve deeper or test their knowledge of all things Austen.
One of the features in the Armchair Companion is an interview with Joan Klingel Ray, author of
Jane Austen for Dummies. When asked
about the current fascination with Austen, part of her reply made sense to me: “Austen
is unique in that while she is a classic novelist who is studied by academics
and taught in universities, she also appeals to what we might call the ‘common
reader’—the ordinary person who picks up her novels simply for the pleasure of
reading them.”
Ray encourages new readers not to see the films or TV versions of Austen’s work before reading
the novels, and suggests they be read in the following order: Pride and Prejudice, Persuasion, Emma, Northanger Abbey, Mansfield Park
All Roads Lead to Austen, by Amy Elizabeth Smith. Smith spent a year traveling through Latin
America , organizing and meeting with small groups to discuss Jane
Austen’s books. Smith sums up her year this way: “I hadn’t realized how my trip
would really be a road test of values and beliefs I thought I had already
absorbed from Austen: Don’t judge too hastily; not everyone wants the same
things out of life; people’s circumstances color how they respond to
everything; we’re not all speaking the same language, even when we’re speaking
the same language.”
A Jane Austen Education, by William Deresiewicz. I loved Deresiewicz’s deeply thoughtful,
honest, and interesting account of the life lessons he received from studying each
one of Jane Austen’s novels. For example, he learned the importance of everyday
things from Emma: “Austen, I
realized, had not been writing about everyday things because she couldn’t think
of anything else to talk about. She had been writing about them because she
wanted to show how important they really are. All that trivia hadn’t been
making time until she got to the point. It was
the point. Austen wasn’t silly and superficial; she was much, much smarter—and
much wiser—than I ever could have imagined.”
Deresiewicz continued later in the chapter, “Austen
taught me a new kind of moral seriousness—taught me what moral seriousness
really means. It means taking responsibility for the little world, not the big
one. It means taking responsibility for yourself.”
After finishing these books, I’ve barely scratched the surface. The list of additional Jane Austen-related books I
haven’t been able to get my hands on yet, includes:
Celebrating Pride & Prejudice: 200 Years of Pride and Prejudice, Susannah Fullerton. From Amazon: Austen scholar Fullerton “…delves into what makes Pride and Prejudice such a groundbreaking masterpiece, including
the story behind its creation (the first version may have been an epistolary
novel written when Austen was only twenty), its reception upon publication, and
its tremendous legacy….”
The Real Jane Austen: A Life in Small Things, Paula Byrne.
Byrne looks at the small things, such as a shawl, a notebook and a card
of lace, which held significance in Jane Austen’s life, using them to paint a
fuller portrait of the author.
Jane Austen’s England,
Roy and Lesley Adkins. Written by husband-and-wife historians, this book “explores
the customs and culture of the real England ”
of Jane Austen’s everyday life.
Among the Janeites: A Journey Through the World of Jane Austen Fandom, Deborah Yaffe. Instead of
Austen herself, Yaffe takes a look at Austen’s obsessed and devoted fans.
According to Amazon, Among the Janeites is “Part chronicle of a vibrant
literary community, part memoir of a lifelong love…a funny, touching meditation
on the nature of fandom.”
In the Garden With Jane, Kim Wilson. Jane Austen loved a garden, and this book takes us to the
types of gardens she would have known, including the one that still exists at
Jane Austen’s House Museum Chawton , England
The List Lover’s Guide to Jane Austen, Joan Strasbaugh. What books did Jane Austen have in her
library? Who were her royal ancestors? A compact reference for Austen lovers.
Jane Austen Game Theorist, Michael Suk-Young Chwe. One of the more intriguing new releases,
“Jane Austen, Game Theorist shows how
this beloved writer theorized choice and preferences, prized strategic
thinking, argued that jointly strategizing with a partner is the surest
foundation for intimacy, and analyzed why superiors are often strategically
clueless about inferiors,” according to Amazon.com.
A Truth Universally Acknowledged: 33 Great Writers on Why We Read Jane Austen, edited by
Susannah Carson. Essayists include Eudora Welty, Anna Quindlin, Amy Bloom,
Virginia Woolf, Harold Bloom, and many others, and topics include everything
from “insights into the timelessness of her moral truths” to how her writing
might have changed if she had lived another 20 years. There’s even a piece by
Amy Heckerling about how she turned the characters of Emma into 1990s-era Beverly Hills
residents in the movie Clueless.
I haven’t read Pride
& Prejudice recently, and I
think maybe it’s time to have a leisurely reread of all Miss Austen’s work,
preferably with a cup of tea and a scone in hand. If you’re an Austen fan,
which of her books is your favorite? Which book would you suggest that an
Austen newbie read first? And just for fun, which Jane Austen heroine are you? Take the quiz here. (I am Elinor Dashwood.)
Note: For more information on Jane Austen and her work,
visit:
I
used Grammarly to grammar
check this post because it never hurts to have another set of eyes
proofread your work, even if they’re automated!*
The island of Crete
Roqueville, on the Cote
d’Azur , via Spinsters in Jeopardy (Ngaio Marsh).
I actually spent quite a lot of time in the United Kingdom
this year—making stops in Crampton Hodnet (in the book of the same name by
Barbara Pym), Edgecomb St. Mary (Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand), Newbury (see above), London and Cornwall (Jacqueline
Winspear’s Messenger of Truth), among other fictional and real destinations.
So you see, when time and/or finances don’t permit me to
explore the world firsthand, I turn to books to satisfy my craving for travel. And
now, as I finish this post, I’ll be returning to rural Appalachia
with Barbara Kingsolver’s Flight Behavior.
Where has your reading taken you this summer?
*This post sponsored by Grammarly, an online grammar checker
and proofreading system.
Remember those summer reading lists we used to get when we were in school—books that were either required or “recommended” for us to read before school started the next year? Even though I’ve always loved reading, I used to hate those lists. Rarely did they contain something I wanted to read, and somehow it took some of the fun out of reading when it was assigned. Even now, I’m an extremely random reader—drifting from book to book as suits my mood. I don’t often plan out a course of reading, though I admire those who do, and I love to see other people’s reading lists (like Danielle’s at A Work in Progress) and summer reading recommendations (click here for some fun ones).
This summer, to make the most of what I hope will be extra reading
time (when most people are preparing to get outdoors more in summer, here in central Florida, I’m planning ways to stay indoors as much as I can—it’s just
too dang hot and humid), I thought I’d try making up my own reading list in an effort to read more widely and carefully instead of just reading more.
I started my list with books from the pattern that has
emerged the past couple of years. For instance, every summer, I read a biography or autobiography of a writer. In past years, I’ve read
about Edna St. Vincent Millay, Louisa May Alcott and Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning. This summer, I’ve picked up a volume of L.M. Montgomery’s journals (she’s the
author of the Anne of Green Gables series, see below), and I think I might also tackle Mark Twain’s autobiography.
Interestingly, for the past two summers I’ve read a book by Wilkie Collins (The Moonstone and The Woman in White).
This year, it’s No Name, the story of Magdalen and Norah Vanstone, who
find themselves orphaned and penniless when their inheritance goes to their uncle.
I also like to pick up a classic. I’m already working on The Three Musketeers (which I started months ago—not a reflection on the story,
but on the fact that I’m reading it on my tablet, which I dislike for reading).
I’m also considering Eudora Welty’s Delta Wedding, which is described on Amazon as “A vivid and charming
portrait of a large southern family, the Fairchilds, who live on a plantation
in the Mississippi
I’ll continue with my vintage mystery challenge—with Ngaio Marsh’s Spinsters in Jeopardy—what a great title!—up next. I’ll probably also sneak in another Georgette
Heyer mystery. I’m working my way through the Sourcebooks Landmark editions
with their terrific vintage covers.
What would summer be like without a comfort reread (or two…or more!)? I’m thinking of revisiting Mary Stewart’s The Moon-Spinners (especially for the Cretan setting),
and Anne’s House of Dreams, the fifth
book in Anne of Green Gables series. And I think it’s about time I reread an
Agatha Christie mystery.
And lest you think I’m eternally stuck in the past, I also
want to read Barbara Kingsolver’s newest novel Flight Behavior, I’m working on the fourth Maisie Dobbs mystery, Messenger of Truth and I’m already more
than halfway through Jenny Lawson’s Let’s Pretend This Never Happened. (Jenny is better known as The Bloggess.)
My summer list also includes Dave Barry’s I’ll Mature When I’m Dead and Val
Frankel’s memoir, It’s Hard Not to Hate You, as well as Debbie Macomber’s Between Friends and Patricia Wentworth’s The Catherine Wheel, another vintage mystery.
Whew. That should more than take me through the summer! And if
it doesn’t, I still have quite a mountain of choices on my shelves, despite my
efforts to whittle them down. (Tip: in order to effectively reduce one’s total
“mountain” of books, one must quit buying
books. So much easier said than done.)
One of my greatest pleasures is reading. But not
just the reading itself—also thinking about reading, planning what to read
next, even reading about reading. This week I’ve spent more time than usual
doing the fun little tasks associated with reading: shuffling piles,
consolidating the to-be-read (TBR) list, and so on.
I always have piles of books lying around: books in
progress, books lined up for one of the reading challenges I’m doing, books I’ve finished reading, but want to reread select parts of or
write notes about. But the very best pile of all is the one of books next up to
be read. I got this little pile at the library this week, except for the top
one which I own and had already started to read. Here’s what I got:
What I Learned at Bug Camp, Sarah Juniper Rabkin. I’m always on the lookout for collections of
essays, and I read about this one on Susan J. Tweit’s blog. Rabkin is a
naturalist, artist and teacher, and I’m very much enjoying her thoughtful
writing.
The Muse Is IN: An Owner’s Manual to Your Creativity, Jill Badonsky. This brightly-illustrated
book looks like a fun jump start to creativity. It might help me with my
proposed 30 Days of Creativity (coming soon!).
The Cursing Mommy’s Book of Days, Ian Frazier. A humorous novel written in daybook form, the
main character is a “hilariously desperate housewife with a taste for swearing
and large glasses of red wine, who speaks to the frustrations of everyday
life.” I read about this in the New York Times, and it sounds like a good
antidote to stress, don’t you think?
Moving to Higher Ground, Wynton Marsalis with Geoffrey C. Ward. Marsalis writes about
lessons learned in a lifetime in jazz—I’m quite excited about finally checking this
out, because it’s one of the books that’s been on my TBR list the longest!
Gone Girl, Gillian
Flynn. The novel that made such a splash last year, apparently a twisty/turny
thriller. I’m looking forward to seeing what the fuss was all about.
I’ll have to start Gone
Girl first because there are people signed up after me to read it and I
won’t be able to renew it after the checkout period is over. This might be a
challenge, because next week will be given up to entertaining out-of-town
family and celebrating my son’s graduation from high school. Surely I’ll be
able to sneak a little reading time in there. I hope.
In addition to piles of books, I have lists of books. On Sunday
I spent an hour puttering through my TBR list, consolidating and updating. I’d
finished a book, and wandered through the library catalog looking for something
new to put on hold (see pile above for the result). I checked reviews on Amazon
to see if I still wanted to read a few books that had been on my list for a
while, crossing out a few, but mostly transferring them to a clean page in my
organizer. My library recently changed its cataloging system, and it took me a
little while to figure out how to best use it.
Occasionally, a book on my list will disappear from the catalog and I
have to decide if I want to try interlibrary loan, buy a copy, or discard the
book from my TBR list. Momentous decisions!
Too much.
My spring break wasn’t really a vacation—my son had already
had his school break and we didn’t go anywhere, but I recognized that I needed
a break from blogging and took one. I didn’t try to fill the days—in fact, I
tried to empty them! But life, as usual, got in the way. While I was “taking a
break,” Scout had some problems and had to go to the vet (she’s feeling better
now) and we helped my son complete a community service project which involved
making 1000 peanut butter and jelly
sandwiches to be distributed to the hungry and homeless. This is what 1000
sandwiches looks like:
I did manage to do a little extra reading (Mr. Skeffington, The Olive Grove), ride Tank several times and make a new vision board (better late than never).
And—ta da—I finished painting my sketches from Sunken Gardens .
The original sketch:
Have you noticed that when you cut back on doing one thing,
something else leaps forward to take its place? The time I spend writing posts
and visiting other people’s blogs was easily consumed by other tasks, and by
the end of the week, I didn’t really
feel like I’d had a break. I extended the break into the first part of this
week, and what do you know? I spent hours on Monday doing errands. Clearly, I
need to work on the concept of taking a break.
This non-break taught me something about myself that I
already sort of knew: I feel guilty if I’m not constantly working to contribute
in some way. Since I don’t have a paying job, I drive myself to work for the
family nearly constantly. I have a terribly hard time allowing myself the time
I need for study, thought and yes, doing nothing, in service of feeding my
creativity and my ultimate writing goals which I am ashamed to say have almost
completely fallen into obscurity. I feel bad about this, and instead of
rerouting my energies to fix it, I go for the more obvious (and endless) to-do
list where I can mark off things achieved and actually see a result—a bathroom
cleaned, groceries in the fridge, etc. I’m having a hard time letting go of
tangible results for intangible ones.
Feeling down?
Take one book and call me in the morning.
I don’t know about you, but I self-medicate with books. When
I’m enduring a difficult stretch, I often choose to read books that are funny,
or I’ll reach for a familiar comfort read. I’ll choose the simple and clear
over the more complex, simply because my mind is under strain already and I
want any input I have control over to be positive and uplifting.
Well, it turns out that my instinct for bibliotherapy is a
sound one: In several countries, including England ,
people with mild to moderate mental health issues, including anxiety, panic
attacks and depression, can be prescribed high-quality self help books they can
borrow from their local libraries. Miranda McKearney, chief executive of the
Reading Agency, a group that helped develop the list of books, told Mark Brown
of The Guardian, “There is a growing
evidence base that shows that self help reading can help people with certain
mental health conditions to get better.” The program is called Books on
Prescription, and the topics the books cover include anger, anxiety,
depression, binge eating and stress and worry, among others. (Please note that
this program is not intended for those with serious mental illness.) Click here
for a list of 30 of the most popular books used in Books on Prescription
programs.
But what if you don’t have a mental health condition—can
books still help you feel better? I certainly think so, and so does the Reading
Agency, which has also compiled a list of “mood boosting books”—books they
believe will generally provide uplifting reading. My favorite Barbara
Kingsolver book, Prodigal Summer, is
on this list, and a couple of books that are currently on my TBR list. I’ll explore some of the other titles because
I’m always looking for happy reads. Click here for the whole list. (If you have a book to suggest, they’re currently compiling
a new list for 2013. Tweet your recommendation using #moodboosting or email
them at moodboosting@readingagency.org.uk. Recommendations will be given to
reading groups who will decide which books make the cut for the list to be
released in May.)
If I were to make my own list of mood boosting books, in
addition to Prodigal Summer, it would
include:
I’m a Stranger Here Myself, Bill Bryson
Fifty Acres and a Poodle, Jeanne Marie Laskas
Guardians of Being—Spiritual Teaching from Our Dogs and Cats, Eckhart Tolle and Patrick McDonnell
Horse Heaven, Jane Smiley
The
A book from the Anne of Green Gables series, probably Anne of the Island (I don’t like the cover of this edition, but it’s the most recent), Anne of Windy Poplars or Anne’s House of Dreams. Or more likely, all three.
Something by Mary Stewart, most likely This Rough Magic, The Moon-Spinners, Madam, Will You Talk?or My Brother Michael.
A collection of Dave Barry’s newspaper columns, like Dave Barry Is Not Making This Up or Dave Barry Talks Back.
So what about you? I’m dying to know—what would your mood-boosting
books list include?
My 2013 reading challenges are off to a good start. I’ve
already read six books (out of 24) from my To Be Read (TBR) pile and two books
for the Vintage Mystery Challenge (out of eight), with a third in progress. Having
to wait around in the jury duty pool in early January wasn’t all bad! (For a complete list of books I've read for the challenges, click here. I update the list every time I finish a book, and it can always be found by scrolling down the sidebar at right.)
I haven’t been adventurous at all with this year’s reading
challenges. I do need to do the TBR
challenge if I don’t want to be entirely overrun by books and the Vintage
Mystery Challenge isn’t so much a challenge as a way to discover new authors in
my favorite genre. Next time I should choose a challenge that really is a
challenge, perhaps? I don’t know. Reading
is such a pleasure and relaxation for me, I hesitate to turn it into a true
“challenge.” I have enough of those in my life. Perhaps instead of more
challenging challenges, I might participate in the various read-alongs I hear
about that don’t last a whole year?
But enough about why my challenges aren’t really challenges—let’s
talk about books.
The first book I read this year was from my TBR pile: The Greenhouse by Audur Ava Olafsdottir,
originally written in Icelandic and translated by Brian FitzGibbon. The Greenhouse follows Arnljotur, known as Lobbi, a young
man from Iceland ,
who leaves his home, father and autistic twin brother, to restore an old garden
in a remote village monastery in an unnamed country in Europe .
Lobbi’s mother, with whom he shared a love of gardening, has recently died in a
car accident. On top of that, during one
impulsive night, Lobbi has fathered a child with Anna, an acquaintance. Anna is
raising their baby daughter, Flora Sol, without much input from Lobbi, who
doesn’t really know what his role with Anna and Flora Sol should be—though he’s more
clueless than unwilling. After he begins work on the monastery garden,
Anna and Flora Sol come to visit. Anna wants to continue her studies and needs
Lobbi’s help to care for the baby. During their time together, Anna and Lobbi begin
to build a relationship, and Lobbi slowly learns how to nurture the people in
his life as tenderly as he nurtures the flowers in the garden. I loved this
book. It was a quiet and gentle story, with interesting secondary characters, such as Lobbi's father and the film-buff monk Father Thomas. It was a page-turner in the respect that I enjoyed that world so much I could hardly wait to get back to it.
My first Vintage Mystery read was Georgette Heyer’s Why Shoot a Butler England ).
I love Georgette Heyer’s historical novels, which she’s better know for, but
the few mysteries she wrote also contain her trademark wit and humor. I plan to
read at least one more of her books before the challenge is done. I love the
covers of these editions as well—wonderful vintage artwork.
By the time you read this, I’ll be in Texas
catching up with a few girlfriends I used to work with, as well as my roommate
before I got married, and maybe even my old boss. If you hear a lot of laughing
and carrying on coming from the general vicinity of Dallas ,
that’s us. In addition to the talking, laughing and eating I expect to do, I
should have some good reading time on the flights to and from. So please excuse
me while I go choose what to take with me—my clothes are already packed, but
the books…that takes me longer to decide…
What did you do this weekend?
If you’re a book lover, February has some fun and worthwhile
bookish events. First, February is Library Lovers’ Month, a celebration of
school, public and private libraries. This month is a time for the community to
recognize the value of libraries and work to keep them strong. Check your local
library(ies) for any events planned.
February 14 is International Book Giving Day, an initiative
dedicated to increasing children’s enthusiasm for and access to books.
Organizers aim to put books into the hands of as many children as possible.
Suggestions for those who want to participate include giving a book to a friend
or family member, leave a book in a waiting room where children will be, or
donate a book to an organization that provides books to children, such as a
library, second-hand store, children’s hospital or shelter. Organizations such
as Books for Africa ,
Books for Kids,
or Project Night Night are also good places for book donations intended for children.
I have to admit, though, that my favorite bookish
celebration in February is tomorrow: Read in the Bathtub Day! I love to read in the bathtub (another
reason an e-reader won’t ever completely replace paper books in my heart) so I
will be more than happy to participate.
“It is what you read when you don't have to that determines
what you will be when you can't help it.”
—Oscar
Wilde
Last year, as part of a multi-year “Celebration of the
Book,” the Library of Congress opened an exhibit of 88 “Books That Shaped America .”
According to Librarian of Congress James H. Billington, “This list is a
starting point. It is not a register of the ‘best’ American books—although many
of them fit that description. Rather, list is intended to spark a national
conversation on books written by Americans that have influenced our lives,
whether they appear on this initial list or not.” (The list did indeed spark
conversation—as usual there was much squabbling about what was on the list and
what was left off. Simply type “Books That Shaped America” into your search
engine for proof.) While the physical exhibit has now ended, click here for the
online version.
The exhibit got me thinking about the books that have shaped
me. Books have been my friends for as long as I can remember, and learning to
read was one of my first goals when I was a child (along with learning to
whistle and to blow bubbles with gum—I was an ambitious young lady). The books
that follow are mostly not considered “classics,” but for some reason they
resonated deeply with me, shaping my understanding of myself and the world.
Here are just a few of the books that I consider have shaped who I am:
The Anne of Green Gables
series (L.M. Montgomery). Hands down my favorite childhood books. I didn’t just enjoy the stories: I
loved Anne and aspired to be like her. She was smart, spirited, loving and she
always tried to do right and help others. A girl could do worse than emulate
Anne Shirley. Even now, every couple of years, I reread the series for the pleasure of
renewing my acquaintance.
Sidetracked Home Executives (Pam Young and Peggy Jones). I loved the system of organizing household chores that these sisters created to
move from “pigpen to paradise.” I really didn’t know how to stay on top of
cleaning when I first got married, and their advice helped me figure it out. I
still use some of their basic principles to keep my house running. This book
was funny and charming and their 3 x 5 card program was super simple to
implement.
A Walk in the Woods
(Bill Bryson). This book was a revelation of how non-fiction could be just as riveting and
entertaining as fiction. Bryson tells a great story, weaving historical
information seamlessly into the narrative of his experience hiking the Appalachian
Trail . This book is funny, fascinating and educational all at once.
I want to write like that.
The Poisonwood Bible
(Barbara Kingsolver). Another revelation. This was my first experience reading Kingsolver, and I was
forever hooked. Up until I read Poisonwood,
other than the occasional “classic,” I rarely read anything more taxing than an
Agatha Christie mystery. I’ve read nearly everything Kingsolver has written,
and continued to expand my fiction horizons.
Refuse to Choose (Barbara
Sher). I’ve read and liked several of Sher’s books, but this one helped me understand
why I flit from interest to interest, and why so many things sound fascinating
to me. I’m a “Scanner”—a person who scans the horizon, eager to explore
everything out there instead of zeroing in on a single pursuit. I want to learn
about so many things, and pursue so many hobbies, how can I do it all? My
favorite of Sher’s tools is what I call the Six-Year Calendar of Happiness: a list of the major interests I want to pursue in the next six years (as
opposed to trying to pursue them all at once). I admit I haven’t been able to
follow the calendar as well as I’d like because my current interests (my horse,
learning to sketch and paint in watercolor) are time consuming enough that I
really don’t have much time for other interests. That doesn’t mean I’ve given
up on things like learning another language or doing cross stitch projects. It
just means they keep getting bumped back on the calendar.
When Women Stop Hating Their Bodies (Jane R. Hirschmann and Carol H. Munter). Authors Hirschmann and Munter believe that dieting turns women into compulsive
eaters obsessed with food. Instead, if we stopped hating our bodies, we would
be learn to accept them, feed ourselves what we really need, and stop trying to
measure up to society’s “ridiculous and impossible standards of female beauty.”
I read this when I first noticed that I could no longer eat anything I wanted
and not put on weight. (Sadly.) I believe it did keep me from hating my body,
though I still struggle with true acceptance. I think I’m more balanced in my
approach to eating and my body because of this book.
The Alchemist
(Paulo Coelho). I read this for a book club, and I loved the simple story with its
inspirational message to follow your heart. After reading this, for the first
time I realized I actually had dreams
to follow and that it was OK to do so.
Ursula K. Le Guin said, “We read books to find out who we
are. What other people, real or imaginary, do and think and feel...is an
essential guide to our understanding of what we ourselves are and may become.” Through our reading we shape and reshape our
opinions, our beliefs, our lives. These are just a few of the books that have
shaped me. What books have shaped you?
P.S. I’m excited to tell you that later today my bookshelves and I
are being featured in Danielle’s (A Work in Progress) Lost in the Stacks: Home Edition series. Come by, sneak a peek at the book
bounty and say hello.
Even though I read a lot in 2012 (112 books!), I was unorganized about it, I didn’t read the classics I wanted to read, and I allowed my to-be-read (TBR) stack to proliferate ridiculously. I also didn’t participate in any reading challenges, and I missed that. I don’t need prodding to read, but I like the feeling of working towards a goal. So this year, I’m going to participate in two reading challenges, both sponsored by Bev at MyReader’s Block.
I desperately need to do another “Off the Shelf” challenge, and there are several floating around out there with varying degrees of rigor. I chose Bev’s TBR challenge because it’s simple, I like the button and the mountain references! I’m shooting for the
The second challenge is another Vintage Mystery Challenge. I
participated in Bev’s VMC in 2011 and loved
it. I found some great, new-to-me authors (and revisited some old favorites).
This year, Bev has come up with categories that sound like lots fun. To be eligible for a prize, there’s an eight book minimum using the categories
she’s provided, which include things like “Colorful Crime: a book with a color
or reference to color in the title” and “A Calendar of Crime: a mystery with a
date/holiday/year/month/etc. in the title.” I haven’t chosen all my titles yet,
but I think my first choice will be Gladys Mitchell’s Spotted Hemlock (“Murderous Methods: a book with a means of death
in the title”). I’m planning to look for new authors and books instead of just
rereading old favorites…though I’m sure one or two will sneak in.
Do you participate in reading challenges? Which ones? Do you have any reading plans for 2013?
Even the title has a certain timeless feel to it.
I first read about the book World Enough & Time, by Christian McEwan, on Susan J. Tweit’s blog, and I ordered it
at once. The subtitle, “On creativity and slowing down,” coupled with Tweit’s review
of the book proved irresistible.
Amazon.com’s description says, “According to McEwen, the
nonstop emphasis on productivity that is so prevalent in our society is
counterproductive for anyone wanting to be creative”—something I wholeheartedly
agree with. My default speed is slow. I spent a lot of time alone as a child,
and though I was occasionally lonely, I mostly enjoyed the solitude and freedom
to do and think as I chose. Spending afternoons in my room, listening to music,
daydreaming, writing in my journal or reading formed my personality. As I have
grown up and gone from child to parent, from student to worker, I’ve lost
nearly all of that unscheduled, dreamy time and I want it back. I hate the
speed of 21st century life, and the common assumption that busy is
better and packed schedules equal fulfilling lives. McEwen encourages us to
allow ourselves to slow down and pay attention.
This really excellent book deserves a slow and thoughtful
read. McEwan has pondered long on her subject matter, and draws on a wide range
of sources to flesh out her points, quoting writers, philosophers, artists,
musicians, psychologists and others. Some reasons I liked World Enough & Time:
It reinforces something I believe in: slowing down is good
for us, not just as a tool for creativity but also a way to heal troubled minds
and hearts.
The way the book is written encourages you to slow down—not
that it’s difficult to read, but that each page holds so much to digest. Before
each new chapter is a title page with a single quote so that there is a sort of
pause before you go on to new material. Each chapter ends with a couple of
simple suggested activities and more quotes to ponder.
The writing is beautiful, with evocative chapter titles like
“The Art of Looking,” “A Feast of Words,” “The Space Between” and “A Day So
Happy.”
Here is one of my favorite passages from the book:
“Computer ‘memory’ is literal and predictable; it does not
alter over time. Human memory is considerably more fluid. We need time to muse
and dream, to mull, to ruminate, to sort through our own insights and
associations. In the words of the philosopher William James, ‘The connecting is the thinking.’ Without space for that
free-floating receptivity, short-term (or primary) memory is not transformed
into the long-term (or secondary) kind. Our memories are not consolidated. We
mislay the tiny details of our lived experience, the originality and
satisfaction of our own opinions.” In other words, without time to process our
lives, we forget them. I’ve often felt like an oddball because of my need for
quiet time every day just to sit and think or daydream, letting my mind roam
where it wants to go. I feel better about that need, now that I know it’s essential
for realizing a fully-lived life.
World Enough & Time
is not just a book for “creatives”—artists, writers, musicians, etc. It’s a
book for anyone interested in stepping out of the mad rush of the world to live
at his or her own pace. I plan to keep
it out where I can reread it more slowly (yes, I quickly read a book on slowing
down!) and internalize its ideas.
How do you slow down the pace of life?
