Book Note: Thursday's Reflection

One of my favorite questions is "What are you reading?"

Asking the question sometimes means I will add a title or two to my already long list, and responding to the question means sharing some delight or wisdom or surprise. 

Let's say you just asked me what I am currently reading. How much time do you have?

As part of my morning meditation I am reading two books: What is the Bible? How an Ancient Library of Poems, Letters, and Stories Can Transform the Way You Think and Feel About Everything by Rob Bell and a new book by Thomas Moore, Ageless Soul, The Lifelong Journey Toward Meaning and Joy. 

The Bell book is written in a short and snappy style and one could be misled to think this book is not very deep or knowledgeable. Quite the contrary. Bell invites his readers to go beneath the surface of how we have always read the Bible. I am still reflecting on these words:
     The power of the Bible for people like us living in times
     like these is that it shows us what it looks like to resist what
     needs to be resisted and critique what needs to be critiqued 
     while holding on to the conviction that there is sacred
     mystery at the heart of being human. p. 215

You may have read Thomas's Care of the Soul or The Re-Enchantment of Everyday Life or any of his many other books, and if so, you know you will be invited to sit quietly with a topic and that you will be offered a range of perspectives with the goal of widening your own viewpoint. "To age well you have to be profoundly old and profoundly young." "Aging is just not about the older years but about the whole of life." "Aging is a process by which you become somebody real and alive." 

I have a hard time putting the Bell book down, for I want to zoom into the next chapter for new learning, but the Thomas book urges me to take my time and examine myself. How am I doing in this aging process?

Father Melancholy's Daughter by Gail Godwin is my bedtime reading and "take a break" reading. Not much happens externally in this book, but I don't mind that. I love Godwin's reflective, meditative style where relationships are key. Earlier this year I read Godwin's The Good Husband as well as her most recent book, Grief Cottage. She is a favorite! 

Grandson Peter and I are reading a nonfiction book called American Wolf by Nate Blakesler. Don't you love the cover? Pete and I share an interest in wolves and this is about a Yellowstone wolf called 0-Six. We aren't very far into it yet because we only read it when he comes over after school on Wednesdays. We'll keep you posted. 

What's next on my list? Well, I think it has to be the new book by Louise Erdrich, Future Home of the Living God, a dystopian feminist novel Yes, I know The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood set the standard, but I have no doubt Erdrich's newly published book is provocative and well-written. This seems like a good excuse to make a trip to her bookstore, Birchbark Books in Minneapolis, a favorite destination. 

Finally, I am adding an invitation to you to read the new winter, 2018 issue of Bella Grace. I am pleased to say it includes an essay I wrote, "Beyond the Threshold" and once again the accompanying photographs are gorgeous. It is such an honor to be part of this publication. It is available December 1 and you can find it online or at Barnes and Nobel. Bella Grace








These are busy days as we move quickly to Thanksgiving and then the December holidays, and I may not have quite the amount of reading time I generally allow myself, but I WILL read. 

An Invitation
What about you? What are you reading? I would love to know.