Favorite Books in March: Thursday's Reflection

Just before the St Paul Public Libraries announced they were closing, my daughter Kate received a notice that Ann Patchett's The Dutch House was on hold for her after a long wait, but it was too late. How excited she was, therefore, when one day last week she got an email from her neighborhood library saying they would be open for a couple hours that day for patrons to pick up books they had waiting for them on hold. Yahoo! 

Even though I have plenty of books on my shelves to read for the first time or to re-read, I admit I miss my frequent trips to the library, and I know when restrictions are lifted, that will be one of my first joyous outings. 

Because of time spent with my father who is in decline and needs ongoing care,  I am not reading more than usual, and, in fact, for awhile I had a hard time settling into a book when I had the opportunity. I was a bit concerned when I discarded book after book, reading only a few pages. Recently, however, reading has reappeared as my solace and my delight. I usually read around ten books every month, and this month I read twelve. 

Here are my top four favorites for this month.
1.   Swede Hollow by Ola Larsmo. (Fiction) Although it is about Swedish immigration to St Paul, this fascinating historical novel is not for Minnesotans only. I was so struck by the steadiness, the stalwartness, the resilience of these immigrants, and I suspect that is true for those who have come to this country in more recent years. 
2.   Little Bee by Chris Cleeve. (Fiction) This is also an immigration story, but so different. Little Bee is from Nigeria who enters the UK illegally after a tragic incident on a beach in Nigeria involving a couple from England. One of the characters is the couple's young son who thinks he is Batman and wears the costume constantly. I have not read any other books by this author, but will in the future. 
3.   The Longing for Home, Recollections and Reflections by Frederick Buechner. (Nonfiction) An uneven collection, I would say, but the title essay and one called "The Journey to Wholeness" are stellar. I keep thinking about them. Here's one section from the title essay:
               "...what we furnished home with was ourselves, in
               other words. We furnished it with the best that we knew
               and the best that we were, and we furnished it also 
               with everything that we were not wise enough to
               know and the shadow side of who we were as well as
               the best side, because we were not self-aware enough
               to recognize those shadows and somehow both to
               learn from them and to disempower them." p. 15
4.   Fifty Days of Solitude by Doris Grumbach. (Nonfiction) This has been waiting for me on my "to be read" (TBR) shelves for a long time and now clearly was the right time to read it. This book is a recollection of novelist Grumbach's decision to live in her coastal Maine home for 50 days, rarely speaking to anyone. The result is a meditation about what it means to write, to be alone, and to come to terms with mortality. I love this prayer, an evening prayer, she quotes from The Book of Common Prayer:
                 "O Lord, support me all the day long, until the
                 shadows lengthen, and the evening comes, and the
                 busy world is hushed, and the fever of life is over, 
                 and my work is done. Then in thy mercy grant me 
                 a safe lodging, and a holy rest, and peace at the last."

Bonus Titles from March
1.   Convictions, How I Learned What Matters To Me by Marcus Borg (Nonfiction)
2.   Writers and Lovers by Lily King (Fiction)
3.   Secrets of a Charmed Life by Susan Meissner (Fiction)
4.   The Women in Black by Madeleine St John (Fiction)
5.   The Hand That First Held Mine by Maggie O'Farrell (Fiction)
6.   Harry's Trees by Jon Cohen (Fiction) Actually read this in February, but had already written my post on favorite February books. 

I hope during these days of social isolation you can find companionship in good books. 

An Invitation
What have you been reading? Are you spending more time reading now?

Book of the Month: Tuesday's Reflection

Maren at the Red Balloon

Our granddaughter Maren is 13 years old and in the 7th grade. A bright and strong student, basketball player, actress, canoer-camper, devoted friend, lover of the Boundary Waters, Harry Potter, and BOOKS. On their recent vacation to Mexico she read ten books. Maren and her younger brother Peter always have a book with them, for you never know when you might have a chance to read a page or two.

They both have a passion for reading. 

Her Papa and I like to think we had something to do with that passion. 

When Maren was born we decided to enroll her in a very exclusive book club, The Sweetwater Farm Book Club. (The name of our home when we lived in Ohio was Sweetwater Farm.) So exclusive that Maren was the only member of that club until Peter was born, and the club expanded to two members. 

As part of membership in this club each member receives a new book every month. Every month without fail. In their younger years Papa and GrandNan had fun picking out books for them, ones we knew we would enjoy reading to them.  Now, however, they both read so widely and voraciously, we can't keep up with what they have read. That means once a month we have an outting to a favorite bookstore, like Red Balloon in St Paul, where they pick out their book --or let's be honest--bookS of the month. 

Maren has to earn a good chunk of money for the privilege of going to Camp Widjiwagan this summer, and I asked her if she would prefer receiving the cost of a book each month, instead of a book. She could add the cash to her camp stash. She didn't have to think twice before saying she doesn't want to give up the book. She will find a way to earn the money, she said, and I know she will.

Peter lost in a book

Books are just one of the bonds we have with Maren and Peter, but it is a major one and one that keeps growing. Just like their personal libraries.

An Invitation
If you have grandchildren, what are the special ways you connect with them? 

Choices: Thursday's Reflections

I think of myself as a voracious reader, but lately, my reading has been scattered, and I have been yearning for a reading retreat. I fantasize about heading to the North Shore for several days to read. I would want a view of the water and a comfortable chair and ottoman because I like to read with my legs stretched out in front of me. A fireplace would be nice. Good simple food, hot chocolate, some wine, and a shawl wrapped around my shoulders. 

And, of course, a big pile of books. I would bring more books with me than I know I could read in the allotted time, but a book lover is always concerned about finishing a book and not having another one right there. Read the last page of one book and immediately open to the first book of another. Or there is the anxiety of bringing a book you are sure you will love only to discover you don't like it at all. Be prepared, is my motto, and bring a stack of possibilities. (I know that issue could be solved by reading E books, but I cling to the feel of a book in my hand.)

Louise deSalvo, author of The Art of Slow Writing, Reflections on Time, Craft, and Creativity, refers to "in and out" reading. Reading  a few pages in-between other activities. I think of that as "stolen reading." She recalls the luxury of falling into reading when she was a child, bringing home a stack of books from the library in the summer and sitting on her porch and reading as long as she wanted.  

The summer before sixth grade I read so much my mother said I wore out the upholstery on a chair. How delicious were those days of total reading immersion.

So what is preventing me from doing that kind of reading right now? I don't have the water view, but I certainly have more than one comfortable chair and ottoman in quiet spaces. Hot chocolate and wine are available. Plus, I have more than enough books to stack at my side, awaiting their turn. 

I have been making different choices about my time. I do read in the morning during my morning meditation and devotion time, and  usually I read a bit before turning off my bedside light, but more and more I put my head on the pillow and close my eyes as soon as I crawl into bed. What has changed in recent months is how I spend my evenings. We have been eating our dinner on trays in front of the tv (I can't believe I am admitting this!) and have immersed ourselves in one series after another on Netflix or Acorn. We just finished watching season one of The Great British Bake Off, for example, but we also loved Restless and George Gently and Foyle's War and Partners in Crime and Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries. Being able to watch one right after the other and as many as we want is seductive. One of us will say, "Just one more," and there we are for another hour. 

In conversations with others in our age category I have discovered we are not alone in this new attraction and I don't feel a need to justify it, but like everything else, when I choose to spend my time in this way, I am not choosing something else. 

Elizabeth Gilbert in her book Big Magic says, "If you can't do what you long to do, go do something else." I may long for a reading retreat, but I also know I don't want to take more time away from my writing. That happens enough as it is.  Going away for a chunk of time just isn't in the cards right now. That means it is time to make some different choices.

This week we are eating at the dining room table, and after dinner I gather my current pile of books and move into the room we call the Snuggery, our sun porch, and I read ALL evening and even read more when I crawl into bed. It is divine. I am immersed in a novel called The Tortoise and the Hare by an English writer in the 40's and 50's, Elizabeth Jenkins, previously unknown to me, but I am also reading Mary Karr's The Art of Memoir and a memoir by Sandra Gubar, Memoir of a Debulked Woman, Enduring Ovarian Cancer.  I have another book in the stack, The Last Gift of Time, Life Beyond Sixty by Carolyn Heilbrun, but haven't started that. Yet. 

I am not saying this is what I will do every evening, but I listened to my yearning and realized what I needed in that moment was to make a different choice. I did that, and I can do that in the future. 

An Invitation
What different choice could you make right now that would touch a yearning within you? I would love to know. 

Tuesday Reflection: Annual Favorite Books of the Year List

In our family there is almost no better gift than a book. We quickly become almost anti-social when we get a new book, for we are that eager to open the cover and read. All of us got new books for Christmas, and now somehow the cold temperatures we are experiencing don't seem so daunting, for we can curl up with our books. 

However, before doing that, it is time look back on this year's reading. This year's reading included books read for our couples' book group--a group that has been in existence for decades. Bruce and I were part of the group before we moved away from St Paul twenty years ago, and we have been graciously welcomed back to the group now that we live here once again. Our meetings are a highlight of each month. Now anytime I am reading I wonder if the book will be a candidate for our book group. This is an added dimension for my reading, and several of my 2014 favorites are books discussed in book group. 

Here's this year's list of favorites--in no specific order. 

Fiction
1. How the Light Gets In and The Long Way Home, mysteries by Louise Penny (Now we have to wait again for the next installment!)
2. The Burgess Boys, Elizabeth Strout, the author of Olive Kitteredge, a favorite from an earlier year. (Book club selection) 
3. Under the Wide and Starry Sky, Nancy Horan (the story of Robert Louis Stevenson and his American wife, Fanny. You may recall that Horan wrote Loving Frank.)
4. The Snow Child, Eowyn Ivey. (Another book club selection, set in 1920 Alaska and based on a Russian fairy tale)
5. Mysteries by Jacqueline Winspear. (I am now waiting for a new one to be published. These mysteries are set in post WWI London and the main character, Maisie Dobbs, is a private investigator. I also really liked her stand alone novel set during WWI, The Care and Management of Lies.)
6. The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd (Book club selection. While I thought this book attempted to hit too many themes, it still was engrossing.)
7. The Signature of All Things, Elizabeth Gilbert. (Book club selection again. Not everyone in the group loved it, but I was fascinated by it.)
8. Vacationland, Sarah Stonich. (This was on my "favorites" list last year and we read it for book club this year.)
9. All Passion Spent, Vita Sackville West (Book club. Do you detect a theme here? We paired this with Being Esther by Miriam Karmel, which I liked, too. Each book focuses on an older woman and the choices made in old age.)
10. Lila, Marilynne Robinson (Now I want to go back and reread all of her books.)
11. Life After Life, Kate Atkinson (Challenging and creative structure, but well worth it.)
12. I also reread some Barbara Pym books and thoroughly enjoyed the reprise. 

Note: I read The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt, but I am one of those that doesn't understand why it got such critical acclaim. Oh well!

Nonfiction
The majority of my favorite nonfiction books are in the realm of spirituality. I am also reading (and using) books about writing
1. A Religion of One's Own, A Guide to Creating a Personal Spirituality in a Secular World, Thomas Moore 
2. The Ten Things to Do When Your Life Falls Apart, An Emotional and Spiritual Handbook, Daphne Rose Kingma (My life did not fall apart in 2014, although there were challenges, but there is such wisdom here and strategies and reflections for whenever life hits us in a way we don't expect.)
3. The Paper Garden, Mrs. Delaney Begins Her Life's Work at 72, Molly Peacock (My second reading of this gorgeous and inspirational book.)
4. This is the Story of a Happy Marriage, Ann Patchett (You know her for her novels. Now read this wonderful book of essays.)
5. Calm Surrender, Walking the Path of Forgiveness, Kent Nerburn
6. Handling the Truth, On the Writing of Memoir, Beth Kephart
7. The Rebirthing of God, Christianity's Struggle for New Beginnings, John Philip Newell (I heard the author speak this year, and he was thought-provoking about the present and future state of organized religion.)
8. Fully Awake and Truly Alive, Spiritual Practices to Nurture Your Soul, Jane Vennard
9. The Situation and the Story, The Art of Personal Narration, Vivian Gornick
10. Ask the Beasts, Darwin and the God of Love, Elizabeth A. Johnson (Johnson is a renowned feminist theologian. Her writing is always challenging, and I am so glad I read this in the context of a class.)
11. The House on Teacher's Lane, A Memoir of Home, Healing, and Love's Hardest Questions, Rachel Simon (I have had this book on my shelf for a long time and so enjoyed her reflections on creating and being home.)
12. Small Victories, Spotting Improbable Moments of Grace, Anne Lamott (Classic Lamott. She is always a star.)
13. A Season of Mystery, 10 Spiritual Practices for Embracing A Happier Second Half of Life, Paula Huston (Both this book and the book by Jane Vennard are excellent new looks at spiritual practices.)

Over the course of the year I have consulted many times two spirituality books on an ongoing basis: The Gift of Years, Growing Older Gracefully,  Joan Chittister and The Endless Practice, Becoming Who You Were Born to Be, Mark Nepo. Both are perfect companions during my morning meditation time. 

I have a feeling that the novel I am reading now, The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters, will end up on my 2015 list. Excuse me while I take a reading break! Happy reading, everyone!

An Invitation
What were your favorite books this year? If you read any of the books on my list, I would love to know your opinion. What are you planning to read in 2015? I would love to know.   
  

Book Talk: Favorite Books About Books and Reading, posted by Nancy L. Agneberg

After writing the previous post, I realized there is a whole genre of books about books and reading. The books themselves give great pleasure on their own, but the hidden treasure is how one book leads to another. Reading about someone else's delight in a specific book often makes me want to read it myself and thus, the list grows longer and the shelves get fuller.

Here are some of my favorite books about reading and books:

1.     The Pleasures of Reading in an Age of Distraction by Alan Jacobs. "The extreme reader, to coin a phrase, is a rare bird indeed. ('I have done what people do, my life makes a reasonable showing,' Lynne Sharon Schwartz writes. 'Can I go back to my books now?') Such people are born, not made, I think; or mostly born and only a little made. They take care of themselves; they always do go back to their books." 

2.      Howard's End is on the Landing, A Year of Reading from Home by Susan Hill. "A special relationship is formed with books that have been on our shelves for years without being read. They become known in a strange way, perhaps because we have read a lot about them, or they are books that are part of our overall heritage. I think I know a lot about Don Quixote. I do know a lot about Don Quixote. I have just never read it. I doubt if I ever will. But I know what people mean when they talk about tilting at windmills; I recognize a drawing of Quixote and Sancho Panza. I believe Cervantes to be a great European writer. Why do I believe that? What possible grounds have I for believing it? Other people's opinions, the fact that it has an honorable and permanent place in the canon? So, Don Quixote has an honorable, permanent place on my shelves. It would be wrong to get rid of it and, besides I should miss its red leather binding."

3.       Reading Lolita in Tehran, A Memoir in Books by Azar Nafisi. "The best fiction always forced us to question what we took for granted. It questioned traditions and expectations when they seemed too immutable. I told my students I wanted them in their readings to consider in what ways these works unsettled them, made them a little uneasy, made them look around and consider the world, like Alice in wonderland, through different eyes." 

4.       Walking a Literary Labyrinth, A Spirituality of Reading by Nancy M. Malone. "So what is it, this appetite for reading? I have often thought when watching nature programs on TV that the most basic act of animate nature is eating--not mating, which most animals do only when the female is in estrus. Everything living is eating something else in order to stay alive. That is why I read, I guess, to stay alive, to be as fully alive as I can be. In books, almost the whole world and everything in it are available to me to feed that life. The words we usually use to name that appetite--interest, curiosity--aren't good enough to describe the impulse and pleasure doesn't adequately describe its satisfaction. It is the need to know and understand--myself, others, the world beyond me, God--to ask about what is real and true and good and of value, about how we should live our lives. "

     Then of course, there are books of book lists like SuperLibrarian Nancy Pearl's Book Lust series and a teasingly fun book, Between the Covers, The Book Babes' Guide to a Woman's Reading Pleasures. There are many other books I have read and enjoyed in the past: Book and Islands in Ojibway Country, Traveling Through the Land of My Ancestors by Louise Erdrich; Ex Libris, Confessions of a Common Reader by Ann Fadiman; The Yellow-Lighted BookShop, A Memoir, A History by Lewis Buzbee: So Many Books, So Little Time, A Year of Passionate Reading by Sara Nelson; and a favorite from last year, Tolstoy and the Purple Chair, My Year of Magical Reading by Nona Sankovitch. 
     And finally, there are the books waiting to be read, including The Reading Promise, My Father and the Books We Shared by Alice Ozma; A Jane Austen Education, How Six Novels Taught Me About Love, Friendship and The Things That Really Matter by William Deresiewicz; and a brand new title just reviewed in the New York Times this past Sunday, When I Was a Child I Read Books by Marilynne Robinson. 


Are books about books and reading part of your personal reading canon? If so, tell me about your favorites.  I am always eager to add another title to the list. Happy Reading! 

Birthdays, Books, and Being, Spiritual Reflections on Time and Choices, posted by Nancy L. Agneberg

I recently celebrated my 64th birthday and am now in my 65th year,  as "kindly" pointed out by a teasing friend. I was celebrated in many ways and am so grateful for my loving family and friends. I must admit, however, that this birthday has raised some mild panic and anxiety in me. Of course, the days of our lives are always numbered, but the number of days left, while unknown, feel tangible.  I know, if I stay mindful, calm, and aware, these feelings can be a valuable teacher for me.  What am I noticing and what am I learning?
As always, I turn to books for guidance, but here's the dilemma. Too many books, too little time. I used to say that with glee and great anticipation, but now each book I choose to read feels more like a decision of what I won't have time to read.  I stand in front of my bookshelves after completing a book and agonize about what to read next. I want it to be absorbing and worthwhile. I want to know that when I read the last page, I will want to recommend it to my reading friends and will feel blessed by the words and thoughts. I want to be enriched for the time spent in its pages, its world and wisdom.  However, more and more often I read 20 or 30 pages and then toss the book in the "Help Yourself" basket in our first floor bathroom. I wonder, as I shop my shelves, if my tastes have changed. I am more attracted, for the first time in my life, to nonfiction than fiction, but nonfiction feels more like a commitment, and I am cautious about making the right commitment. 
     One recent read has complicated the issue, On ReReading by Patricia Meyer Spacks. http://www.hup.harvard.edu/ Spacks makes a strong case for rereading favorite books. 
      Reading a book for the first time can rarely if ever offer the kind of relaxed pleasure that comes with previous knowledge of how everything is going to turn out. It is equally true that reading a book for the first time rarely stimulates the kind of subtle discriminations that become possible when much in the text feels familiar. (p. 34)
      Second and subsequent readings can intensify the delight by diminishing concern for how the plot will work out...We want to see more clearly the steps by which the plot achieves its intricacies or we look forward to re-encountering a delightful character, or we hope to revel in the language of a narrative when we no longer need to pay such close attention to events. (p. 140)


     Oh great, not only do I have shelves of books I haven't yet read for the first time, but now I am thinking about all the books I want to reread: all of Jane Austen's books AGAIN, Possession and also The Children's Book by A.S. Byatt, the Harry Potter books,  Madeleine L'Engle's memoirs, Romantic Education by Patricia Hampl and many, many more. 
   There's another problem. Bookstores. I love good bookstores and want to support them, especially since independent bookstores are not much in evidence these days. Last week I made a pilgrimage to Garrison Keillor's bookstore Common Good, http://www.commongoodbooks.com/which has recently opened in a new and larger location in St Paul. Yes, I came away with a new pile to add to existing piles. Never mind that only days earlier I had been to Arcadia Books in Spring Green, WI http://readinutopia.com/and had helped boost their daily profit. Plus, I am thrilled to say that several people gave me books for my birthday. All terrific titles that tantalize me with taunts of "Read me next." 
     Theoretically, I have more time to read and that is a good thing, but there is so much more to read and that includes blogs and other online material and newspapers and magazines. I have always been addicted to magazines, but there is simply not enough time left to devour it all, and I am painfully aware of that fact.  
      I turn to Thich Nhat Hanh for advice.
                    In; out.
                    Deep; slow.
                    Calm; ease.
                    Smile; release.


Ah, I am ready to choose my next book and to live my 65th year, but   I must admit I wonder what will be the last book I read!  


     So what's on your Book Bucket List? What do you want to reread and what books are waiting to be read for the first time? I would love your list, even though it makes me shudder to think about how my own book lists and piles could grow as a result.