Good Reads

Simple Words of Wisdom

/ still a dreamer

No doubt, you find and read books that inspire you, whether you read them on an ongoing basis, re-read them, or discover them for the first time. Same here. One of my favorites, that I fall back into periodically, is Simple Abundance – A Daybook of Comfort and Joy by Sara Ban Breathnach. Having read it from cover to cover when I first received this as a gift many years ago, I now always have it nearby and let it fall open from time to time to see what Ms. Ban Breathnach has to say on a particular occasion.

I thought I would share with you a line of inspiration that she wrote …  and an example of how the seemingly simplest thought can say it all —

“Learning to shrug is the beginning of wisdom.”

Sorry, Henry — Sorry, Clare

/ still a dreamer

I tried – I really did – but The Time Traveler’s Wife just jumped around too much for me to follow at this juncture in time, when I am reading so sporadically. This book has such a unique and interesting premise, but I found, that with very little reading time available at the moment, (and often at the end of the day), that The Time Traveler’s Wife was not getting the true attention it deserved. And by all reports of friends who have read it, it’s tricky to follow anyway. So, back on the shelf it goes, to be picked up when I have the luxury of reading for hours on end and truly appreciating Henry and Clare and their time-spanning relationship.

What, then, should I choose? The finds from the Hunterdon County’s Annual Book Sale beckon! There awaiting me are best-sellers, favorite authors, new-to-me authors, and children’s books – lots of them. Among these are fairly current offerings and some classics. Of the latter are some I have not yet read, like Old Yeller, and some I have, including my current choice – The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett.

I can remember the copy I borrowed as a child from the Dixon-Homestead Library in the town where I grew up – it was a hardcover, and a medium dark green. I also remember loving it, and am curious to see how it stands up today. Written in 1911, The Secret Garden intermixed some of the history of Burnett’s own life with her imagination, and became instantly popular, and then in time, a classic.

Do you remember reading this as a child?

Blue Diary – Alice Hoffman

/ still a dreamer

I may have written this elsewhere on my blog about Alice Hoffman, but I will say it again. She never disappoints as an author, and she is a master of the well-crafted, cannot-put-it-down novel.

Blue Diary is the latest of Alice Hoffman’s that I’ve read – just finished it, in fact, and I feel like I want to pick it up and read it again; I didn’t want it to end, and I feel like another reading will further enrich my experience in Monroe, MA. Hoffman’s characters are so real – so relatable. They are people you know, flawed, struggling, yet with their own — sometimes surprising — depths of strength.

A family man with a wife and child who adore him, a worker in the small town relied upon for his excellent services, and a volunteer fireman honored because he is often the first to go into a fire fearlessly and rescue someone trapped. Yet on one morning the police arrive – his own friends – and take him away in handcuffs for a crime he allegedly committed 13 years ago in a different state under a different name. How has this happened?

I suppose in a way you can say this is a murder mystery, but it is so much more than that. It is an examination of the hearts and souls of the people whose lives Ethan Ford has touched,  and those of their friends and loved ones as things start to come apart at the seams, and also of those whose lives he has ruined. It is a mystery that needs sorting out by many different people. Over the course of Blue Diary, the mystery is revealed, played out through the many characters we get to know and care about.

The second chapter in Part One, simply entitled “True,” is from the POV of Kat, neighbor and 12 year old friend of Ethan Ford’s son, Collie. She says, “The first thing I noticed was that he could walk past a mirror without casting a reflection. My grandmother always told me that a mirror can shine back a person’s dishonesty, but what did it mean for a man to have no reflection at all?” This is not a tale of vampires, or the supernatural, but an insight of a child who can appraise a truth. Something no one else has quite been able to grasp, though past inklings come to light for some. Masterfully woven into the main plot are several sub-plots, all wonderfully intriguing.

And then there’s Hoffman’s writing itself. Her writing has been described as “lush” and “luminous” and these are accurate. Her way with words is so incredibly rich, I never want to leave her world – whichever book’s world she has enticed me to enter. Perhaps it’s why I’m inclined to want to read this again immediately after just finishing it. Her descriptions of place, of experience, of emotion are so compelling that I am there. It’s an amazing gift, and I don’t know of that many authors I’ve read that share it so consistently, novel after novel. Blue Diary is a terrific read.

So what next? What can follow such an engrossing story? Or should I just enjoy it again?

A Wind in the Door – Madeleine L’Engle

/ still a dreamer / 2 Comments

A permanent fixture in my children’s book bookcase is the classic, A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle. For whatever reason, I recently plucked the sequel to this book, A Wind in the Door, from among the many YA, MG and adult books that I snared from the county’s annual library book sale, awaiting to be read. And once again, a moment of synchronicity.

To me, L’Engle, who passed away in 2007, is a metaphysical teacher. Some see her writing as having a Christian bent; I, however, find it much broader. Her use of the fantastic to engage readers in the greatest battle of all time  – good vs. evil – is spectacular. Two children, Meg Murray, our heroine, and her friend Calvin O’Keefe are called to join the battle, beginning so innocently as Meg’s ailing younger brother, Charles Wallace, announcing that there is a dragon in the twins’ vegetable garden.

Proginoskes, however, with his many wings, each inhabited by many more eyes, is not a dragon, but a cherubim. “I suppose you think I ought to be a golden-haired baby-face with no body and two useless little wings?” says he.

Throughout this novel, the reader is asked to question what is and what is not real, to consider the powers we have, among them the ability to communicate with one another without words, and to understand the ultimate power of love. Love changes everything is L’Engle’s message. Indeed, it can save one small child and the entire universe. But there’s a fight to be had for it. One needs to trust in oneself and in the good of others, even though they’ve lost track of it themselves, to not judge by appearances, to believe that animals can be teachers and guides, and to be willing to travel in galactic space as well as the inner space of mitochondria.

And L’Engle does all this in a completely magical yet utterly believable way.

As soon as I finished A Wind in the Door, I knew I would go right back in and read it again. Then a re-visit of A Wrinkle in Time. Then I believe, I will order the other 3 books in her “time” series.

For more information about Madeline L’Engle, who has written so much more than these few mentioned books, visit her web site. Or to understand her in a nutshell, read her acceptance speech of the Newbery Award she received for A Wrinkle in Time.

The Call to Read Non-Fiction

/ still a dreamer

Are you a voracious reader? Love to read? I consider myself blessed in that I really do love to read. As a small child, I read anything I could get my hands on, and today is no different. Books, magazines, blogs, newspapers, cereal boxes … it’s all good.

However, I would say my strongest leaning is towards good fiction … who doesn’t love a really good story? And if that’s adult fiction, YA or a picture book with fabulous illustrations, I’m in. Recent reads, which I’m hoping to post about, include Leaving the Bellweathers by Kristen Clark Venuti, White Oleander by Janet Fitch and Eggs by Jerry Spinelli … all great. But what about non-fiction? Although I am generally reading a book of a metaphysical nature at whatever leisurely pace that goes, (which is always non-fiction), every now and then I feel a call to read non-fiction of some other sort.

Does non-fiction cleanse the “fiction palate” for you? Does it bring you back to earth and/or provide grist for the mill? Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser is one of the many books I’ve picked up along the way at library sales, yard sales, etc. and has been sitting on my shelf, waiting. What inspired this read is twofold – my interest in the general subject of the status of our food supply and also, that I saw the movie. I read in advance of seeing it that the movie was nothing like the book,  and so far, this certainly is true.

It was a great movie for what it showed … but not for everyone, I’m sure. It’s packed with big name stars who clearly believe in Schlosser’s fast food message – Greg Kinnear, Patricia Arquette, Bobby Cannevale, Kris Kristofferson, Bruce Willis and more. For those who want strictly entertainment, it’s not for you. For those who want to know about the myriad areas of damage that befall people, animals, and the environment, not to mention how your health is affected, from fast food burgers, you may appreciate the wake-up call. A number of fictional story lines are artfully woven together about individuals’ lives who are all affected by the world of meat-packing and fast food. I was already aware of a great deal of this, and it was still an eye-opener for me. The movie is about as far from the book as one could imagine – good fiction created from painstakingly researched non-fiction. Quite a feat!

So back to non-fiction and why we read it …  in this case, I wanted to read the facts behind a movie and learn more about how the fast food empire in America came to be built. What about you? Do you enjoy non-fiction as well as fiction? Perhaps more? Does it cleanse the “fiction palate” for you? And last, but not least, might it inspire your own writing?