I sometimes find the "mean" critical voice in my head to be funny. I engage it just enough to tell it that it is not the boss of me. It is telling me that nobody cares what I read or what I have enjoyed reading and to keep all of this to myself. Only crazy people need to go around talking about what they are thinking. I don't mean an audible voice that is some sort of hallucination--but rather that inner critic whose bitchy self likes to be heard. So, I'm going to reject that voice and just write out what I have been reading. Call me reckless. I will refer to professionally written, good sources for reviews of these books for people who want more while I add a little bit of my own opinion. Here goes.
Uhm, also...my memory of how to edit things well or to write them out in APA style has been mostly lost. I make spelling mistakes and don't realize I am making them. I'm sorry. That's probably not fun to experience as a reader. Just very eager to share what I have been reading and hope others have similar interests. I am writing as a mom who reads much more than I am writing as anyone who considers herself an expert of anything. I am writing as I manage my home and try to focus most of my attention on parenting and the needs of my family. I wish I could do better. Just writing to keep my mind occupied and because I would love to know more people who like to read books like these:
1. Jumpha Lahiri's, "The Lowland" Wow. I don't think I ever loved a book so much. Great reviews on the book can be found all over the internet. www.nytimes.com/.../books/jhumpa-lahiris...the-lowland.html Her other works are all amazing, but this one stands out even more. Maybe one of the best books I have ever read. I didn't want to finish it, but I read it in two days. It made me look around at the landscape (real and inner) of my life with more attention and greater appreciation.
2. "The Autobiography of Red" by Anne Carson. The book cover and a line from the book appeared in my facebook homepage feed. I liked the cover art. I liked the sentence under the art. As an epigraph to the introduction, Carson quotes Gertrude Stein: "I like the feeling of words doing as they want to do and as they have to do". Anne Carson teaches ancient Greek. I loved Greek mythology in school. I figured it would be a good read. Bought it for the Kindle. It was poetic (written in verse), strange and lovely. www.npr.org/2013/03/12/173612336/...in-anne-carsons-red-doc A very interesting review is also found here: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/17/magazine/the-inscrutable-brilliance-of-anne-carson.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
3. My next favorite summer read of this summer has been a bedtime book for reading to the kids. My daughters are tweens or almost tweens at 7 and 9. (I think 7 is too young to be considered that...but what the 9 year old is enjoying happens to be the same in my family as what the 7 year old does, too.) http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/book/what-do-about-alice#cart/cleanup. "What to do about Alice?" by Barbara Kerley has been a longtime favorite. It has been even more loved this summer because we recently went to South Dakota and saw the monument with Roosevelt's face. As we learn new things about historical figures and places in the American landscape that are of note--the books we have been reading with ties to historical figures take on a new layer of meaning and are even more beloved. My kids love that Alice wanted to eat up the world. They love that she never wanted anyone to think of her in a "poor thing" kind of way because her legs required braces as she grew or because her mother died before she could know her. They love that she made her dad give her piggy back rides and that he equated managing her with a task as difficult as running the country.
4. Here is a big jump in topic from the others. Malachi Martin's, "Hostage to the Devil". I like stories like Todd Burpo's "Heaven is for Real" and so my husband suggested that I take on this remedy to such fancies. Finding a good review of this one is not easy. Martin writes from a very conservative Catholic position. He gives five lengthy and winding accounts of demonic possession and of the personal background of five Catholic priests who performed exorcisms in each case and of the actual exorcisms in each case. The thing to remember and to glean from these stories (in my opinion) is that they are stories of people whose sins and conditions of possession were redeemed. I think when I look at the stories that way, they lose all gruesome and haunting qualities. We are all sinners. I had lots of notes in the book, but amusingly, my husband took the book away from me so that I would move on to another one.
5. "A Prayer Journal", by Flanner O'Connor. I found this in a local bookstore. I was very excited to see the actual handwriting of the author. The book also provides a typed transcription of the journal. I love her work. I knew I would love her journal. One segment that I appreciated and shared with my husband was when she writes, "Proust was right when he said that only a love which does not satisfy can continue. Two people can remain 'in love' -- a phrase made practically useless by stinking romanticism--only if their common desire for each other unites in a greater desire for God--i.e. they do not become satisfied but more desirous of the supernatural love in union with God." This is a book I have been reading a little bit of at different intervals. A page here. A page there. Probably, (in my mind) the way that she wrote it out for herself. Each time I come to it--it brings me inspiration. http://www.americamagazine.org/prayer-journal-flannery-o%E2%80%99connor
6. I have read this one to a point and put it down and tried to finish it several times. I finished a few more pages this summer. "Lincoln's Melancholy" by Joshua Wolf Shenk. I have to take this one in a little at a time. I love the man I have created in my head from reading history and historical fiction. Sometimes, the thought of the pain he suffered causes me to experience pain and to wonder how the people of his time endured. http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2005/10/lincolns-great-depression/304247/ I love this idea about the topic from page 133, "But looking on the dark side, in some scenarios, is valuable. In the midst of a disaster, the man who loudly proclaims the coming trouble will surely be more valuable than the optimist who sits dreamily admiring the daisies."
7. A very kind friend just gave me a copy of the book by James Martin called, "Jesus, A Pilgrimage". I was at a party and she was given the book as a gift. People asked her if she already had it and she said, "yes" and that it is a great read. We talked about the book a little while and she gave it to me. I will have to think of a way to thank her for that because I felt like I didn't deserve her gift--but she was pretty excited to pass the book along. I was given a copy of his book, "Jesuit Guide" a few years ago. I loved it at the time. I made all kinds of notes and tucked in references to other books and without marking up the copy of the book given to me on loan from our priest, I gave it back to him with all kinds of thoughts the book inspired in me.
Over time, however I lost a little of my love for Martin and the zeal I have for his writing has waned because I followed him on facebook and saw how he loves certain people like the bishop who covered up scandal in Milwaukee and hid enormous amounts of money that was to go to victims of sexual abuse. I asked him on facebook (because he will reply to anyone who posts) some questions about that. He does not go as far as the Pope has gone to assert how wrong these bishops have been over the years. I have begun to read the "Jesus" book, but on page 20, as he describes being on an airplane full of families and wanting to be away from them--I pulled away a little in my mind. I put the book down and can't really explain why I can't make myself return yet. It has only been a couple of days. Maybe I'll return.
8. "Good dog. Stay." by Anna Quindlen. Who doesn't love Anna Quindlen? I was able to read this in an afternoon at the pool. I sat on the edge of the pool and showed the beautiful pictures of the dogs to my kids as I read it (when they turned their attention to me). The book is delightful. Reading it is like spending time with a good and trusted friend who is witty and kind . abcnews.go.com/GMA/Books/Story?id=3882921&page=1
Let me know what you think! Thanks for reading this. I'll keep working on my APA style, spelling and other quirks.
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