One more mile, one more word - motivation from running, show tunes & more

This morning I ran three miles.  As a sporadic and fairly novice runner, this is a challenge for me.  I'm always ready to give up at the two mile mark.  Today's excuses included - "I only slept six hours" and "It's pretty hot out here" and "After a busy weekend, I deserve a break."  Those things might be true, but none of them can prevent me from running another mile if I push myself to do it.  Which I did.  Music usually motivates me to keep running.  I like to include show tunes on my running playlists.  I've been a fan of the "Big Fish" soundtrack ever since my daughter performed in the musical at her school.  It's a story full of good life lessons.  I appreciate the lyrics from the song "What's next" -

"What's next?" is all anyone needs to begin.
"What's next?" has been a friend to you.
What's next to do?
One word and then suddenly one more again,
Just like a pen writing a perfect tale.

"One word and then suddenly one more again," reminds me of an anecdote from Anne Lamott's book Bird by Bird.  She relates the story of her father encouraging her overwhelmed brother to complete a daunting school assignment - a report about birds - by saying, "Bird by bird, buddy.  Just take it bird by bird."  If we think too much about the whole distance we want to run, the entire story we want to write, or the big project we need to do - we'll likely be overwhelmed.  We're better off bird by bird, word by word, page by page, step by step, mile by mile.  I remind myself at the beginning of any big task that "what's next" - the single next step - is all I need to get started.

The opposite of one step at a time is taking on too much at a time or multitasking.  Both of which are incompatible with the sort of focus that helps us reach our goals.  Blogger and author Cal Newport writes about these ideas.  I mentioned his book Deep Work in my reading notes from a year ago.  I've been reading his blog and skimming his book So Good They Can't Ignore You which details the idea of the "craftsman mindset" versus the "passion mindset."   One becomes a craftsman, Newport suggests, through deliberate practice.  Deliberate practice means not just working hard but also pushing and stretching yourself beyond what's comfortable.  Running one more mile, for example. Or writing a piece that is challenging due to the technique or topic.

This leads me to another source of inspiration - getting things done.  I often think I'm "too busy" to write or exercise or do other things that are important to me.  In April and May, I participated in an online writing course.  I wondered if I would have time to write the twice weekly assignments, read the other writers' pieces, and contribute to the discussions on top of work, volunteer commitments, end-of-school-year events and my son's graduation.  I did.  Because I was busy and didn't have time to overthink and keep revising, I believe I participated in a more focused (and less perfectionist) way.  I benefited greatly from the experience: I learned new ideas and techniques; I wrote at least twice a week, producing new drafts or revising existing pieces; I received support and feedback from a talented group of writers; and I realized that, in fact, I am not "too busy" to write. 

My last bit of inspiration comes from a book.  In my most recent reading notes, I refer to Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder by Caroline Fraser.  Fraser writes:

"Wilder was not always in full command of her material, but in turning out a column every two weeks she was learning how to tell stories, introduce characters, and craft dialogue.  She was becoming comfortable in the public realm, serving up advice to a cohort of women who craved connection, encouragement, and sensible counsel.  She was beginning to taste the gratification that came from seizing control of a narrative, summoning beloved figures, settling scores, and addressing grievances."

I'm not comparing myself to Laura Ingalls Wilder in any way, but I can relate to being "not always in full command" of my material.  Fraser observed that Wilder's regular column gave her the writing practice she needed.  There it is: "deliberate practice."  I experienced deliberate practice in the online writing course.  And it's something I can continue with committing to a regular writing routine and posting regularly on this blog.  "One word and then suddenly one word again.."

*****

Whatever your plans or goals, I hope you've found some inspiration here.

Mid-year reading notes: catching up

It's summer vacation...and time to catch up on my reading notes!  I have read twenty books so far this year.  By the numbers - I read fourteen novels, four nonfiction titles, a collection of short stories and a poetry chapbook.  Since I'm covering a lot of books in this post, the descriptions and comments are brief.  Feel free to comment or contact me if you'd like to know more about a particular title.  Links to author or publisher websites are provided as much as possible.

Highly recommended newer fiction

I have frequently written about my efforts to read books by authors of races and cultures other than my own.  I encourage you to do the same.  Here are three well-written and compelling novels that may very well put you outside of your reading comfort zone.  And it will be well worth it.  These stories are heartbreaking and hopeful, brutal and beautiful, thought-provoking and thoughtful.  
 

Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward
When I wrote brutal and beautiful above, I was thinking of this one especially.  It's a family story, a road trip story, a ghost story.  It will haunt you and make you think.  You will *feel* this book while you're reading it.  The weight of the trauma and the grief.  But you will also feel the love among family.  I was especially moved by the relationship between Pop and JoJo.  The novel deals with timely, difficult and important topics - trauma, addiction, racism, poverty, and incarceration. 

Pachinko by Min Jin Lee
This epic family story spans four generations and illuminates a part of history about which I knew nothing and a culture about which I know very little.  Multiple generations of a Korean family bear hardships and tragedy in their quest for a better life in Japan.  Yet I found this to be ultimately a hopeful story.  The characters will undoubtedly draw you in.  I particularly admired the strong women in the family, who often assured their loved ones' survival despite the odds.  This is another timely read, given the now-and-always prevalent topic of immigration.

An American Marriage by Tayari Jones
I loved the arc of this story and the character development as well. The novel centers around the unjust prosecution and incarceration of a black man for a crime he did not commit.  Can we imagine the long term and far-reaching effects not just on one family, but on multiple families and communities?  Part of the book is epistolary in format, featuring letters between newlyweds Celestial and Roy.  If you'd only been married a year and then separated for five years - what then would become of your marriage?  At turns tragic, funny, heartbreaking, and hopeful - I admire Jones' writing style and her storytelling.  Excellent.


For additional diverse voices, see also the following books listed below : Everything I Never Told You, I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter, Hunger, and I Was Told to Come Alone.

Two by two

I happened to read two novels each by Celeste Ng and Amor Towles in the past six months.

Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng
Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng
Both of these open with a tragic event, a death in the first book and a fire in the second.  The novels then go back and detail the events leading up to the tragedy.  So from the start, you know you are barreling toward the inevitable right along with the characters.  Families and secrets play a key role in both novels.  At times, I was frustrated by the actions of the characters, as in "Don't you people ever TALK to each other!"  But they don't talk to each other, and they don't understand each other, and tragedy ensues.  Both books are decent novels; of the two, I preferred Little Fires.

 

Rules of Civility by Amor Towles
A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles

I read Towles' novels consecutively in the order they were published.  His writing has been described as sparkling, and I agree wholeheartedly.  I enjoyed Rules of Civility, but A Gentleman in Moscow is my favorite of the two.  I would gladly reread it.  Count Alexander Rostov is an aristocrat sentenced by the Bolsheviks to house arrest in an elegant Moscow hotel.  Rostov creates an interesting life for himself and interacts with a multitude of fascinating characters, as many of the events of modern Russian and world history pass by.  A charming read! 

Local/Midwestern authors

The Collected Stories by Carol Wobig

The Salt Before It Shakes by Yvonne Stephens

I had the pleasure to read both of these books and then attend an event featuring the authors at a local book store.  Wobig's short stories are thoroughly entertaining.  Stephens' chapbook of poetry is full of gems  Both books where published by Hidden Timber Books.  I'm glad to have these titles on my bookshelf, as I'll definitely be revisiting both.

A newly-appreciated (by me) classic, some historical fiction & more

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
I read Smith's classic coming of age novel before, probably more than a decade ago.  Rereading it for book club, I was touched more deeply by the story.  I can't say exactly why, but it got me thinking about how books affect us differently on a second reading or at different times.

Enchantress of Numbers by Jennifer Chiaverini
I thoroughly enjoyed this work of historical fiction about Ada Lovelace, which also is a well-written novel of manners. 

Saint Mazie by Jami Attenberg
This is another well-done work of historical fiction about a person of whom I had never heard.  Entertaining and enlightening.

Brooklyn by Colm Toibin
This is decent historical fiction, which I read as a companion piece to A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.

Lila by Marilyn Robinson
I read Robinson's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, Gilead, so I was excited to read Lila - a sort of companion novel to Gilead -for book club.  Robinson writes so beautifully.  I love the voice of the character Lila in this book.

The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin
This novel is about four siblings whose life trajectories are apparently influenced by a fortune-teller they meet as children.  Was it fate or the choices they made?  There is some good storytelling in the individual tales of each sibling.

I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika L. Sanchez
This young adult novel packs a lot of issues into one book.  It's mostly well done and certainly gives an interesting view into Mexican culture and into the teenage mind.

Nonfiction miscellany

Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body by Roxane Gay
This is not a traditional memoir.  It has a sort of spiraling style that at times felt repetitive and vague to me.  But it is also effective in conveying the author's experiences and feelings in a way that is very moving.  Gay shares the experiences and vulnerability of living in her body and provides a necessary perspective for those of us who are not or have never been obese.

How To Break Up With Your Phone by Catherine Price
This is a quick read.  Price provides interesting information about how smartphones and social media are designed to hook us in. She also offers useful ideas about how to change our relationships with our phones so they don't feature so prominently in our lives.

I Was Told to Come Alone: My Journey Behind the Lines of Jihad by Souad Mehkennet
This was a fascinating read about a female Muslim journalist.  Her perspective is important, and her experiences and adventures around the globe will have you at the edge of your seat.

Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder by Caroline Fraser
Winner of the 2018 Pulitzer Prize in Biography, this book sheds new light on the lives of Laura Ingalls Wilder and her family, in particular her daughter Rose Wilder Lane, while also placing their life stories in the bigger picture of history.   

*****

That's my year in reading so far.  And now to plan my summer reading...
How about you?  What have you read recently or what are you planning to read this summer?

A challenge for Black History Month

February is Black History Month, so it's a good time to look more closely at the history of racism in our country.  Most of us lack a complete and deep understanding of the history of racist ideas in America, and this prevents us from comprehending the complexity of the issue and the way forward.  As I mentioned in my reading notes posted a few weeks ago, the last book I read in 2017 was Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America by Ibram X. Kendi.  It won the 2016 National Book Award for Nonfiction.  The Judges inscription for the award reads:

"Stamped from the Beginning turns our ideas of the term "racism" upside-down.  Ibram X. Kendi writes as a thoughtful cultural historian, aware that he is challenging deeply held, often progressive assumptions.  Using a masterful voyage through the history of the U.S. political rhetoric, beginning with Cotton Mather and ending with hip-hop, he argues that even the most fervent anti-racists have been infected with that resilient virus.  With his learning, he dares us to find a cure." 

Ibram X. Kendi is an award-winning historian and New York Times best-selling author.  He's Professor of History and International Relations and the Founding Director of the Antiracist Research and Policy Center at American University.  This book is brilliant and very important.  It challenges the assumption that we can overcome racism simply through overcoming hate and ignorance.

"Hate and ignorance have not driven the history of racist ideas in America.  Racist policies have driven the history of racist ideas in America.  And this fact becomes apparent when we examine the causes behind, not the consumption of racist ideas, but the production of racist ideas."

I can't possibly adequately summarize this book, even if I went back and copied out every passage I marked with a sticky note.

This is why I wish everyone could read the book.  At over 500 pages, it is not an easy or quick read.  But it is well worth your time, and it's imperative to understanding how we got where we are today in terms of racism in the United States.

If you're unable to commit to a 500+ page history book, start by visiting Kendi's website.  There you can read some of his essays.  Also check out his recent piece in the The New York Times: "The Heartbeat of Racism is Denial ."

If you're a reader, please consider diversifying your reading habits in general.  Why not commit to reading a book by a Black author to honor Black History Month?  In the past year, I've read a number of excellent books across a variety of genres, including but not limited to:
Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesym Ward (fiction)
Ordinary Light by Tracy K. Smith (memoir)
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas (young adult fiction)
Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay (essays)
March Trilogy by John Lewis (nonfiction/graphic novels)

Of course, reading is just one way to help us better understand Black History and racism in America.  In Milwaukee, there are a variety of organizations that host events to help our community better understand racism and the challenges of segregation in our city.

I am attending one such event on February 13th at the Frank Ziedler Center for Public Discussion.  The event is "Interrogating Whiteness" and will include an introduction by Martha Barry, an instructor for the YWCA's "Unlearning Racism" course, storytelling, and discussions with fellow community members about racial identity and whiteness.  I am participating as an Ex Fabula Fellow, having had the privilege of participating in the third year of the Ex Fabula Fellowship this fall.   "Ex Fabula strengthens community bonds through the art of storytelling."  They partner with a number of organizations in the community to put on outstanding events.  For example, my husband and I attended "Refugee Stories" at the Haggerty Museum of Art and heard compelling and braves stories from several immigrants who live in our community.  Be sure to check out Ex Fabula's website (linked above) or FB page for upcoming events.

There are many local organizations committed to fostering community bonds and better understanding.  The Ziedler Center mentioned above, as well as many local libraries, sponsor events.  The Milwaukee Jewish Museum currently has an exhibit about civil rights.  ZIP MKE is a grassroots organization that uses photography to engage and connect people throughout Milwaukee.  If you're on Facebook, check out March on Milwaukee 50th, which is a page "dedicated to the commemoration of Milwaukee's Civil Rights Movement and the 200 nights of Fair Housing Marches that took place in 1967."  These are just a few examples.

*****

"Shallow understanding from people of good will
is more frustrating
than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will."  

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Reading, storytelling, listening...how are you going to work to better understand?

Please feel free to comment with any organizations, events, books, etc. that you would recommend. 

Year-end book & blog notes

A new year has started with its promise of fresh starts and new beginnings.  I usually like to take some time at the end of the year to look back and to look ahead, setting goals for the year to come.  There wasn't much space for reflection at the end of the year.  I'm just getting around to wrapping up my reading notes and looking back at my blog activity for 2017.

I blogged nineteen times in 2017, which is exactly the number of times I blogged in 2016.  Since I don't blog a certain day or number of times per week, this is purely incidental.  I'm pondering some blogging and writing goals for 2018, but I haven't settled on anything specific yet.

Of the posts I wrote last year, these three received the most views:
1)  When your dad dies (& some thoughts on grief)
2)  Yes, Shakespeare is for everyone.
3)  all you mommas

Since the posts are not on any one specific theme or topic, this confirms that my blog is indeed "A blog about nothing (and anything)."  One constant in my three and a half years of blogging is my reading notes.  Here's what I've read since my last post in September through the end of 2017.

Adult Fiction

Behold the Dreamers by Imbolo Mbue
In light of everything that's been in the news lately - regarding immigration and the alleged comment about "shithole" countries - this novel is a very timely read.  In fact, it's one of the books listed in the article "11 Incredible Books by Writers from 'Shithole' Countries."  The story takes place during the financial collapse of  2008 and chronicles the lives of two men and their families.  Jende Jonga is an immigrant from Cameroon living in Harlem who becomes the chauffeur of Clark Edwards, a senior executive at Lehman Brothers.  I really liked the way the author developed the various characters and wove together the stories of the families.  Perhaps this book asks more questions than it answers about the "American dream."  And that's what makes it so thought-provoking, in addition to being a beautifully-written and compelling story.  Highly recommended! 


The End of Temperance Dare by Wendy Webb
This is a suspenseful and mysterious "ghost story" that takes place in an artists' retreat that was formerly a sanatorium for patients with (and mostly dying from) tuberculosis.  I'd read another of Webb's mysteries and knew I could count on her for a page-turner.  If you're willing to suspend your disbelief (it's a ghost story after all!), you will be entertained.


The Mothers by Brit Bennett
This is the debut novel of Brit Bennett.  The Goodreads description reads: "Set within a contemporary black community in Southern California, Brit Bennett's mesmerizing first novel is an emotionally perceptive story about community.  It begins with a secret."  Throughout the novel, we see how this secret affects the lives of the three main characters, as well as the families and church community in which they are rooted, as they grow from teens to young adults.  I enjoyed many aspects of the book, but I was dissatisfied with some of the character development and with the ending.


Necessary Lies by Diane Chamberlain
A few friends recommended this novel.  I enjoy historical fiction and this didn't disappoint.  It was interesting to learn about a piece of history that I hadn't been familiar with - the Eugenics Sterilization Program in North Carolina, under which social workers had over 7000 women sterilized, some without their knowledge or consent.  The characters drew me in, and the story was very good.


Tenth of December by George Saunders
After reading Lincoln in the Bardo, I put Saunders' short story collection on my to-read list.  Once again, I'm impressed with his singular style.  As a reader, I was fascinated by these strange and quirky stories.  As a writer, I'm always fascinated by the concept of what a story can be.  Short and long, funny and sad, realistic and fantastical.  The title story is a beauty.  My other favorites were "Victory Lap," "Puppy," "The Semplica Girl Diaries" and "Home."


Child / Young Adult Fiction 

The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill
This book won the 2017 Newberry Medal.  I saw it on a website and was intrigued by the title and beautiful cover.  It's a middle-grade fantasy novel, and I enjoyed the characters, their fantastical world and the story very much.  The writing is quite lyrical, however, so I wonder how it resonates with young readers.  I know I definitely want to read more of Barnhill's books.


Uglies, Pretties, Specials - Scott Westerfeld
This is a popular young adult dystopian series.  As is often the case, the first book was the strongest.  It's an interesting concept - the idea of making everyone meet the same standard of beauty through surgery.  However, there was an ongoing girl against girl thing between the main character Tally and her sometimes friends-sometimes enemy, plus their involvement in a love triangle with a male character, that really irritated me.  There are better books to read in this genre for sure.         


Whirligig by Paul Fleischman
This is a young adult novel that was the "all school read" for my son's high school this fall.  It's a short book and a quick read.  It's very sad but also an extremely moving story of redemption.

Nonfiction 

The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics
by Daniel James Brown
I hesitating reading this, despite recommendations, because I thought it would be a "sports book."  But I'm so glad I finally read it.  It's a such a compelling historical narrative of the time period and more specifically of the people.  The life story of Joe Rantz - his hardships and his grit - is fascinating.  The second half was particularly good.  Although we know what's going to happen, the author draws us into the story so deeply and so emotionally with the suspense of the races and the lives of the people involved.  I was moved to tears more than once reading this book.  Loved it!


Braving the Wilderness: The Quest for True Belonging and the Courage to Stand Alone by Brene Brown

I liked the idea of the book, but the content was just okay to me.  I really admire Brene Brown and have watched her TED talks and read The Gifts of Imperfection, which I loved.  This one was a quick read, but it didn't seem like a complete and cohesive book to me.

Ordinary Light by Tracy K. Smith
In retrospect, it's interesting that I read this memoir less than a month after reading The Mothers.  Smith's real life story shares some similarities with the fictional story of Nadia in The Mothers - both are coming of age stories about girls who grow up in middle class African American families in California, both have strong ties to their church communities, both lose their mothers at a fairly young age.  But Smith's real life doesn't have the same level of tragedy and isolation as Nadia's fictional life.

Smith is the current U.S. Poet Laureate and her lyrical, beautiful writing hints that she's a poet.  I enjoyed this peek into her life, into a certain family culture at a certain time.  Some aspects I could relate to - the big religious family, the 80s, the insecurities of high school, the love of books and literature.  At the same time, her experience growing up in a black family living among mostly white people was illuminating.   The evolution of her views on both faith and race - particularly when she went away to college - was really interesting to read about .  Perhaps most moving was her close relationship with her mother, the strain of the relationship as she grew older and ultimately the experience of her mother's death when she was still a young adult.  I definitely recommend this memoir.  I haven't read Smith's poetry, but plan to check it out.


Why Buddhism is True: the Science and Philosophy of Meditation and Enlightenment by
Robert Wright
I loved this book!  I was fascinated reading about evolutionary psychology and how our brains/thoughts/feelings developed in certain ways that made sense for hunter-gatherers but no longer serve our needs.  And then to see how this all aligns with secular Buddhism and the practice of meditation was really interesting. 


The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life
by Mark Manson
This book grew out of a popular blog post - "The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck."  I happened to read this right after Why Buddhism is True.  When Manson talks about not giving an "f" about certain things, he's essentially talking about not being attached to emotional reactions and things that don't matter.  He references Buddhist philosophy quite a bit in the book.  Parts of the book were pretty funny, and I enjoyed some of the stories he told about himself and others.  (I was irritated by a story about the importance of being honest and how he told his wife that something she was wearing didn't look good.)  At times his 30-something male humor and life views did not resonate with me.  I'd love to see a similar book written by a middle-aged mom.  Heck, I could WRITE that book.


Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America by Ibram X. Kendi
This is the very last book I read in 2017.  It's sitting here on my desk, overdue at the library and with about a million sticky notes marking pages.  This one needs its own blog post.  Stay tuned.

End-of-summer reading notes: from challenging to comforting

School is back in session; the days are getting shorter; and it's starting to feel like fall.  It's a good time to wrap up my reading notes for the summer and get back to blogging, since I haven't posted for several weeks.

In my last reading posts, June reading notes: a lot about Asia & a little about multi-tasking, I wrote about a few books that were more challenging reads.  I enjoy reading a wide variety of genres and authors.  Reading can be a form of relaxation and stress relief as well as education and enlightenment. 

In a post from a few years ago, I wrote about the stress-relieving benefits of reading.  My mix of reading at the end of summer had me thinking that just as we have "comfort foods," we may also have "comfort books."  For me, novels that allow me to delve into fantasy worlds are "comfort books."  I ended the summer by reading a few young adult fantasy novels.  Life got busy and stressful, and I felt the need to switch gears from the mix of realistic fiction and nonfiction that I'd been reading for the past few months.

Contrary to all that, the first book listed here pretty much defies genre and categorization.

Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders

This is a very different sort of novel.  I started reading it during our family reunion weekend, which is an environment that doesn't lend itself to deep concentration.  I kept rereading the first several pages and thinking - what is this!?  When I got home and had longer periods of uninterrupted reading, I was able to fully appreciate and embrace this unique novel.   

It's a ghost story of sorts set during the Civil War in the aftermath of Willie Lincoln's death.  The term "bardo" refers to a kind of limbo in the Tibetan tradition.  The novel takes place in one day.  The story of what occurs in the cemetery is interspersed with historical quotes or passages.  Except, as I found out later, some of those passages are real historical accounts while others are made up by the author.  The ghosts living in the cemetery do not understand themselves to be dead and are going about "life" while also observing Abraham Lincoln as he visits his dead son.  Lincoln's grief over the death of Willie is portrayed very movingly.  Even the historical or "faux-historical" quotes about Mary Lincoln's grief brought me to tears.  The book can be confusing, especially in terms of point of view, but I got it after a while and became fond of the two main ghost characters.

I'm not sure if I could universally recommend this book.  Some readers may not appreciate the unusual format and style.  Yet it's well worth reading, in my opinion.  Both the personal and universal aspects of grief are portrayed beautifully.  Consider this passage, which is one of the ghosts describing Lincoln's thoughts toward the end of the book:

 "His mind was freshly inclined toward sorrow; toward the fact that the world was full of sorrow; that everyone labored under some burden of sorrow; that all were suffering; that whatever way one took in this world one must try to remember that all were suffering (none content; all wronged, neglected, overlooked, misunderstood), and therefore one must do what one could to lighten the load of those with whom one came into contact; that his current state of sorrow was not uniquely his, not at all, but, rather, its like had been felt, would yet be felt, by scores of others, in all times, in every time, and must not be prolonged or exaggerated, because, in this state, he could be of no help to anyone and, given his position in the world situated him to be either of great help or great harm, it would not do to stay low, if he could help it." 

*****

Present over Perfect: Leaving behind frantic for a simpler, more soulful way of living
by Shauna Niequist

I read this for a discussion group.  Apparently, the author is a popular blogger/speaker (https://www.shaunaniequist.com/).  The book seems like a collection of blog posts.  I found it to be repetitive, essentially saying the same thing over and over in a slightly different way.  I'm definitely on board with the idea of living more simply, but the author comes from a place of economic privilege that made it hard for me to relate to her.  Most of us moms are not able to go to a lake house for a month every summer, go on yearly retreats, take frequent vacations with friends and go on exotic trips with our families.  That being said, I really enjoyed the discussion this book prompted with a wonderful group of women.  So in the end, it was worth the short and quick read. 

 



Where the Mountain Meets the Moon
Starry River of the Sky
When the Sea Turned to Silver
by Grace Lin

The first of these companion middle-grade novels I read a few years ago with my daughter as part of a mother-daughter book club.  I've been wanting to reread it along with the other two.  All three books benefit from Lin's lyrical writing and beautiful illustrations.  References to characters and stories overlap, but this isn't a series.  Folktales and storytelling are woven into the main story.  The protagonist in each book takes a journey of some sort and ultimately finds courage to help others.  Grace Lin has written and illustrated a number of picture books and early readers as well.  Check out her website http://www.gracelin.com/ for more information.   


The Marsh King's Daughter by Karen Dionne

This is a suspenseful and entertaining psychological thriller.  The premise was clever.  The main character is a woman whose father  - who had kidnapped her mother and kept them both in captivity for many years - escaped from jail.  It was a great summer read!

Today Will Be Different by Maria Semple

I love Semple's writing!  This novel takes place in the course of one day during which the protagonist Eleanor Flood is having a crisis of sorts and coming to terms with part of her life that she'd kept secret.  Like the author's Where'd you go, Bernadette?, it's a comedic reflection on modern motherhood and middle age.  There were parts that had me laughing out loud, and I wish I would have marked passages to reread.  I'm remembering a funny scene at Costco as one.  I find Semple to be hilarious and enjoy her somewhat manic style.  But I know from reading reviews and talking to others that her style doesn't resonate with everyone. 



The Blue Sword
The Hero and the Crown
 by Robin McKinley

I read a couple of McKinley's novels many years ago.  When a friend added these to her to-read list on Goodreads, I was reminded of how much I enjoyed this author.  These two particular books occur in the same fantasy world and a couple of characters overlap.  I appreciate McKinley's strong female characters and their adventures with the addition of some romance too.

Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard

Although I wasn't able to make the meeting, I started reading this for a book discussion group.  The Pulitzer Prize winner is a nonfiction narrative written from Dillard's journal observations of her natural surroundings at and around Tinker Creek.  As she writes on her website (linked above): "The book attempted to describe the creator, if any, by studying creation.."

It took me a while to get into the book, and I was side-tracked by other things I was reading at the same time.  But as I got further in, I found myself marking several passages with sticky notes.  The writing is lovely and insightful.  Here's one snippet:   

"A great tall cloud moved elegantly across an invisible walkway in the upper air, sliding on its flat foot like an enormous proud snail.  I smelled silt on the wind, turkey, laundry, leaves...my God what a world.  There is no accounting for one second of it."

Dillard seems a kindred spirit in her exultation of the wonders of our natural world and philosophical reflections.  I definitely want to read this again, when I'm not in the middle of sending one child back to college and getting the other two off to their first and last years of high school plus going back to school (work) myself.  It's a book that deserves more savoring and pondering than I was able to give it at the time.     


 
 The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater

Some of my librarian friends are fans of Stiefvater, and I've wanted to read her books for a while.  I decided to start with this stand-alone title rather than one of her series.  It was a great book to escape and relax into during the first week of school.  I enjoyed the characters, especially the main character Puck (Kate), as well as the setting and storyline.    





*****
 What have you been reading lately?
 
What are your "comfort reads"? 
 
What's on your list to read this fall?
 
Happy reading!

Yes, Shakepeare is for everyone.

In three years of blogging, I've often written about the places I enjoy in my city - parks, pools, neighborhoods, etc.  Another gem in Milwaukee, of which I'm a huge fan, is Shakespeare in the Park.  It was a pleasure to attend this year at the new venue, the Peck Pavilion at the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts, with three generations of my family.  All of us  - from fourteen to eighty-two years of age - thoroughly enjoyed Much Ado About Nothing.  We watched, captured by the story and the characters; we laughed; and we were moved and entertained each in our own way.  That's the beauty of Shakespeare's plays.  And it's our great fortune to have Shakespeare in the Park giving us that gift each summer for free, making Shakespeare accessible to families and to others who might not otherwise be exposed to the Bard. 

our group before the performance of Much Ado About Nothing

 

The new location is amazing, and I look forward to future summers of Shakespeare there!  At the same time, I feel lucky to have been in on Shakespeare in the Park from the start and to have enjoyed the various venues through the years.  I remember taking my sons, then ten and twelve years old, to see The Tempest the inaugural year at Alverno College.  We were excited and got dressed up for our theater date.  I recall my sons' excitement at attending a play outdoors and their enthusiasm for the characters and the sets.  The next two years, my husband and I took all three of our kids to Twelfth Night and Macbeth at Alverno.  We appreciated the humor of Twelfth Night and the eeriness of Macbeth, our first tragedy. 

a view of the stage at Kadish Park, summer of 2015

The move to Kadish Park brought new excitement, being right in our own Riverwest neighborhood.  We were there with various groups of family and friends to see As You Like It in 2013 and A Midsummer Night's Dream in 2015.  It's been fun to see some of the same actors, from year to year, in different roles or to recognize actors whom we've seen in plays at First Stage or other places.  Although I didn't make it to Kadish Park last summer, our younger two kids saw Julius Caesar with their aunt and uncle the same weekend my husband and I were moving our oldest child to college.  So, yes, our kids really have "grown up" with Shakespeare, thanks to Shakespeare in the Park! 

a list of supporters' names illustrate William Shakespeare, summer of 2013

If you're in Milwaukee, there are a few more opportunities to see Much Ado About Nothing at the Peck Pavilion this Thursday, Friday and Saturday (July 20-22). 

Click here for details and get thee to the show!  

*****

Why Shakespeare?  (an end-note)

Shakespeare's plays have endured through the ages and hold a place in the canon of literature.  Many of the themes are universal and accessible to people - of various ages and backgrounds - in different ways.  References to Shakespeare's plays, plots and characters abound in literature and art and even in popular culture.  And the language of the plays is wonderful.  I'm not a scholar or expert, but I know for sure that Shakespeare's plays have enriched our lives. 

As a book lover and voracious reader, one of my priorities as a parent has been to expose my kids to good books and literature.  I was inspired by an education blog to introduce my kids to Shakespeare when they were still pretty young.  Experiencing Shakespeare is not just about slogging through the text of Romeo and Juliet or The Merchant of Venice in middle or high school.  In Shakespeare's day, people didn't read Shakespeare.  They attended and enjoyed the plays.  If we read Shakespearse's plays, that shouldn't be completely divorced from experiencing them as performances.  For example, we have:  listened to an audiobook dramatization while following along in a text; read a synopsis or an abridged version and then watched the play or movie; or, attended a play first and then gone back to read parts of the text.  There's an abundance of resources about Shakespeare and his plays, both online and in books - adaptations, teaching guides, graphic novels, cartoon dramatizations, and so on.  A Google search or a chat with your favorite librarian can get you started, or feel free to ask me about some of my favorite resources.



Ron Scot Fry (founding artistic director of SitP) presents To Be: Shakespeare Here and Now
to our homeschool group, February 2013

June reading notes: a lot about Asia & a little about multi-tasking

It seems appropriate to be writing these notes on Independence Day, a federal holiday that commemorates the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776 and a day to celebrate American patriotism.  Merriam-Webster.com defines patriotism as "love for or devotion to one's country." 

 

What does "love of or devotion to one's country" look like?  What if one is compelled to leave his or her country (willingly or not)?  It is possible to feel "at home" in a new country or back in the old country or anywhere at all? 

 

The books above (one nonfiction and two fiction) offered insight, although no easy answers, to those questions.  I admit to not being very knowledgeable about the many countries of Asia and their diverse cultures and histories.  Nor have I read many books with Asian characters or written by Asian authors.  If you've read my last two book notes (which you can find here and here), you know that I'm trying to be deliberate about reading from diverse perspectives.  These three books expanded my understanding of cultures and experiences different than my own.  Not only that, but the books are amazingly well-written and entertaining as well as illuminating. 

The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors and the Collision of Two Cultures by Anne Fadiman

Book description from goodreads.com:

The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down explores the clash between a small county hospital in California and a refugee family from Laos over the care of Lia Lee, a Hmong child diagnosed with severe epilepsy. Lia's parents and her doctors both wanted what was best for Lia, but the lack of understanding between them led to tragedy. Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction, the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Current Interest, and the Salon Book Award, Anne Fadiman's compassionate account of this cultural impasse is literary journalism at its finest.

This is a fascinating true story.  The author intersperses chapters about Lia Lee, her family, their life in Laos and the U.S., and details of her medical treatment with chapters about the history and culture of the Hmong people.  The culture clash around Lia's treatment is put into the context of her Hmong culture, customs, and political history.  I knew very little, for example, about how the CIA trained Hmong men to fight against communists in Laos, the subsequent abandonment of those who fought, the story of the Hmong people escaping to Thailand and their eventual resettlement in the United States and other countries.  And while I was aware that Wisconsin has a significant Hmong population, I didn't realize that the three states with the largest Hmong populations are California, Minnesota and Wisconsin.  Through the story of the Lee family and other families chronicled in the book, I learned a lot about the experiences of Hmong refugees in the United States.  The author does a good job of representing the various "sides" of the story - the Lee family, the medical professionals, social workers, etc.  The events took place in the 1980s, and the book was written in the 1990s.  For that reason, I appreciated the afterward and updates included in the fifteenth anniversary edition.      

My curiosity about Southeast Asia piqued, I read the novel The Sympathizer by author Viet Thanh Nguyen.  A friend who recently traveled to Vietnam recommended the book to me.  Nguyen is a brilliant writer.  You can read more about him on his website.  I also recommend listening to this interview with him on NPR's Fresh Air.    

The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen

Book description from goodreads.com:

The winner of the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, as well as five other awards, The Sympathizer is the breakthrough novel of the year. With the pace and suspense of a thriller and prose that has been compared to Graham Greene and Saul Bellow, The Sympathizer is a sweeping epic of love and betrayal. The narrator, a communist double agent, is a “man of two minds,” a half-French, half-Vietnamese army captain who arranges to come to America after the Fall of Saigon, and while building a new life with other Vietnamese refugees in Los Angeles is secretly reporting back to his communist superiors in Vietnam. The Sympathizer is a blistering exploration of identity and America, a gripping espionage novel, and a powerful story of love and friendship.

Wow - what a read!  What struck me most about this book was the genius of the storytelling and the dark comedy.  It's a tragic story in so many ways, and yet I found myself laughing out loud at numerous passages.  This is not an easy read and the last few chapters were a bit frustrating to me (although I can see why necessary).   

The Refugees by Viet Thanh Nguyen

Book description from goodreads.com:

With the coruscating gaze that informed The Sympathizer, in The Refugees Viet Thanh Nguyen gives voice to lives led between two worlds, the adopted homeland and the country of birth. From a young Vietnamese refugee who suffers profound culture shock when he comes to live with two gay men in San Francisco, to a woman whose husband is suffering from dementia and starts to confuse her for a former lover, to a girl living in Ho Chi Minh City whose older half-sister comes back from America having seemingly accomplished everything she never will, the stories are a captivating testament to the dreams and hardships of immigration.

After reading The Sympathizer, I wanted to read Nguyen's collection of short stories.  Again, wonderful writing and clever storytelling.  I was absorbed in this collection and read it in two days.
*****

Other June reading:

double dutch by Sharon M. Draper

A good novel for the tween-to-teen age group by popular and award-winning children's author Sharon M. Draper.  I was drawn into the excitement of the double dutch tournaments through Draper's vivid descriptions.  She nicely weaves together the stories of the different characters and their secrets while showing loving relationships between family members and friends who help each other weather challenges and difficulties. 

Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World by Cal Newport

I like this book and am going to reread parts of it because I think author Cal Newport has a lot of great ideas. 

That being said, I had to laugh at myself when I first started reading it because the situation was so antithetical to the spirit of the book.  As I waited for two pots of water to boil, I brought the book into the kitchen with me.  I was cooking the family dinner, making brown rice for a family member with a sick stomach and simultaneously cutting up fresh fruit and veggies and boiling eggs so that everyone would have healthy stuff to pack in their lunches.  The book ended up face down on top of the microwave while I scrambled from stove to sink to refrigerator to cabinet to cutting board and back around.  This was not DEEP work, it was multi-tasking, but - wow! - I was getting a lot of necessary stuff done! 

Of course, the author is referring to "knowledge work" not household management.  But I do wonder how the book might differ if written by a woman and particularly by a mother.  Still, as I mentioned above, there are constructive ideas in the book for anyone who wants to focus more on their "work" (whether paid or creative or otherwise).  Thanks to writer Lisa Rivero from whom I learned about this book on her blog. 

******
That's it for June.  I have a large stack of books waiting to be read in July.  We'll see how far I get.  How about you?  What have you been reading?