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Summer Reading Plan

/ nagneberg48 / 7 Comments

June 20, 2024

Here’s the plan:

  • Finish reading the books I’ve requested from the library.
  • Request no books from the library till fall.
  • Focus on books on my own bookshelves waiting to be read.
  • Choose one shelf at the library and read any of the books that appeal to me.

It is now three weeks into June. How am I doing so far?

Library Holds

It has taken me most of this month to complete my library “hold” list. I wrote in an earlier post https://wordpress.com/post/livingonlifeslabyrinth.com/3634 about three of those books, Long Island by Colm Toibin, The Cemetery of Untold Stories by Julia Alvarez and Family Family by Laurie Frankel. All three are winners. The last book on the “hold” list was Lucky by Jane Smiley, and I liked that very much, too. I will write about that in my June Summary post on July 4th.

So far I am sticking to my intentions and have not added any titles to my library hold list. This is NOT easy for me, especially as I read about new releases like This Strange Eventful History by Claire Messud, Caledonian Road by Andrew O’Hagan, The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley, The Midnight Feast by Lucy Foley and….

I know when I begin to create a hold list in the fall, there will be a long waiting list for each of these books. Sigh. And I know my TBR list will continue to grow, as well, but I tend to be obsessed with reading what is new–perhaps that relates to working in an independent bookstore decades ago–and I think it is time to lighten up! Now that being said, I am not opposed to adding new titles to my own bookshelf. After all, summer includes visiting some favorite bookstores, and purchases will be made! Top of my list, by the way, is Sandwich by Catherine Newman.

My Bookshelves

So far this month I have read just one of my own books: The Hazelbourne Ladies Motorcycle and Flying Club by Helen Simonson, and I will write about it in my June Summary. Simonson is the author of Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand, by the way, which I own and liked very much. I can imagine reading it again, but first there are other delights awaiting me. I am going to start with the latest (and, alas, last) Maisie Dobbs mystery by Jacqueline Winspear, The Comfort of Ghosts and then I will read Forgotten Sunday by Valerie Perrin who wrote one of my all-time favorite books, Fresh Water for Flowers.

Trust me, I have more than enough books both in the snug and the garret, let alone the living room and the lower level, to keep me happy and engaged for a long time. And did I mention there will be trips this summer to bookstores where it will be impossible not to add to my collection?

A Wild Card Library Bookshelf

How fondly I remember browsing the library shelves when I was a child. There was the thrill of discovering an author or a title unfamiliar to me. I didn’t have a TBR list, but rather was simply open to possibilities, bringing home piles of books. Library trips were a kind of pilgrimage, leading me on new paths and introducing me to new companions.

I realized I rarely browse in the library these days. I go to the library to pick up a requested book when it is available, and I usually check the Lucky Day shelf, but that’s it.

I admit I fear going down the deep rabbit hole of library stacks these day, so instead decided to adopt one shelf; a shelf I will browse in this summer. I decided to focus on Fiction Shelf #14 (I was born on April 14). My intention is not to read all the books on that shelf nor is it to start at the beginning of the shelf and move towards the end. Instead, I will read whatever I want to on the chosen shelf, and if I exhaust what I want to read on that shelf, I will select another one.

My only rule for the Wild Card Shelf is that I will check out only one book at a time.

On #14 are several titles and authors totally unfamiliar to me, including several books by Sebastian Barry. And there is an old book I read many years ago that I think I will enjoy reading again, Love for Lydia by H.E. Bates (1952). But I was most delighted to see three books by Erica Bauermeister. In April I read a nonfiction book by her, which I loved, House Lessons, Renovating a Life (2020) and in 2023 I read one of the novels on this shelf, No Two Persons, another enjoyable read. I decided to start with one of the Bauermeister books.

Wild Card Shelf, Book #1: The Lost Art of Mixing by Erica Bauermeister

The Lost Art of Mixing by Erica Bauermeister (2013) is engaging and insightful, a perfect kind of summer reading experience, whether the day is rainy or too hot and steamy for movement. The book introduces us to a variety of characters who in some way are connected to Lillian, a restaurant owner. Al is the accountant who has a surprising avocation; Chloe, a budding chef lives with Isabelle, who is slipping into dementia. Finnegan is tall and steady as a tree, but almost unseen. And others, each examples of shadow and light in their characters and their lives. A few quotes, and trust me, I could include many others:

Lillian was a woman in love with a kitchen. It was not the love of an architect, the deep satisfaction in a lay-out of counters and cabinets designed to make the act of cooking effortless. Nor was it the love of a grown-up  for the kitchen of her childhood, nostalgia soaked into every surface. Lillian's love for her kitchen was the radiant gratitude of an artist for a space where imagination moves without obstacles, the small quiet happiness of finding a home, even if the other people in it are passing through--maybe even a bit because of that. p 68

Isabelle was used to surprises these days, to playing hide-and-seek with the world. She didn't even need to count before words and ideas, faces and memories would scatter off into corners where she couldn't find them. Sometimes they came back; other times they were simply gone. Isabelle liked to think that perhaps some of them had found each other, had struck up friendships and gone out for coffee, or were hidden behind the couch making love. It was better than thinking they were never coming back. p. 132

It was intriguing how people came at their stories, Finnegan thought as he listened to Isabelle. He had learned to watch the gap between question and answer, having realized that the less obvious the connection the more interesting the material left unsaid. Diving into the gap yourself was rarely productive, but if allowed to talk uninterrupted, the storyteller would eventually build bridges across it, bridges made of memories that felt safe and familiar, anecdotes that had turned solid and durable with the retelling. After a while, you could go fishing. p. 241.

An Invitation

Do you have a summer reading plan? I would love to know.

NOTE: Garage Sale This Weekend

Many of you have shopped my husband’s annual garage sale in the past and know what magic he creates by painting old unwanted furniture. He transforms chairs and dressers and tables and whatever gets in his way!!! (See pictures on Tuesday’s post.) This year’s sale is Friday and Saturday, June 21-22 from 8:00 am to 4:00 pm. 2025 Wellesley Ave, St Paul.

All proceeds go to benefit Lutheran Social Services programs for youth experiencing homelessness.

Access to the sale is through the alley only (between Wellesley and Stanford).

A Rainy Day—Again

/ nagneberg48 / 6 Comments

June 18, 2024

Part of my making the bed ritual each morning is to look out the window at the back yard. I give thanks for another night of rest and greet the day. This is what I saw when I lifted the shade yesterday morning. Rain. Again.

Yes, it was a gentle rain; the kind of rain that nurtures growth and green. Nonetheless, rain. Again. We have had a lot of rain recently and at first, we hesitated to complain because last summer the refrain was “Oh no, another day without rain.” We crawled through the dry, hot days. We despaired in the drought. We sighed in the dusty and dying lawns.

Now we say, “Our prayer was heard,” but underneath that relief, we mutter in irritation, “Why does it have to rain every weekend?” and “Enough is enough.”

Are we never satisfied? (No, probably not.)

Underneath our Minnesota Nice exterior, and yes, that is a thing, we Minnesotans tend to complain about the weather. A Lot. And when we have the weather we want, we wonder when the other shoe will drop. We shake our heads knowingly, saying, “This won’t last.”

Last winter we had no snow. Oh, a couple minor snowfalls, but no blizzards, no “Snow Days,” and not even severe cold. Snowblowers stayed in the garages and our warmest, heaviest Norwegian sweaters were hardly worn. All our preparations for the kind of winter we know and understand were not needed this past year.

More than one person was heard to announce, “We’ll pay for this.”

And then much to our surprise, we experienced a spring that was truly a spring with cool to warm temperatures and flowers and trees that unfolded their beauty. So often here we seem to be granted a day or two of spring, and then summer lands heavy and hot. That was not the case this year and we charged to garden centers and planted window boxes and set up the patio furniture. “What a gorgeous spring,” we rejoiced to one another.

However, more than one person was heard to announce, “We’ll pay for this.”

And now right on schedule when we are all set to enjoy days outside doing all the things we love to do in the summer in this state of 10,000 lakes, here we are inside looking out through rain-splattered windows. It’s apparently payback time.

And soon, far too soon, someone will say, “We better enjoy these days because winter will soon be here.”

An Invitation

Does the weather affect your mood? I would love to know.

Note: My Husband’s Annual Garage Sale

Many of you have shopped my husband’s annual garage sale in the past and know what magic he creates with old unwanted furniture. He transforms chairs and dressers and tables and whatever gets in his way!!! This year’s sale is Friday and Saturday, June 21-22 from 8:00 am to 4:00 pm. 2025 Wellesley Ave, St Paul.

All proceeds go to benefit Lutheran Social Services programs for youth experiencing homelessness.

Access to the sale is through the alley only (between Wellesley and Stanford).

Book Report: Summer Reading in the Garden

/ nagneberg48 / 11 Comments

June 13, 2024

Summer reading deserves lovely summer settings, and on perfect summer days, this is where I like to read–our own patio and garden. Now I hasten to add, I have done nothing to make this space so perfect. All credit goes to my husband the genius and hardworking gardener. We have lived in this house for ten years, and he has created a private paradise.

My self-proclaimed job in the garden is to read so I can recommend books to you. Here’s three to put on your TBR list.

  1. Long Island by Colm Toibin (2024), 294 pages. If you have read Brooklyn (2009), you will already be familiar with the main character, Eilis Lacey, an Irish immigrant. The plot of this book begins when a stranger shows up on her doorstep to inform her that his wife is pregnant by Eilis’s Italian-American husband Tony, and the minute that baby is born, he plans to leave it on her doorstep. She wants nothing to do with this baby, but doesn’t confront Tony with his infidelity. Her mother-in-law, who, trust me, is a piece of work, has a plan. Eilis comes up with her own plan: go to Ireland to visit her mother who is turning 80–and, again, trust me, she is another piece of work. Eilis reconnects with a man from her younger years who has never married, but he’s secretly engaged to Nancy. These are complicated characters, each one of them, richly drawn, even if they are at times frustrating. The ending makes me wonder if this book will be #2 of a trilogy. An excellent summer read.
  2. The Cemetery of Untold Stories by Julia Alvarez (2024), 237 pages. This book did not disappoint. Alma Cruz is a writer, a successful writer, born in the Dominican Republic and one of several sisters, who frankly, I couldn’t keep straight. It doesn’t matter. When their father dies, Alma inherits a piece of land in the Dominican Republic, and she decides that is where she wants to bury her untold/unfinished stories. She commissions an artist to make the monuments and hires a groundskeeper, Filomena. Of course, the stories are not content to be buried, and the characters in the stories talk to each other and to Filomena and to us, the readers. In many ways the stories and characters are connected and related and that is part of the fun, the intrigue, and the richness in this book by a masterful storyteller. I love that Alvarez quotes this piece of scripture from the Gospel of Thomas, “If you bring forth what is inside you, what is inside you will save you. If you do not bring forth what is inside you, what is inside you will destroy you.”
  3. Family Family by Laurie Frankel (2024), 380 pages. India is pregnant the last year of high school and decides to have the baby placed for adoption. She always insists on the word “place,” rather than “give up.” She goes on to attend a prestigious acting school, her dream, and has great success. But guess what? She gets pregnant again in her senior year and places that baby up for adoption. She becomes a famous actress on Broadway, but also in Hollywood where the work is more regular and allows her to maintain a more stable life with her two children –not the two children who were adopted as babies. After she makes a movie with adoption as a theme, she expresses what turns out to be controversial ideas about adoption–that it isn’t always a trauma for the birth mother or the children or the adoptive parents–and she becomes a social media target. The result? I’m not telling. I especially appreciated the author’s skill with dialogue. Each character has his/her own voice. My daughter listened to this book and thoroughly enjoyed it too. One favorite quote:
It seemed to her that women did this all the time, weathered things that were hard and heartbreaking, but also chosen and even strived for. It seemed to her they often made tough decisions to let go, to lay down, in order to pick up something else because they knew--maybe in their bones, maybe having learned it again and again--that having all the things you wanted all at the same time was rarely on the table. It seemed to her that the people who had decided all birth mothers were regretful and unhappy and had been forced to do something they didn't want to do were probably men. p. 238

What I’m Reading Now

I am almost done with Lucky by Jane Smiley and like it very much. Stay tuned for a review. This book is the last of the books I had on my library hold list, and I’m forcing myself not to reserve others. Instead, I plan to read books on my personal hold list, including the newest (and last) Maisie Dobbs book by Jacqueline Winspear, The Comfort of Ghosts; Forgotten on Sunday by Valerie Perrin; The Hazelbourne Ladies Motorcycle and Flying Club by Helen Simonson; and two more books in the Lane Winslow mystery series by Iona Whishaw.

This doesn’t mean I haven’t been adding to my TBR list, however. Here are a few of those titles:

  • The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley
  • Housemates by Emma Copley Eisenberg
  • Real Americans by Rachel Khong
  • Sandwich by Catherine Newman
  • You Are Here by David Nichols
  • This Strange Eventful History by Claire Messud
  • Sipsworth by Simon Van Booy
  • All the Colors of the Dark by Chris Whittaker
  • How to Read a Book by Monica Wood
  • Safekeep by Yale var der Wouden
  • This Is Where I Leave You by Jonathan Tropper

And even some nonfiction:

  • Life After Doom, Wisdom and Courage for a World Falling Apart by Brian McLaren
  • Shopkeeping: Stories, Advice and Observations by Peter Miller
  • Any Person is the Only Self (essays) by Elisa Gabbert
  • The Editor: How Publishing Legend Judith Jones Shaped Culture in America by Sara B. Franklin.

An Invitation

Where do you most enjoy reading in the summer? I would love to know.

A Postcard Primer

/ nagneberg48 / 6 Comments

June 11, 2024

Stephen Carter in his book, Civility: Manners, Morals, and the Etiquette of Democracy offers a list of rules of civility. For example:

Civility has two parts: generosity, even when it is costly, and trust, even when there is risk.
Civility requires a commitment to live a common moral life.
Civility requires that we express ourselves in ways that demonstrate our respect for others.
Teaching civility by work and example is an obligation of the family.
Religions do their greatest service to civility when they preach not only love of neighbor but resistance to wrong.

As I prepare to work on another postcard campaign to encourage voting, I think about the simple ways we can promote civility–and how much that is needed. Making sure that every eligible voter is able to vote, feels comfortable voting, knows how and when to vote without impediment, and does not take this right for granted seems to me to be signs of a civil society.

In my April 9, 2024 post https://wordpress.com/post/livingonlifeslabyrinth.com/3340 I shared my practice of working on postcard campaigns. That is certainly not the only way to become involved during this crucial campaign year, but it is one thing I can do. Yes, it does take time, and there is a financial cost, for postcard stamps are not cheap (.53 each) and you need to buy postcards as well. I like to buy my postcards on Etsy, for not only are they attractive and colorful, but I also support working artists that way. A double win. https://www.etsy.com/search?q=etsy+postcards+for+voters&ref=search_bar

I have signed up to write postcards for the following organizations and invite you to check out their websites.

  1. Postcards to Voters: https://postcardstovoters.org
  2. Activate America: https://www.activateamerica.vote/postcard

You can choose campaigns that fit your time frame and also the campaigns that specifically interest you. And you can decide how many addresses you want to receive. I usually sign-up for 50 names/addresses, but sometimes a last-minute request comes to send a smaller amount, 5 or 10, and I try to do those, too. That means having supplies on hand–postcards and stamps; both can be ordered online, of course.

Both organizations give you specific instructions that include the deadline for mailing, the specific script to write on each postcard, along with the name and address of the recipient. You sign the postcard with only your first name.

I work on postcards while watching a movie or waiting for the pasta water to boil or sometimes after my morning meditation, which includes a prayer for our country, I write a few postcards. It all adds up.

I also recommend Jessica Craven’s website, Chop Wood, Carry Water, https://chopwoodcarrywaterdailyactions.substack.com/p/chop-wood-carry-water-67-eef and encourage you to subscribe to it, for at the end of each post she gives very specific actions, including scripts for phone calls and letter writing and postcard campaigns.

The newsletters written by Robert Hubbell and Heather Cox Richardson comment on current issues, along with judicial and historical references, giving you motivation as well as factual back-up for working to save our democracy.https://roberthubbell.substack.com/p/november-5th-will-be-our-d-day https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/june-7-2024-36d

Here’s a thought: gather friends for a postcard party. You can supply the postcards and stamps. Request the names and addresses ahead of time and give each guest a script and a certain number of names/addresses. Drinks and snacks are, of course, a must! Voila–you’ve got a stack of postcards to mail, and you’ve made a difference.

I am getting ready to work on two campaigns. One is for voters in Milwaukee, WI, encouraging them to vote. The other is for Sherrod Brown, running for re-election as senator from Ohio. This is a tight and critical race, but the words of Martin Luther King, Jr inspire me. “I have a dream…” and “Let Freedom ring.”

An Invitation

Feel free to share this post and/or the links included in the post with others who might be wondering what they can do during this scary and stressful time. We each can make a difference.

Tree Work

/ nagneberg48 / 16 Comments

June 6, 2024

Turning to the day
and to each other
        We open ourselves to the day
        and each other.

This is the day that the Lord Has made
and a day we'll have to make our way through.
                 from Being Here, Prayers for Curiosity, Justice and Love by Padraig O Tuama

What a sad week for our block. We lost fourteen friends earlier this week. Diseased ash trees marked for destruction.

I took a memorial Monday morning, saying goodbye to the tress marked with a green end of life ring. I thanked them for their gifts of beauty and shade and shelter for birds and squirrels. To those allowed to live, I encouraged them to continue growing and to stay well. I thanked them for their ongoing presence.

We have been told that trees communicate with each other, and I wonder what their last conversations were. Did they say goodby to each other? How did they recognize and honor one another?

Before arriving home from my walk the trucks and workers had arrived, and the signs blocking sidewalks and streets were in place.

I defied the warning of danger and walked the last block home, instead of the alley. A couple neighbors stood on their steps as the action began, and I greeted them, “It’s a sad day.” “How different it will be,” one replied.

I was drawn to the snug, the room at the front of the house, feeling a need to be a witness to the lives that were ending. I moved my laptop from the garret to the desk in the snug, even though I knew the noise would be disruptive. That felt like the least I could do.

The noise began and as each tree lost its life, I heard a kind of death rattle. The men in their yellow vests did their jobs. Expertly, respectfully, but even though I know trees have life spans, too, and are subject to disease, this felt like a failure. And now those of us left will need to adjust to a new reality. That includes the birds and the squirrels. Some may lose their nests, even, but at the very least a playground, their perch and window on the world.

As Padraig O Tuoma says in his prayer, “This is the day that the Lord has made and a day we’ll have to make our way through.

Writing a Collect

In Being Here, O Tuoma’s new book of prayers, he includes a collect for each of the 31 days of meditations. A collect, pronounced with the emphasis on the first syllable, COLLect, is a form of “collecting something; namely your intention and desire, your reflection and attention, your gratitude, and your need for containment.” O Tuoma explains that the collect has five folds:

  1. Name the one you’re praying to
  2. Unfold the name of the one you’re praying to
  3. Name one desire
  4. Unfold the desire you’ve names
  5. Finish with a bird of praise

Bird of praise? Well, O Tuoma, doesn’t really know either, but says why not? Most collects I’ve read end simply with an Amen.

He simplifies the form even more:

  • Address
  • Say more
  • Ask one thing
  • Say more
  • End

Here is an example of a collect from Being Here:

Grandmothers of Jesus,
In your stories we hear of your
courage and creativity,
your tenacity,
and the things you faced down.
Here, today, we stand in the time after you
and look back,
with gratitude for stories like yours
that help us live today.
Help us live today
in all the stories of our lives
so that we can stand in your great
ache and wash.
Amen.

It occurs to me to write a collect, addressing the trees on our block, as a way to mark the day. Collects most often address God, by the way, but that is not always the case. In fact, Sunday I wrote a collect to my calendar and list for the week, giving thanks for the ways they remind me to be in the world, to use my gifts and energy, and to remember to pause. Here’s my collect for the trees:

Oh dear trees, sacred trees
Signs of God's love for all creation.
Reminders of the genius and beauty 
of diversity, of transformation, of the need 
for both grounding and stretching.
You have graced us with your presence, 
given shelter and protection,
inspired us 
as teachers, revealers, companions.
May our lives, even as we mourn your loss,
be signs of God's divinity on earth.
May we nurture new growth
both within our hearts
and along the avenues of our lives.
Amen.

An Invitation

Has there ever been a special tree in your life? I would love to know.

Book Report: May Summary

/ nagneberg48 / 4 Comments

June 4, 2024

Twelve Books in May

Nine Fiction

  1. Three Mysteries
  • The Hunter by Tana French (2024) 467 pages. I probably should have read her earlier book, The Searcher, to know some of the backstory set in Ireland, but I think I followed it ok. Cal is a retired policeman from Chicago who has no connection to the village but has found home there and has created a new avocation for himself as a woodworker. The story involves a scam–supposedly discovering gold in the mountains there. Lots of ins and outs, but I loved some of the Irish vernacular. “She’s ninety-two years of age, hasn’t left the house since God was a child…” p. 339.
    Don’t keep me hanging about, I’ve a mouth on me like Gandhi’s flip flops.” p. 347.
  • Close to Death by Anthony Horowitz (2024). I didn’t enjoy this book as much as Horowitz’s earlier books, but that may be because I read it in small chunks and didn’t feel the flow. A resident of Riverview Close is murdered with a crossbow; a man who was disliked by every one in that community of old homes.
  • The Mystery Writer by Solari Gentil (2024) 366 pages. Again, an ok mystery and I liked her earlier book, The Woman in the Library much better. Plus, the number of proofreading errors, more than I’ve ever noticed in a book, distracted me. A young writer meets an older writer, and they have an affair. His literary agents shows interest in the younger writer’s book. Get ready for conspiracy theories and survivalist groups.

2. Two Family Sagas

  • Mercury by Amy Jo Burns (2023) 315 pages. The story of the Joseph family: father Mick, Mother Elise and three grown sons, Baylor, Waylon, and Shay –all with complicated personalities. “In the Joseph family Mick aimed for the impossible, Waylon hoped for the best, Baylor planned for the worst. And Shay? Shay baby was all right, always. Like the mail coming every weekday at four, like Lake Erie freezing over in January.” (p. 136) Waylon is married to Marley and they all live in the same house. Marley tried to create order in the family’s roofing business and to assert her individuality. The story unravels. “At some point a marriage must become a junkyard of things, unfinished sentences and earring backs scattered across the floor.” (p. 274) Well worth reading.
  • Leaving by Rosanna Robinson (2024) 327 pages. See my review of this book in my May 30 post. I loved this book.https://wordpress.com/post/livingonlifeslabyrinth.com/3557

3. One Book Set in the Future: I Cheerfully Refuse by Leif Enter (2024) 329 pages. Ron Charles book reviewer for the Washington Post calls this book a “sweet apocalyptic novel,” and that feels about right. Set in the near future on Lake Superior, Rainy is a musician married to Lark who owns a bookstore–a dangerous occupation. He embarks unexpectedly on an odyssey after tragedy upends his life. Climate crisis, economic disparity and political decay are in the background of this book, along with references to 16 wealthy families called “astronauts” who control everything, book banning, closed libraries, and an illiterate president. I was not surprised to like this book by Enger, for I have loved his other books, Peace Like a River, So Brave, Young and Handsome, and Virgil Wander, but I was surprised by the dystopian quality.

4. One Book Where Structure is Almost a Character. Trust by Hernan Diaz (2022) 402 pages. See my review of this book in my May 30 post.https://wordpress.com/post/livingonlifeslabyrinth.com/3557

5. One Book Set In Paris. The Paris Novel by Ruth Reichl (2024) 265 pages. No surprise, this book is charming! No surprise because the author is food critic/writer, this book includes lots of references to food. Mouth-watering food. When Stella’s estranged mother Celia dies, she leaves her tickets to Paris; a trip that brings Stella home to herself. Along the way she meets wonderful people and offers her a mission–the search for paintings by a woman who had been a model for many famous male artists. That part of the story is true. I loved all the references to the famous bookstore, Shakespeare and Company, too.

6. One Fantasy. The House in the Cerulean Sea by T. J. Klune (2020) 396 pages. Many people have recommended this book to me, and I am so glad I finally read it. Linus Baker is a case worker for the DCOMY, the Department in Charge of Magical Youth, and he is sent to investigate an orphanage on an island. He sets off with his ever-present book of Rules and Regulations, but he didn’t count on being intrigued by the children he met there. For example, Talia is a female gnome who has a beard; Phee is a sprite; Lucy is short for Lucifer and you know what that means. The master is Parnassus and turns out to be a …..read the book and find out. This is a book about tolerance and believing in one’s self and standing up for what is right and also, true love.

Three Nonfiction

  1. An Unfinished Love Story, A Personal History of the 60s by Doris Kearns Goodwin. (2024) See my review of this wonderful book in my May 25th post. https://wordpress.com/post/livingonlifeslabyrinth.com/3525
  2. Somehow, Thoughts on Love by Anne Lamott (2024) 191 pages. I reviewed this book, which I also really liked, in that same May 25th post. https://wordpress.com/post/livingonlifeslabyrinth.com/3525
  3. How To Walk into a Room, The Art of Knowing When to Stay and When to Walk Away by Emily P. Freeman. (2024) 218 pages. Ok, now that I have devoured this book and underlined almost everything, I intend to re-read it slowly, carefully. Freeman is the a spiritual director, author of The Next Right Thing and has a podcast of the same name, and she often focuses on questions of discernment, using the metaphor of rooms. Is it good to stay in a “room,” or is it time to leave? And what about the “hallways” of our life? I like her acronym, PRAY which stands for point and call, remember your path, acknowledge presence, and yield to the arrows. Freeman offers both practical guidelines and inspiration for deeper reflection. I have been recommending this book to everyone–and now to you!

Twelve Books in May–and now on to June!

An Invitation

Have you read any of the books I mention? I would love to know.

Book Report: Two Novels — One I Loved and One I Appreciated.

/ nagneberg48 / 4 Comments

May 30, 2024

The Book I Loved: Leaving by Roxana Robinson

Love found. Love lost. Love found again. Love –well, that would be a spoiler wouldn’t it?

Sarah and Warren meet and fall in love in college and move towards getting married, but when Warren proposes embarking on what Sarah considers a dangerous and unwise trip, she has second thoughts about who he is. They go their separate ways and marry other people. Decades later they recognize each other at an opera and soon begin an affair. Sarah is divorced and Warren’s marriage, he realizes, is unfulfilling. As Warren begins divorce proceedings, he faces not only deep distress from his wife, but also the wrath of his daughter who threatens to cut him out of her life completely. Both Sarah and Warren confront the moral responsibilities of their love for and history with their families and each other.

This book is an example of much of what I love in a book: complex, but believable characters. Characters who struggle to learn about themselves and one another and grow. The ending doesn’t need to be happily ever after, but it must make sense. Along with being well-written–a must–I want to learn something about myself on the pages. In this case I thought about all the different lives possible within us with just a slight change of direction or a different decision.

And this book is not just well-written, but beautifully written. One example is early in the book as Sarah and Warren become reacquainted:

“I wanted to hear about your life,” she says. ” You go along from year to year and you think you’re part of the lives of everyone you’ve known. You sort of feel you own them, even if you don’t see them, because they live inside your mind. Then you’re sixty, and you realize the people you knew have been leading their lives apart from yours. Remember in To The Lighthouse, when someone tells Mrs. Ramsay about friends she hasn’t seen in years? They’ve built a conservatory. Mrs. Ramsay remembers the time they went on the river together, and she was so cold. She can’t believe that they’re the sort of people who would build a conservatory. She’s shocked to realize that they have been carrying on their lives without her.” She smiles at him. “I wanted to know what happened to you. If you’d built a conservatory.” p. 42

It doesn’t hurt that they are the kind of people who read and loved Virginia Woolf, but more than that I love the intelligent and sensitive and deep conversations and interactions. I must say, however, I found both Sarah’s and Warren’s adult children annoying and not as well drawn.

Robinson has written other novels and short stories and a biography of Georgia O’Keefe, which I think I may have read. More for the TBR?

The Book I Appreciated: Trust by Hernan Diaz

What stands out for me in this book is the intriguing construction.

The book is divided into four sections, beginning with a novel within the novel: Bonds about 1930’s Wall Street tycoon Benjamin Rask and his wife Helen. The next section, My Life, is notes for another book, similar to Bonds. Andrew Bevel narrates his life in finance and his philanthropic wife Mildred. The reader wonders, “What is going on here?” The third section introduces Ida Partenza, the daughter of an Italian immigrant who is hired by Bevel as his secretary and ghostwriter. Bevel’s intention is to refute the version told of his life in Bonds. He wants to set the record straight. And the 4th section, well, it’s Bevel’s wife’s Mildred turn to share her version. Huh? Really?

I supposed I should not have been surprised that a book titled Trust invites the reader to question everything. What is fact? What is fiction? Whom and what should I trust?

Trust is a 2023 Pulitzer Prize winner, along with Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver–a book I loved. I admire Trust as a mastery of manipulation and I, like many reviewers thought about Edith Wharton and Henry James as I read this book. And also The Great Gatsby and even the song about money from the musical Cabaret. I am glad I read it and I encourage you to read it, too, but it felt more like an intellectual exercise than a companion.

Additions to My TBR

I just learned, thanks to Anne Bogel’s Summer Reading Guide https://members.modernmrsdarcy.com/product/2024-summer-reading-guide/ that French author Valerie Perrin’s first novel, Forgotten Sunday, will be released here in June. Her book Fresh Water for Flowers is one of my all-time favorite novels, and I will set aside anything I am reading for this work by her.

Thanks to Anne, I have added a number of other books to my TBR:

  • Real Americans by Rachel Khong
  • Sandwich by Catherine Newman
  • You Are Here by David Nicholls
  • All the Colors of the Dark by Chris Whitaker
  • How To Read A Book by Monica Wood
  • Shopkeeping: Stories, Advice and Observations by Peter Miller

Both Parnassus Books (Ann Patchett’s book store in Nashville) and Arcadia Books, Spring Green, WI have forced me to add these books to my TBR.

  • The Rachel Incident by Emma O” Donoghue (now in paperback)
  • Safekeep by Yale van den Wooden
  • Housemates by Emma Copley Eisenberg

Next Thursday, June 6, I will post the summary of my May reading and also my intentions for summer reading. Stay tuned and happy reading!

An Invitation

Have you added anything to your TBR recently? I would love to know.

Savoring Summer Spirituality

/ nagneberg48 / 3 Comments

May 28, 2024

Welcome June,July, August

Summer days –and nights–stretch out in front of us. Many of us wait for these summer months throughout the long winter months and the sometimes indecisive days of spring. How often do we daydream in March about what we will do, where we will go, and whom we will see when Memorial Day finally leads us into summer?

Several years ago I led an adult forum about summer spirituality at our church. The following material is adapted from that forum and the guide book I wrote as part of that presentation. I invite you to consider how you might savor this summer season.

Enter the First Days of Summer: Reflection Time

Before immersing yourself in summer activities, sit in a comfortable and favorite outdoor space where you won’t be disturbed. Close your eyes lightly, not tightly. Take a couple deep cleansing breaths and ask yourself, “How am I as I enter this summer season? What do I need now? Do I need rest? Change? Inspiration? Connection?

What have I learned during the winter months that will enhance these summer months? Is God directing me in a new or different way?

Consider Possible Summer Themes

Consider the following themes. Which ones seem to shimmer for you? Which ones open your heart? Or challenge you?

  • Summer Spaciousness. In what ways does summer feel more spacious? How is summer different from other seasons? In what way is summer a time of rest and restoration? Is there anything that needs to be released, to be set aside?
  • Summer Senses. The senses are doorways into the holy and offer us opportunities to encounter God. Explore the senses–the tastes, touches, smells, sights, sounds of summer. What dazzles you? What sensual memories do you have of summers in your younger years?
  • Summer Simplicity. Summer invites us to discern what is essential. In what ways are summer days easier, simpler? If you travel this summer, can you pack lightly?
  • Summer Shifts. What signals the start of summer for you? What changes in your life during the summer? What do you notice about yourself in the summer that is different from other seasons? Where do you feel that shift in your body?
  • Summer Sacred Space. A sacred space is where you sense the presence of Spirit. Where are your summer sacred spaces–in the present and in the past? How do you create sacred space during the summer?
  • Summer Silliness. What role does play and silliness have in your life, especially in the summer? How does summer encourage you to “lighten up”? What memories do you have of fun and silly times?
  • Summer Stillness. In stillness you listen to yourself and to the voice of God within, clearing the space for new ideas, new connections, new deeper awareness. Where and when do you experience stillness in the summer? How does that feel?
  • Summer Stretching. Are there areas your life–body, mind, or spirit–that could benefit from stretching your perspectives, your ways of living and moving and being in the world? What physical activities engage you in the summer and how do they enliven and open you? Remember the summer activities of the past. How did they form who you are today?
  • Summer Celebrations. What do you celebrate during the summer? What are your summer rituals? In what ways do you celebrate the ordinary?
  • Summer Support. Where do you find community in the summer? Is it different from other times of the year? What support do you need this year? Who do you know who could use your support this summer?
  • Summer Sadness. As much as we look forward to summer, there can be disappointments–plans that don’t materialize, weather changes etc. How do you cope? How flexible are you? Do you have sad, difficult, or challenging memories of summers past? Is it time to let them go or allow them to transform into growth?

Explore Summer Spiritual Practices

Is a new spiritual practice beckoning you or is summer a chance to adapt your ongoing spiritual practice? For example, move your prayer and meditation time outside. Practice yoga or T’ai Chi outside, instead of inside.

Here are some possible summer spiritual practices:

  • Keep a summer journal. Pilgrims carried a small book with them, a vade mecum, which means “go with me.” They wrote prayers, poems and insights in the journal. Write what you notice and learn on these summer days. Where do you notice the movement of God?
  • Practice visio divina (sacred seeing), which is similar to lectio divina (holy reading). See with the eyes of your heart. Pay attention to what shimmers, what invites you, what startles or amazes you. Perhaps commit to taking one photo a day and at the end of summer print your photos. Do you notice any patterns? Where did God appear to you?
  • Go on Meditation Walks. For 30 minutes walk slowly and silently. Stroll. Amble. Pay attention to your senses. Stop and linger when you are attracted to something–birdsong, the colors in a garden, the scent of freshly mowed grass. Be in the moment.

Other summer practices include extending hospitality to guests, gardening, walking outdoor labyrinths, spending time in nature, stargazing, cloud gazing, volunteering in a new way, learning something new, sketching or painting outdoors. Change your routine in some way and notice what opens for you.

Invite a loved one into a practice of daily sharing with each other a gift, an expression of God, noticed or experienced?

Receive the Blessings of Summer

May the God of summer give us beauty.
May the God of summer give us rest.
May the God of summer give us joy.
May the God of summer give us inner light
May the God of summer give us what we need for healing.
May the God of summer give us a sense of satisfaction in the work of our hands.
May the God of summer lead us to amazing discoveries as we travel the inner roads of our souls. 
Amen.
      adapted from Joyce Rupp

An Invitation

What comes to mind when you think of summer spirituality? I would love to know.

NOTE:

Here is a post I wrote in 2023 about summer spirituality. https://wordpress.com/post/livingonlifeslabyrinth.com/2216

Also, the photos were taken in our glorious backyard. I happen to live with a master gardener!

Book Report: Nonfiction Stars–Anne Lamott and Doris Kearns Goodwin

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May 25, 2024

Anne Lamott

I never think twice about buying the latest title by Anne Lamott. The only question is which independent bookstore will I be in when I first see it. This time I was in Excelsior Bay Books and quickly added Somehow, Thoughts on Love, Lamott’s twentieth book, to my pile.

I am an Anne Lamott fan.

I remember hearing her speak to a sold-out crowd in a chapel at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland following the publication in 1999 of Traveling Mercies, Some Thoughts On Faith. I think I had read Bird by Bird, Some Instructions of Writing and Life (1994) by then, and was already hooked on her. Bird by Bird is one of those books I return to now and then, especially when I need a writing boost. Her words, realistic, encouraging, and down to earth basic, are better than caffeine and sugar, although, I hasten to add, Lamott does not discount the power of caffeine and sugar.

I have not read all of Lamott’s books. In fact, I am not sure I have read any of her fiction, but it is clear from the stack of books on my spirituality/theology bookshelves that Anne Lamott is one of my spiritual guides. That is the case, I think, because she brings humor and humility to the messiness of her own life. Never pretentious. Never hidden. She is generous in her ability to share her own struggles and her own ongoing learning and how others have played active roles in the twists and turns of her life on a labyrinth. I also love how even though she is a famous author who is beloved by so many, she continues to teach Sunday School in her small Presbyterian Church in Marin City, California. (She and President Carter have something in common.)

In this most recent book, Somehow, Lamott draws, as always, from her own experiences, the loves of her life and the ways she has been loved by others and feels the love of God. And sentence after sentence she opens herself in ways readers can understand.

  • P. 7. “God can never tell you not to love someone. God can only tell you to do a better job loving someone.”
  • P. 12 “We are all called to be the love that wears socks and shoes.”
  • p. 23. “We are the ones we’ve been waiting for.”
  • p. 28. “I’ve often been a kind of spiritual ATM for Tim when he has felt stuck and rattled by the powerlessness du jour. I listen and dispense pretty much the same advice every time: breathe, pray, seek wise counsel, be friendly with yourself, and so on. I bore myself blue sometimes, but that’s all I know.”
  • p. 101. “Life is such a mystery that you have to wonder if God drinks a little.”

In the chapter titled “Hinges” she describes hinges as something that fixes something in place, but also helps us open. She says “I don’t know” is a kind of portal, but it is also a hinge. Think about it. And while you are thinking you might keep in mind the acronym WAIT, “Why Am I Talking?” At some point in the book she seeks the advice of a friend about a challenging situation in her life. Lamott wonders if she should confront the person who is causing her pain and the friend says, “Not today.” Think about all the times in your life when that advice could have been beneficial. A pause.

I also appreciated her reference to these two quotes.

Another world is not only possible, she is on her way. On a quiet day I can hear her breathing. Arundhati Roy.

You can survive on your own. You can grow stronger on your own. You can even prevail on your own. But you cannot become human on your own. Frederick Buechner

Perhaps it is time to build your own Anne Lamott library. My collection sits near books by Elizabeth Johnson, Sue Monk Kidd, Buddhist Jack Kornfield, Brian McLaren, and others (Just think of the conversation they must have when I leave the garret!), and includes:

  • 1994. Bird By Bird, Some Instructions on Writing and Life
  • 1999. Traveling mercies, Some Thoughts on Faith
  • 2005. Plan B, Further Thoughts on Faith
  • 2007. Grace (Eventually), Thoughts of Faith
  • 2012. Help Thanks Wow, The Three Essential Prayers
  • 2013. Stitches, A Handbook on Meaning, Hope and Repair
  • 2014 Small Victories, Spotting Improbable Moments of Grace
  • 2017. Hallelujah Anyway, Rediscovering Mercy
  • 2018. Almost Everything, Notes on Hope
  • 2021. Dusk Night Dawn, On Revival and Courage
  • 2124. Somehow, Thoughts on Love

One more word from Lamott. She reminds us that “we all have an unknown expiration date.” p. 101.

Doris Kearns Goodwin

Towards the end of Richard Goodwin’s life (died 2018), he and his wife Doris Kearns Goodwin, decide it is time to go through the many boxes of documents and other writing and memorabilia he had saved from his life serving as a speech writer and consultant for JFK, LBJ, Robert Kennedy, and Eugene McCarthy. He even wrote Al Gore’s concession speech. The boxes, which Goodwin called a “time capsule of the decade,” contained an inside view of the turbulent and pivotal 1960s and who better to write this memoir than Doris Kearns Goodwin? She, of course, is known as the author of many books about important figures in American history–Lincoln, LBJ, Eleanor and Franklin Roosevelt, the Fitzgeralds and the Kennedys, and others. The result is An Unfinished Love Story, A Personal History of the 60’s.

Yes, it is history, but it is also history from a personal vantage point, and I loved reading the interactions between the the couple, their different perspectives, her insightful questions, and his willingness to reflect. I was also fascinated by the insights into the process of being a speech writer–the collaborations, the ability to write in someone else’s voice and the restraint of the writer’s ego in favor of the person delivering the speech.

As a teenager in the 60’s I remember many of the events that are central to the book, such as the assassinations of JFK, MLK, Jr, and RFK. I remember the passage of the civil rights and voting rights acts and, of course, the Vietnam War. I graduated from college in 1970 and participated in a number of anti-war demonstrations–peaceful ones. Once again our country is facing scary turbulent times, and it helped me to read how brilliant and wise and caring individuals worked diligently to protect what this country wants to stand for.

Even if you aren’t a big history reader, put this one your list.

What I’m Reading Now

After reading both of these books, I had trouble settling into something new. That often happens after I have read something so compelling. During one evening I started and set aside several books. That doesn’t mean they aren’t worth reading or wouldn’t appeal to me at another time, but they just didn’t grab me. Eventually during my meditation time, I started reading How To Walk Into A Room: The Art of Knowing When to Stay and When to Walk Away by Emily Freeman and it is GOOD. More about this later, I am sure. For my fiction reading I am almost done with The Paris Novel by food critic/writer Ruth Reichl and am enjoying that.

Happy reading!

An Invitation

Do you ever have trouble finding the next book to read after finishing a book you loved? I would love to know.

What’s Blooming Now?

/ nagneberg48 / 2 Comments

May 21, 2024

Monday morning. I slept well. We had a good weekend, spending time with extended family. The weather was springtime perfect, and we enjoyed easy, fresh evenings outside. Sunday was Pentecost Sunday, and our church invited fire dancers to perform, awakening us to the Spirit. So why do I feel as if my get up and go has gotten up and gone?

I push myself out the door, however, as part of my “befriend the body” initiative, but hoping along the way inspiration will well up within ,and I will discover what to write about in this post. Oh, and an unexpected source of energy would be welcome, too.

The first block I focus just on putting one foot in front of the other. I see nothing. Hear nothing. Smell nothing. I’m just putting in my time. I want to check off the Monday space under the “Walk” heading on my To Do list. Whatever works.

But then in front of me extending over a wall into the path of the sidewalk is an exuberant Bridal Wreath bush. White and fluffy. “Notice me. I am blooming and this is my time,” it seems to announce. Perhaps the next time I walk this same route its blooming time will be past. Over for another year. Or perhaps next year the conditions won’t be the same, and it won’t bloom in the same showy way. I have no idea of the life span of Bridal Wreath, but right now this is its moment.

Last week was the moment for the lilacs. Now, however, they have faded.

They are memory. At least the blossoms in their purple glory. Their fresh laundry scent continues to linger just a bit, but not for long, and the imagination is required to fully experience it. I remember the lilacs on my college campus at graduation time, but also the large, larger, largest ones lining the parkway I drove every morning to my father’s apartment the spring he was dying. I hope I will remember in the cold of winter how for a short period of time in the spring I was graced with the lusciousness of lilacs outside the kitchen window.

And now there is the blooming about to happen. The peonies.

On my walk I see a yard where the peonies have already blossomed. The stalks are heavy with their weight, and the blossoms are nearly touching the ground, but in our back yard they are becoming. Soon to be in their fullness. Be patient. A day or two more of sun will entice them to do what they are meant to do, to be. Their blooming, too, will be short-lived, but no less glorious.

And thus it is with each of us.

I am invited to pay attention to what is blooming right now. How am I showing and living who I am and how I am offering what is fully alive in me to others?

What has completed its blossoming? What needs to be acknowledged as having lived its usefulness, its beauty, its time?

What is on the verge of blossoming? And what might that mean?

What time is it now in the life of your garden?

An Invitation

What are you noticing about yourself as we move through these springtime days? I would love to know.