New Author

Let’s begin with a happy accident. A new to me author I came across along the way.

I always listen to Audible on long road trips, and I was about to embark on a five hour drive, with my mother as passenger, for a visit to my sister’s home. On our last trip we listened to Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte and the trip before that, one of the Green Ember books. I was searching for an endearing classic book she might enjoy with me and somehow, by technological magic, the Audible app presented me with book options labeled Included! Wow! Really? Who knew. I quickly browse… the cover art of the Elizabeth von Armin books caught my attention I immediately downloaded, I had no idea how long the Included! magic would last. I listened to Enchanted April before the trip, and to Elizabeth and Her German Garden with my mother, and then Love after the trip. And I can’t choose a favorite of the three! They are deep feeling, yet somewhat lighthearted, and have well developed-likable-believable characters. Beautiful settings, and interesting plots. I am enchanted by these stories and will visit them again.

When I got to the library I came to a standstill, – ah, the dear room, what happy times I have spent in it rummaging amongst the books, making plans for my garden, building castles in the air, writing, dreaming, doing nothing.

Elizabeth von Arnim — Elizabeth and Her German Garden

I think it’s important not to read crap.

Lief Enger

Literary Life Reading Challenge Books

• Mrs. Appleyard and I by Louise Andrews Kent — Biography
• The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoevsky (audible) — Satire
• Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome — Children’s Book
• Trojan Women translated by Edith Hamilton — Greek Play
• Things Fall Apart by China Achebe — Foreign Novel
• Virgil Wander by Leif Enger — Contemporary Novel
• Wolf by the Ears by Rinaldi — Historical Fiction
• The Book of the Dun Cow by Wangerin — Minor Author
• Miss Marple Meets Murder by Agatha Christie — Detective Novel
• A Light So Lovely by Sarah Arthur — Book about Books (in a stretch!)
• The Art of the Commonplace by Wendell Berry — Essays
• The Little Book Room by Eleanor Farjaeon — Short Stories
• The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald — Re-read from High School
• Hallelujah: Cultivating Advent Traditions with Handel’s Messiah by Cindy Rollins — Devotional
• The Winter’s Tale by Shakespeare — Shakespeare Play
• Til We Have Faces by C. S. Lewis — Intimidating Book

Several of the books on my list only because of The Literary Life 20 for 2020 Reading Challenge. I would not have read a Greek Play otherwise, for sure! Mrs. Appleyard was a sheer delight. I want to read all of the Swallows and Amazons stories and am sad I missed sharing these with my children. Honestly, I conquered The Idiot because it was one I had been wanting to read for years to to be able to say ‘I have read The Idiot.’ It is more fun than saying ‘I have read War and Peace.’ Trust me. I was told Things Fall Apart was a bit better than Cry, The Beloved Country and had to read for myself. Wolf by the Ears is only my second Rinaldi, from a living historian’s perspective I was very critical when reading The Last Silk Dress but found very little to critique! The Book of the Dun Cow was strangely captivating, and I will have to re-read that for further understanding. Miss Marple was as delightful as Mrs. Appleyard, and only my second Agatha Christie read. I didn’t really read A Book About Books so I am fudging a bit and counting A Light So Lovely for that category. It took me over a year to finish The Art of the Commonplace and my own commonplace journal is bulging with quotes. This book changed my worldview for the better. I chose a delightful children’s book for the Short Stories category, anything but Eleanor Farjeon is a treasure. I read The Great Gatsby mostly on Christmas Day, as a gift to myself. I will share more later on my experience with Hallelujah. Til We Have Faces was incredible and my reading experience was greatly enhanced by the conversations on The Literary Life podcast.

…stories will save the world!

Literary Life Podcast

Most Memorable Book

Let’s talk about the one book that impacted me the most this year, Dead Wake by Erik Lawson. Historically I much prefer fiction of any kind over non-fiction, except maybe a very well written biography. When my children were small, my for pleasure reading was almost exclusively fiction. That started to change when my children were older and instead of only reading books aloud to them, I was reading books alongside them. I would read a book or two with each child, separately in our own time, and then we would narrate to each other. I think the first non-fiction, not a biography, book that excited me personally– and not just as a homeschool mom appreciating and enjoying living non-fiction books for the benefit of her children– was The Brendan Voyage by Tim Severin. I was astounded that my interest was held by a book about a boat. Maybe I have a soft spot in my heart for books about boats now? I do not know.

Dead Wake is all about the Lusitania. ALL ABOUT the Lusitania! When my son Daniel finished reading the book Of Dikes and Windmills by Peter Spier he said to me “Mom, now I know ALL there is to know about windmills! This was a great book!”. That is exactly how I now feel about the Lusitania after reading Dead Wake. And guess what? It was not one bit boring! Not one page felt like reading a list of facts, and each page was full of details. However, the reason this book will always be the highlight of my 2020 reading, and keep a very special place in my heart is because it was the last book I shared with a dear loved one. As mentioned in my last post, THIS is the book I read for hours by a sickbed. I would mark in the margins selections to read aloud to him when he was awake. We looked at the hospital ceiling tiles in his room to estimate how many would be needed to represent the size of the torpedo that hit the Lusitania. We talked about everything in that book as the seconds slowly ticked, it was a welcome distraction from the devastating reality we faced and the quickly fading hope of wellness. On the few hours I was not at his side, he would tell other family members about our book. Over the years I randomly narrated many books to him, but this one, the book I had no idea was to be the very last, will always be special to me.

Man plans, God laughs.

Erik Larson, Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania