Comfort Reading

As seen here and here via New Kid. When I first read the title I thought it must be referring to books one reads while in crisis. And for me at least what I read in the midst of the crisis is very different from what they've been describing, which is what one reads once the crisis has past and one is left to cope.

In the midst of crisis - that is, on the plane to the funeral or sitting in the hospital or waiting for the news on the phone - I read thrillers. As gory and light as possible. I discovered Robert Ludlum and read The Aquitaine Possession while my aunt was in the hospital in a coma two years ago. While my Granny was dying my whole family read everything written by Dan Brown - we traded the books around based on who was sitting with her while she slept. I have no idea if any of these are really good books but it doesn't matter because the whole point was to turn your brain off. They at least did that. (Having read more of Ludlum in a better frame of mind, I'm not sure they really turn a fully functioning brain off.... just a brain stupified with terror and grief). Books by people like J.D. Robb would also work. I tend to avoid favorite books at times like these because I don't want to contaminate them with the situation. (The Da Vinci Code will always be, for me, the book I read while my grandmother was dying and never a pop culture hit).

At various points after that, I've read other books that I found deeply moving and encouraging and comforting in my current situation. Anne Lamont's book Traveling Mercies and Plan B spoke deeply to me in the months afterwards. Neither of these books is about death actually - and they both are sharp and rather funny in a quirky sort of way- but they seemed to deal with grief in short bursts within particular stories. Around the same time, I reread Anne McCaffery's novel The Ship Who Sang which had just seemed like a nice fantasy story to me before and I was struck on the rereading by how overwhelmed the story was by the grief and sadness. The afterword says something about how it was written following a death of someone close to McCaffery, but I guess until I experienced that sort of grief, the intensity didn't come through to me.

Joan Didion's The Year of Magical Thinking is more a book about death, but I also found it interesting and comforting - of course I read it almost 3 years later and so was much more removed. I don't think I could have borne it immediately after a death. More recently Alice Munro's new book, Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage, took me back through some of those emotions and fears and the HBO TV series Six Feet Under has also been cathartic for me. The Alice Munro book, like Anne Lamont's, is a collection of short stories, which seems to me like the best thing to give. Because when each of these dip close in to death and fears about mortality, the next story pulls away and makes you laugh or have hope or get angry. The pull and push of the different tales keeps things moving along without getting too maudlin.

New Kid's list seemed to be more books she returns to over and over. When I am doing that, I go to anything by Anne McCaffery, Orson Scott Card, or L.M. Montgomery. Like the way she describes the Little House books I can read and reread and reread any of the series and enjoy them. I also have a few childhood favorites that never fail to please me. The Ordinary Princess and Goodbye Pink Pig are two - but I wouldn't give them to someone else. I think I love them because they represent pieces of my childhood and things I was processing as a child. Perhaps in the same way that Cat's Eye does for New Kid. I could list many more childhood favorites, but I think maybe I answered the original question in the previous paragraph.

Reading for Pleasure Wednesdays: Short Stories by Alice Munro

One of my Christmas gifts was a collection of short stories by Alice Munro. I first read a review of this book in the New Yorker (I think) and thought it sounded intriguing. It is beyond intriguing. Another book on perspectives. And in some ways on the hidden lives that we each live. The short stories are actually the perfect length to read before bed - 20 to 30 minutes. And although they are not heavy reading in the sense of the prose, they leave you thinking. Slightly unsettled.

The characters feel as if they are your neighbors next door. People you know and encounter everyday. In some cases your own family members. But the way they interact and behave, the quirks and motivations, the final choices they make for good or bad, never fail to surprise. And make you look at your neighbors in a slightly new way.

With the exception of the first two stories, the stories seem more focused on death than I expected from the title. But fundamentally, ultimately, the stories are about the relationships the characters had in life and how they carry forward as they face their own death or the deaths of others.

I have one more collection of Alice Munro's short stories. Once I move, it will take up residence on my bedside table. A neat sized bite to read before bed when I'm too tired for something longer.

Reading for Pleasure Wednesdays: Dragon's Fire

Truly pleasure reading - one of the new releases in a series I have followed since I was a teenager. This is a series of books that I go to when I want something familiar and comforting. Something that I know I'll like and won't have to think too hard to get into. Because I've read and reread the Pern books I know and am comfortable with the world (which is incredibly rich, detailed, and scientifically accurate). The perfect antidote to a bad week or an overfull brain.

The thing I have come to value about the Pern series is that Anne McCaffery and now her son Todd have the ability to tell the same story - the exact same events - from multiple equally valid and strong perspectives. I think this process of telling and retelling a story made me come to understand how important it is to understand what each person brings to the table.

As far as this particular book goes, although I generally like Todd McCaffery, I actually think the perspective taking breaks down. There is an odd break in the middle of the book that, if you haven't read the previous book in this time of Pern (Dragon's Kin) you would be completely and totally mystified. I'm not clear on the why the book is split the way it is. At several points details seemed missing and I was actually having trouble following the perspectives. This is unusual and I wonder if future books will be clearer. It is co-written with Anne and I thought at first that perhaps they each wrote half, but the voice stays the same. I am still looking forward to the next two books that Todd collaborates/writes: Dragonharper and Dragonheart. I assume they are all set in the same time but I hope that they are a bit smoother. I am very pleased that Todd is picking up the line of Pern stories - I will continue to look forward to the next one and the next one along the way.

Reading for Pleasure Wednesdays: Sophie's World

I'm discussing this book because of the description of The Gum Thief over here I have no idea why I picked up Sophie's World by Jostein Gaarder, but I'm glad I did. The book is a textbook of philosophy hidden inside a novel. Sophie - the girl in the novel - starts getting lessons by mail. The usually lead with a small question and then she gets a much heavier answer to the question later. Eventually she meets her tutor and they embark on a quest to answer a question. The philosophy lessons are really a historical review but the presentation keeps it engaging and relevant. The plot novel itself - Sophie trying to identify her tutor - really isn't all that fascinating at the beginning, except that it does a great job of illustrating the philosophical concepts in 'real' life. Eventually Sophie has to apply her philosophy lessons in order to determine the answer to questions about her own life and at that point the book does turn into a bit more of a page turner. Even though the book seems written for 5th graders or so in terms of writing style and plot, but the philosophy questions increase in complexity and eventually got pretty complex for me. Saying more would give away plot points, but it was a very nice way to approach a topic I'd like to know more about (philosophy). It's a clever book and worth a read if you like Meta-style books. Gaarder's other book, The Solitaire Mystery, is more subtle but has a very similar style.

Reading for Pleasure Wednesdays: Water for Elephants

Well, I read this a while ago. A book a week is a bit more than I can keep up with during the semester. But I think I can review a book a week for a while based on backlog of books read this year.

I read this on the airplane on the way home in August. Our local independent bookstore owner recommended it when I asked him for an "airplane book" to read for the trip. (An airplane book, as far as I'm concerned has nothing to do with aviation and everything to do with being engaging and interruptible).

Anyway, this book is set with a circus in the great depression, but is really a murder mystery. I'm not sure how to talk about a mystery without giving up the plot, but the story is series of modern day encounters in a nursing home linked to reminiscences triggered by the main character's conversations with a nurse. I liked the style of the story - the plot moved things along and the switching perspectives kept me engaged - and I liked that I couldn't solve the mystery in advance. A bonus. Anyway, a light book. Totally enjoyable, but not anything deep.

Reading for Pleasure Wednesday: The Mercy Seat

I read HarpSong by Rilla Askew back in August and I have been on a hunt for her books ever since. She is an Oklahoman writer and some of her books are out of print so they are difficult to find here in the Upper MidWest. My librarian aunt found all three of the books she's written through her sources and gave them to me for Christmas . Anyway, I am nearly done with The Mercy Seat and I'm still enjoying the author. HarpSong was like nothing I've read before - a mix of poetry/song and prose. Set in the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression it tracked a couple as they attempted to find a place to make a living and be together.
The Mercy Seat still incorporates the sense of changing perspectives and connection with the otherworld but is entirely composed of prose. It is about a family that moves from Tennesee to the Indian Territory and what they suffer along the way. It's built around family conflict (although I find the dust jacket somewhat misleading about the plot). In both books, Askew has a clear sense of place and describes the land and the people in a compelling way. In fact, sometimes I feel as if she's describing place even when she's talking about people. At times though, the prose is as if someone had entered a trance and was recounting the events before them through the lens of the future. The voice provides perspective and interpretation but you aren't quite sure what it all means. The writing is truly beautiful which means I'm reading much slower than usual because I don't want to fall asleep while reading it, but it's wroth it.