Reading
This isn’t my house. I don’t know the people that live there. It’s just the cutest in spring.
Hello Friends:
What have you been reading these days? I am so curious to hear from you! I seem to be reading a lot more recently compared to a year ago. Last year at this time, I felt so scared and disappointed. When things all closed down in March 2020, I was in the middle of reading an Eyewitness Guidebook on Portugal. Obviously, that trip was cancelled. After that, I just didn't feel like reading for a spell. Then I picked up Shusaku Endo's Silence. It's an amazing tale, with so much suffering. Reading Endo's classic novel really tied together my long time interest in the history of religion and Japan with my new interest in Portugal. When we rebook that trip to Portugal, high on my list is Lisbon's National Museum of Ancient Art to see the Nanban folding screens depicting the arrival of Portuguese ships in Nagasaki. Reading Endo's great work of fiction reminded me of how interconnected our world has been for centuries.
While I read mostly non-fiction, great works of fiction can open our minds. The virtual book club I started in 2020 has been reading fiction, most recently The Ten Thousand Doors of January. This is a book that I probably would have never read had it not been for several of the ladies in the book club recommending it. The story slowly pulled me into the life of the protagonist.
My most recent non-fiction "read" on Audible was Rick Steves' For the Love of Europe. If you are familiar with the PBS shows, this audio version feels so familiar. Listening to Rick Steves reminisce reminded me of my own trips to Europe over the years, especially my first trip to Europe in 1997. I met a dear friend from Japan in Milano and we traveled with our rail passes throughout Italy together for about a week. Young and single at the time, my family warned me of danger in Italy. The funny thing is that most of my family members had never even been to Europe, so how could they know of any dangers really? I was back on a plane to Europe again in less than a year with no regrets.
It's ironic to me now, especially after reading Nedra Tawwab's Set Boundaries, Find Peace. I am no stranger to the personal growth genre and Tawwab's book truly has the potential to be life changing (right along with this pandemic thing that's been happening). It's just the assertiveness tool I have needed my whole life.
Currently, I am reading a light hearted coffee table book titled: Resident Dog: Incredible Homes and the Dogs That Live There. It's just fun for this dog lover with an appreciation for architecture. There's something about a book written from a dog's perspective. My oldest child recently read A Dog's Way Home and said it was the best book ever. We have yet to see the movie, as I tend to cry my eyes out with any movie with a dog.
While my reading is clearly all over the place, my husband has been reading all of the old classic novels, including War and Peace. I have yet to read this one. I hear it's kind of long. While listening to the Best of Both Worlds Podcast Laura Vanderkam explained how she was rereading War and Peace. Apparently the book has about 320 short chapters that can be read in 10 or 15 minutes. So over the course of a year, one could easily get through War and Peace. I am still working myself up to reading the necessary classics. In the meantime, I will be here reading library copies written from the perspective of dogs.
I would love to hear what you have been reading lately. Would you like to know how I track and organize my reading? And if you are interested in joining my book club on Zoom, which is totally free flowing and nothing arduous, send me a note.
All my best,
Carolyn
