Dayna's Books of 2016

Behold, 2017.  That means 2016 left.  But I’m carrying with me some good thoughts from interesting authors, growing and changing me I hope.

I read 24 books this year.  I always go for 40 and always hit low 20’s.  For 2017 you’d think I’d try for 30, but I’ll stick with 40.

Here are the books I’d like to reread if time for it allows:

(Side note: this does not necessarily mean these were my favorite reads, just that they are books I’d like to re-engage at some point because of the depth and beauty I experienced.)

1.Till We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis

 

A Greek myth retold by the master, it is at once understandable and difficult to fully grasp.  I’ve never looked forward to picking up a fantasy read like this before, and definitely want to revisit this one.  It was a mirror to my soul but I couldn’t quite grasp the image.

2. Watership Down by Richard Adams

 

Apparently, when Richard Adams tried to get this gem published, those he approached didn’t know who to market it to.  It was too complex for children, and too imaginary for adults.  We listened to this on audiobook as a family.  It is over 16 hours long, so it is ideal a road trip or two or three.

This is a that story deals with a community of rabbits.  That description alone has halted me from reading it, classic though it is.  I’ve never been able to fully enjoy Ralph S. Mouse or even Charlotte’s Web because I struggle entering imaginary worlds where animals and human characters interact on an equal level.  Must be my farm girl background.

Thankfully the rabbits don’t interact with the humans as friends, but are realistically afraid of them.  I’m going to use the word depth again, sorry.  The depth of the community relationships as this band of rabbits struggles to find a place to create a new warren is completely incredible.  Sociologists really should use this as a textbook.

3.  40 Days of Decrease by Alicia Britt Cole

 

This is a Lenten guide.  I’m thinking about going through it with a group of people again this Lenten season.  Though it is full of more ways to fast or decrease than I was able to fully participate in, it was a wonderful challenge for my days.

Each day is broken up with scripture, deep devotional thoughts, and an explanation on the history of lent.  I wish the history of lent would be put into its own section instead of broken up into pieces, but that’s my only idea for improvement.

4.  Humble Roots by Hannah Anderson

        

I keep thinking she’s Hannah Hurnard, when actually this author is a modern day woman approximately my age living in the countryside of Virginia as a rural pastor’s wife, writer, mother, and avid gardener.  

She uses all of her experiences; ministry, writing, parenting, and especially gardening to explain the truths of humility.  Her premise starts with Jesus’ promise in Matthew 11:28, “Come to me all you who are weary and I will give you rest.”

I know I missed things in this gem, and I love all the agricultural analogies.  I want to return.

5.  The Quotidian Mysteries by Kathleen Norris

 

Really, Norris is in her own league.  (C.S. Lewis is in his own league too, of course.). As I read this tiny collection of essays on the liturgy of the ordinary, I suddenly saw my own dish doing and laundry folding as beautiful.  I’ll pick it up again when the mundane becomes cumbersome.

Others I loved but probably won’t get to again include:

Fiction:

The Bronze Bow by Elizabeth George Speare

Emily of New Moon by L.M. Montgomery (well, I’ll probably read this again)

The Kite Rider by Geraldine McCoughrean

Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain

The Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain

The Penderwick’s by Jeanie Birdsall

Home by Marilynne Robinson

The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd

Anthem by Ayn Rand

The Bird in the Tree by Elizabeth Goudge

The Crossover by Kwame Alexander--I LOVED this on audiobook.  At 2 hours long, it is a quick listen and incredibly told; a completely deserved Newberry award winner.  I’ve listened to it at least three times, and will listen again.

NonFiction:

Design Your Day by Claire Diaz-Ortiz

Eat This Book by Eugene Peterson

The Life Giving Home by Sally and Sarah Clarckson

Essentialism by Greg McKeown

Roots and Sky by Christy Purifoy

God With Us, an advent devotional by Greg Pennoyer and other editors

None Like Him by Jen Wilkin (I may reread this as well)

Girl Meets God by Lauren Winner--This one really made me think and wrestle with my beliefs.  It is about a girl who becomes a devout Jew and then transitions into a belief in Jesus as Messiah.  Still, nine months after reading it, I think about her description of Incarnation and what a powerful pull that had on her.  Maybe this should be a re-read.

If you are still reading, I have bonus material:

This was my favorite podcast of 2016.  I listened to it over and over.  During our family’s epic vacation to the Beartooth Mountains, we listened to it two days in a row while heading up the Beartooth Highway for hiking daytrips.  Interestingly, listening to this podcast in that setting was one of the most memorable pieces of our trip.

And this video series by Tim Keesee has been eye opening as well.

I hope this will give you an idea or two for your 2017.  May everything we fix our minds upon be purposeful, helping us to love God and others more.  

Do you have any suggestions for me for 2017?

2015 Books

Reading is the sole means by which we slip, involuntarily, into another's skin, another's voice, another's soul.

-Joyce Carol Oates

It was a good year of reading.

I am not sure how you choose books.  I am not sure how even I choose them.  

For the most part, I pick reads that intrigue.  I hear an excellent interview on a podcast and decide their mind is one I'd like to get into.  I've read something of a particular author and look for more.  Or I look for what they reference and quote.  That's how I picked up Kathleen Norris.  Enough authors have quoted her.  In the second book I read by Carolyn Weber, I decided I'd better pick up Norris next.  And I chose Weber through a radio interview.  

Other books come across my periphery via social media or a friend whose taste is similar. 

A basic rule I keep at the forefront is that it needs to inspire or expand my mind and heart in a positive way.  Ain't no time to fuss with words that will darken and distort me, or fill my mind with stuff I've got to then try and get rid of.

So here are the books I was privileged to read this year.  I will expand on my top three and try to convince you to read them, too.

  *disclaimer--just because I read it and liked it doesn't mean I agree with everything in it.  use your own discernment and consider whether the words line up with the Bible, for that is the standard of all Truth.

1.  Surprised By Oxford by Carolyn Weber



Clearly a twist on the title Suprised By Joy by C.S. Lewis, Weber takes us along on her spiritual journey leading to Jesus Christ.  By the title, you can tell that it includes Oxford and the haunts of C.S. Lewis, as well as a  man, also a student at Oxford, who is not afraid of her questions.  If you like academia and tea and British culture and literature (Weber is a lit. professor) and Jesus all bound up in one well-told testimony, you will love this.

2.   A Circle of Quiet by Madeleine L'Engle



The first in a trio of books, a sort of journal, really, of L'Engle's life, thoughts, and writing.  Funny, witty, and rich, I was always refreshed after reading a few pages.

One of my favorite thoughts, "You write through your hands--if you could speak it, you wouldn't need to write it."

3.  Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton  TOP 3



A blogpost by Courtney Reissig piqued my interest on this one, and, as I look through what I read last year, I actually read quite a few from her 2014 book recommendations.

I loved this story in an achey sort of way.  Not an, I can't put this down because it's so deliciously good, but an, each time I pick this up I am arrested by complex writing and thought and I am better because I read it sort of way.

Okay, this book is in my top 3 and here's why:  it's historical (South African apartheid), it's redemptive and real (a powerful story of reconciliation, pain, sin, perseverance, and love), and the language is so different (the way Paton writes what they are speaking was novel to me) and hauntingly beautiful.  I suppose this is why it's a classic and why high schoolers have to read it in high school.  It's better when you're older, though, I would guess.

When an author (and the characters in it) can say so much  with such succinct wording, I'm hooked.  This is mostly because I have much to learn about condensing my thoughts into sentences instead of paragraphs.  As Madeleine L'Engle wrote in A Circle of Quiet

The written word
Should be clean as bone,
Clear as light,
Firm as stone.
Two words are not
as good as one.

Alan Paton's novel embodies this.

Also, shortly after I finished this book I was on a plane next to two brutish young men traveling from South Africa to Williston to be farm hands for the spring and summer months.  They were hilarious on the plane, and taught me much about the culture and the two languages, and even spoke them for me.   They had me laughing uproariously as they broke many cultural foux pas such as playing music on their laptops loudly on the plane and pushing the call button for the flight attendant multiple times for things like water.

Just so you know, reading expands your horizons so you have questions to ask South Africans when they merge paths with you.

4.  In the Land of the Blue Burqas by Kate McCord (a pseudonym)  TOP 3



A wizened friend sent this to Brian and I for Christmas.  It ended up becoming a book club read for my family, meaning my parents, siblings, and siblings' spouses.  We do a family book club together maybe once every 10 to 15 years.  The last one we read was Peace Child by Don Richardson back in the 1's.  What do you call the first decade of the 2000's anyway?  I wonder what we will read in the 2020's?

Each time I read a chapter of this book, my mind was opened to a different understanding of who Jesus is.

That said, the first chapter or two are a little hard to get into.  She writes excellently yet in a way you have to get used to.  Read it; you'll understand.  And you won't regret it.  Definitely in the top 3 I read this year.  Definitely.

This is a first hand account of an American Christian woman social worker and theologian (how's that for a lot of adjectives?) who goes and tabernacles (makes her home) in an Afghanistan village or two.

She is no ordinary person, though.  She chooses to live in a compound like them, learn the language, and spend all her spare time trying to figure out how to share the stories of Jesus with the people, particularly but not exclusively, the women.

Each chapter covers a different idea and explanation on how Islam is different from Christianity.  She shares these differences with profundity.

If you don't have time to read it, at least listen to this week long interview between Kate McCord and Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth.

A quote:  Who we follow really does make a difference.  Afghans look to the Prophet Mohommed to tell them who Allah is and what he wants from us.  I look to Jesus.  The lives of each couldn't be more different.

5.  Sacred Year by Mike Yankoski



Yankoski takes us through a year of experimental spiritual practices.  With guidance from a monk, he lives in a cave, stares at an apple, lives simply by purging, commits to a Christian community, and much more.  He shares what he learned with beauty and style.

Decreasing breadth increases depth.

We only have five senses, you know.  Five tiny windows through which the world around us can come crashing into the rustic cabins of our minds.

6.  Teach Us To Want by Jen Pollock Michel



This was Christianity Today's 2014 book of the year.

In Teach Us To Want, she takes us through the Lord's Prayer and develops the idea of holy want or desire.  It's rather academic in nature, so one time through is not enough for me to write a thorough review of it.

I will just say, if you see God as a being who wants to take everything good away from you because all pleasure is sinful, this might be a helpful book in growing a different understanding of God.

Michel points out over and over again that God is the author of pleasure, and it is a lifelong journey to not eradicate it from our lives, but to make it holy.  For holy pleasure is pure and allows us to experience life with more joy and real-ness than any other means.

7.  Gilead by Marilyn Robinson



A beautifully written, slow moving story exploring the depth of an old minister in a little, rundown town in the midwest called Gilead.  I found it haunting, disconcerting, and real.  It was a worthy read, though not an easy read.

There are lots of gems amongst the plotline:

I was trying to remember what birds did before there were telephone wires.  It would have been much harder for them to roost in the sunlight, which is a thing they clearly enjoy doing.

...nothing true can be said about God from a posture of defense.

8.  Own Your Life by Sally Clarkson



This book was God's provision to me at a particularly challenging point in my year.  I thought the title was a bit off, since Jesus calls us to lose our lives.  But her point is basically that we need to own our situations so we can see how the Lord wants us to operate and live well in them.

Here is an excerpt from chapter 1:

Lord, I will choose to find light in this darkness.  I have no guarantee about how any of this will turn out, but I am planting a flag of faith.  No matter what happens, I will be as obedient as I can to bring joy into this place, to create beauty in this wilderness, to exercise generous love, and to persevere with patience.  I will choose to believe that wherever You are my faithful companion is the place where your blessing will be upon me.
  
There are good reflection questions at the end of each chapter and lots of thought provoking quotes.  Clarkson hits at the heart of what it means to live a life of faith and to be content in our circumstances.

9.   Dakota: A Spiritual Geography by Kathleen Norris



This one would totally be in my top 3 were it not that I personally think there are one or two too many essays on monks.

I got the book from the library but it is totally in my Amazon save for later cart.  Once I check a book out from the library more than three times, it is time to own it.

Norris made her home in northwest South Dakota and did a lot of travel teaching.  She is very familiar with the land and the people and the culture of the high plains and small towns.

The High Plains, the beginning of the desert west, often act as a crucible for those who inhabit them. (preach it, sister)  Like Jacob's angel, the region requires you to wrestle with it before it bestows a blessing.  

Honestly, I feel I'm still wrestling--some times are easier than others, and so I fully appreciate Norris' ability to find a vocabulary for the region and the spiritual potential one can find if they hang in there.

Nature, in Dakota, can indeed be an experience of the holy.

She has really helped me to see, and to pray into dwelling in this land, to really embrace where I am placed.

Dakota is a beautiful reminder of human limits, just as cities and shopping malls are attempts to deny them.  This book is an invitation to a land of little rain and few trees, dry summer winds and harsh winters.  A land rich in grass and sky and surprises.  On a crowded planet, this is a place inhabited by few, and...I am one of them.

....Like those monks, I made a counter-cultural choice to live in what the rest of the world considers a barren waste.  Like them, I had to stay in this place, like a scarecrow in a field, and hope for the brains to see its beauty.  My idea of what is beautiful had to change, and it has.

I can say that this is a process.  I don't know if I will ever look forward to winter.

But, Desert wisdom allows you to be at home, wherever you are.

10.  A Praying Life by Paul E. Miller  TOP 3
           


This is the last one in my top three.  Miller did an excellent job of combining theological, psychological, and practical into a picture of what a praying life can look like.

I finished the book with a clearer picture of what a life built on prayer is.  It was inspiring to read his stories of answered prayer as he faithfully wrote them out on notecards and prayed through them oftentimes for years and years.  It is a book full of grace and offering a glimpse at the potential for God to work powerfully when we pray.

This book also challenged me in my parenting.  So many of his examples included his prayers for his children.  I am realizing that my prayers for my kids (especially the teen aged ones) are more important than any other parenting technique I employ.  Only in prayer can I see God act on their behalf, and only in prayer can I parent them the way God wills me to.

If you are not praying, then you are quietly confident that time, money, and talent are all you need in life.  You'll always be a little tired, a little too busy.  But if, like Jesus, you realize you can't do life on your own, then no matter how busy, no matter how tired you are, you will find the time, you will find the time to pray.

If you prefer listening to things, this radio interview with Miller is very good.

Other books I read that I will not review right now:

Freckles by Gene Stratton Porter
The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
The Secret Confessions of an Unlikely Convert by Rosaria Butterfield
The Scent of Water by Elizabeth Goudge
Age of Opportunity: A Biblical Guide to Parenting Teens  by Paul David Tripp
A Loving Life by Paul E. Miller
Home to Harmony by Phillip Gulley
Women of the Word by Jen Wilkin
Ten Fingers for God: The Life and Work of Dr. Paul Brand by Dorothy Clarke Wilson
For the Love by Jen Hatmaker
Treasuring Christ When Your Hands are Full: Gospel Meditations for Busy Moms by Gloria Furman 
Teaching from Rest: A Homeschoolers Guide to Unshakable Peace by Sarah Mackenzie

My 2014 Reads and year in Review: Fiction Installment

I am so nervous about writing this post!  It all goes back to when I was a kid in school.

In my mind is an image of Mrs. Lye in 4th grade, Mrs. Hall in middle school, and Mr. Canode in high school giving us silent reading assignments.  Brandon A. and I were always the first ones finished.  (I'm sorry, fellow Burbankians, class of '95, if you do not remember it that way, memory is faulty and besides, you were probably still reading and didn't realize I was done).

Because of this memory, for a long time I thought I was a fast reader.  Then God gave me some great friends who happen to be very fast and voracious readers.  That's when I realized it was all relative, and just because I was fast in a class of 20 people didn't really mean I was fast.  This is indeed the bane of small schools; a hot-shot-reader in a class of 50 means nothing in the real world.

Now that I have totally exposed myself, hopefully they (and you, because many of you are they) will still claim me as friend.

My goal in 2014 was to read 24 books, two a month.  (Great math skills.)  I ended up reading 20.

Here's a recap of the fiction and some snippets of my life surrounding them:

1.


Life of Pi
by Yann Martel

This library book sat around for a couple months before I got to it.  It was a very entertaining read, very enjoyable.  I loved learning about zoos and how a teenage boy might survive in a boat on the open sea with a tiger for months (I think it was months.)  His religious experiences were intriguing, helping me understand postmodern thinking a little more.  Postmodern thinking is very hard for me to understand.

I especially loved the writing style of Yann Martel.  It was simple and profound all at once.
Simple and profound seem to often go together, though.  However, I would not recommend the movie.  It was a disappointment to the uniqueness of the book.

2.


Peace Like a River by Leif Enger

A tall, regally beautiful friend sent this to me.  She is one of my book friends who will be appalled to learn about how little I read, but I love every recommendation she sends me.
Sometimes, like in this case, she sends me the actual book, accompanied by little treats from far off places like Trader Joe's.  I am not hinting she should do this again, just giving credit where credit is due.

Tea from a different friend

I took this with me when I met my dear, dear, beautiful, and funny friend at a mom's conference in Denver last January.  I was so happy to get out of frigid North Dakota.  You don't even know.
You can't even know unless you come live your first winter here and feel the air and miss the green and friends and such.

Waiting at the airport in the wee early hours of the morning for a delayed flight, I counted 5 women and 65 men.  The young ex-soldier sitting next to me from Tennessee worked in the oilfield here for over a year consoled me with a tidbit that's stuck with me.  He said Williston's pretty nice... "much better than Afghanistan.  At least here you don't worry so much about terrorists."  I was encouraged.

I  loved the mountainous horizon in Colorado, the warmer air I could walk outside comfortably in, the company of a friend who knew me; these were great gifts.  Great.  Gifts.

Dear, beautiful, fun friend spent the weekend with me, raging fever and all.  So she slept while I read by the hotel window.  It was enough.  I prayed for her flushed face and read Peace Like a River.  When she saw what I was reading of course she nodded and said, "Oh, that is a good book."  Of course.

On to the book.  My friend chose it, I realized, because much of it is set in the North Dakota Badlands.  Little did she know, though, that I come from a household that loves cowboy poetry.
Well, at least my dad loves Robert Service.

A ledge in the Badlands

Not only did I love this book for the descriptions of the hunting, the ridiculous cold, and the beauty of a ruggedly remote and unforgiving landscape, but for the beautiful words and pictures of a dad's faith.

It reminded me of my dad, who loves cowboy poetry, poetry in general, and the Bible.  It reminded me of Atticus in To Kill a Mockingbird.  It's a worthy subject to create in words a character of what a true, good man can look like.

Peace Like a River is a book that makes me love ideas, words, people, and good dads specifically. It calls me to ponder the complexity of life.

An exerpt of Enger's excellent writing:

"I woke inside a strange calm recognizable as defeat.  Light entered the house pink and orange.  I straggled outside, leaned against the house and squinted at the backlit hills.  The light was expiring; already it was like looking into deep tea-colored water.  I didn't, in fact, see Davy.  But somewhere on the side of the darkening hill a horse lifted its voice to neigh.  The sound had the clear distance of history."

My parents had come to help with the family while I was away in Colorado.  I asked my dad, who unbeknownst to us, was just beginning a health battle that would last many months if he'd read it.  My mom said she'd read it for a book club but never thought of sharing it with Dad. What?

During his time of more-rest-than-usual (which is normal rest for most of us), he read this.  I can imagine him sitting by his fire last winter smiling at Swede's cowboy poetry.  Did I mention my dad's performed Robert Service's epic poem The Cremation of Sam Mcgee?  He also does an amazing dinosaur impersonation in which, after watching him you think, "how could he know?  And how could I know he knows?"  He just does.  I just do.

The last thing I will say about this book is that my friend from Oregon read it with me.  She has very  insightful questions, things that are so obvious I don't even think of them (I take after my mom).  As Madeleine L'Engle wrote, "...the obvious needs to be said.  Sometimes the obvious is so obscured by brilliant analysis that it gets lost." -A Circle of Quiet

One of her texts to me on the book was asking about the existence of veins of burning lignite in the badlands.  The setting is bitter cold, yet there are open fissures of inner earthen heat in the badlands.  I did some research.  We've hiked the badlands and seen old ones that no longer burn.  On a trip to the Black Hills, I want to take a side excursion to see one still burning.

Badlands

Another question she asked was why the Badlands are named so.  Once again, I never wondered about that.  Apparently it's not because they housed many a bad person, but because one can go for very long distances without a drop of water available.  I found this out first person this summer when we took some dear, visiting friends for a tour.  The little hiking trail we wanted was closed due to the heat.  Too many people dehydrated for the rangers to deal with.

Here are some pictures of our friends who came to visit us this summer in the Badlands:

 And some other friends:

3.


North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell

North and South is about a young woman named Margaret who leaves the beautiful setting of Hampshire and her father's country parish in the south of England to go live in the northern, industrial, cotton mills city of Milton in the north.  (Thus the title).

She has always cared for the poor, but becomes even more aware and passionate about helping the suffering of Milton, even while dealing with her own sorrows and losses.

The story inspired me, challenged me, called to me to use my time, placement in this world and in history, to pursue God hard, service to others, and not to lose sight of beauty.  A good read.

4.

Redeeming Love  by Francine Rivers

In theory, I avoid Christian fiction.  But our Women's Bible Study group decided to read this and meet during the summer to discuss the ideas, so I read it, well mostly.  It is long and I had a deadline, so I skimmed some of it.

I cannot tell you well what lovely ladies they are.  We met in a little room at our brand spanking new recreation center here in Williston.

I will also tell you that I've never owned a membership to a gym before but I've also never seen a facility like this before.  And I've been to 18 states and at least 5 countries.  Which isn't a ton, but now you realize I've not been hiding in a desert either.  

So our family goes often.  It is a great, great place and Williston is a great, great place for it.  I am so thankful.

Our discussion on the book was very insightful because each one of the women are extremely intelligent and thoughtful.  The subject matter of rape, harlotry, dehumanization, and God's grace reaching in to bring healing, hope, and dignity were challenging and encouraging.  It is good to regularly engage God's gifts of redemption and love.

5.

The Poet's Homecoming by George MacDonald

In that last review I should have said "I avoid Christian fiction except George MacDonald."  I have loved his words since high school.  I can read a book of his every year, and most years I have.

This one I found on a shelf at our friends home when we visited them in the Black Hills in June.  

There were three George MacDonald books and they graciously lent me this one.  Our friend said these were reading assignments for a counseling class he'd taken.  

South Dakota friends

The basic story line to this little work is of a young man, a farmer's son and a wordsmith at heart, who goes off to the city to make a name for himself.  He does just that but it is through this fame he finds out what a true friend is, what a true writer is, and who he really wants to be.

An excerpt:

               Molly was on of the wise women of this world--and thus thoughts grew for her first out of things, and not things out of thoughts.  God's things come out of his thoughts, our realities are God's thoughts made manifest in things, and out of them our thoughts must come.  Then the things that come out of our thoughts will be real.  Neither our own fancies nor the judgements of the world must be the ground of our theories or behavior....life is to be lived, not by helpless assent or aimless drifting, but by active cooperation with the Life that has said "Live."  To her everything was part of a whole, which, with its parts, she was learning to know.  She was finding out secrets of life by obedience to what she already knew.  There is nothing like obedience, that is, duty done--for developing even the common intellect.  Those who obey are soon wiser than all their lessons, while from those who do not obey, even what knowledge they started with will be taken away.

6.

A WWII novel, set in London and the channel island of Guernsey, this was a re-read.  The second time through was even better than the first.  Filled with frivolous, delectable letters in which the reader comes to know and become endeared to the main character, Juliet Ashton, and many of the other characters as well.  But under all the lighthearted words are depth, struggle, and a unique piece of history.  The Germans captured this channel island and the story of their occupation is one of heartache and hope.

7.

Death Comes to the Archbishop by Willa Cather

Father Latour, a French Jesuit priest, takes an outpost of the Catholic Church near Sante Fe, New Mexico.  The church has been neglected for three hundred years and he and his assistant, Father Vailant, work to rebuild.  They establish outposts and develop relationships with the Spanish, the indigenous people groups, and with many others.  Father Latour's life work plays out before us in this beautiful book.

I deeply appreciated the simple service of this bishop and the words with which Willa Cather captures him.  She also captures the scenery of New Mexico, in one part comparing the cloudless sky to a desert, without variation as far as the eye can see.  I never thought of a cloudless sky in such a way, and birds, clouds, haze, as such gifts to our eyes.

Raleigh's baptism...and look at the sky!

In the last years of Father Latour's life he catches a cold and becomes concerned for his life.  His young protege who doesn't want him to die tells him that no one dies of a cold.  Father Latour tells him that he will not die of a cold, he will die of having lived.


And so it goes.  There are more, but I must stop.  For books do become friends, some dearer than others, some uniting with my soul in a depth that cannot be explained or fully understood.

Others bring joy and lightness to an otherwise stressful or sorrowful time of life, gifts of escape if but for a chapter.


One thing seems clear; memories take time to rise to the surface.  The books I am reading now will elicit memories as I move further away in time from them.  Choose wisely what we read, for stories and words do have a powerful effect on what we think, where we go, and who we become.