Good Books and Shelf-Space

"The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go." -Dr. Seuss 

In June, the five in our family made a goal to read ten books this summer. It was a great challenge, during these wonderful months of an untangled schedule and sunshiny days, that we make reading a priority.

My boys immersed themselves in worlds of fantasy and humor, places inhabited by Beasts, funny Mr. Gum, potty-humored Super Diaper Baby, adventures in Tunnels, and the always-a-hit Batman and Star Wars. And usually, after time reading, they couldn't wait to share the lavish tales and terrible troubles of their fictional friends. What a great peek into the mind and interests of a child! So fun for me ... to watch their excitement in the new places they would go in their reading. 

We now have books used as doorstops, as they've again run out of shelf-space ...

I would be most content if my children grew up to be the kind of people who think decorating consists mostly of building enough bookshelves.  ~Anna Quindlen, "Enough Bookshelves," New York Times, 7 August 1991

  
Our adult bookshelves also run over-- which makes me smile. Above, a peek into my recent shelf-space of books. Out of the many books I've read over the last few months, I have loved the worlds of a few:

• The Art of Racing in the Rain: Wow-- this was a beautiful book that not only surprised me with its depth but also with its important story. Told from the perspective of the family dog (really!), the angle on the family's struggles and the dog's role in holding them all together amazed me. The strain applied to Enzo the dog's family by extended family is a stress so familiar, the story strikes hard ... and lingers, well past the final page. I enjoyed this book immensely. by Garth Stein.
• The Mountain Between Us: I enjoyed this moving story for its setting in the wilderness of the Rocky Mountains, and the depiction of the power of love to help us survive past pain. Well-told by Charles Martin, one of my favorite authors.
• The Shell Seekers: In rereading this classic, I'm rediscovering Rosamunde Pilcher's brilliance in sustaining vivid characters, and the deep pain she's able to recreate in their relationships. A fantastic portrayal of family and the rift caused by those who take toward those who give. 
• The Help: This breakout novel shines for its authentic characters and unique glimpse into the South at an unpopular time and topic in USA's history. A big thank you to Kathryn Stockett for sharing her exquisite world. 
• On Writing: Even though it's a non-fiction book in my list of summer reading, I can't help but place it among books I have loved reading. Because I do love it. For writers and avid readers, Stephen King gives a rich look into the life he lives turning out well-loved stories and reflecting on the creative process. I'm not sure, as a writer, that I could ever read this book enough.
  
  
  
  For the other books I've read, and enjoyed or not enjoyed reading--I defer to literary agent Nathan Brantford's excellent post on the judge of quality. Not everyone likes a certain book. For a novel I like, there may be 100x more people who do not like it. And vice versa. But, the judge should be if a book achieves what the author set out to accomplish in writing that book. I wholeheartedly agree. There are books that do not strike me in my reading taste, but that are well-done and accomplished what the author intended. A wonderful way to approach new books, I think.
  
  
  So, as I delve into writing my next novel, I am confident that not only are our shelves bursting with stories immersing us in new worlds, but that has reading become a fixed habit in our house, and also a destination worth pursuing.   

Starting the conversation (leave a comment below): What books have you enjoyed reading recently? What are you reading now?

Blueprint for a Great Summer

"A perfect summer day is when the sun is shining, the breeze is blowing, the birds are singing,

and the lawn mower is broken."

-James Dent

Northern Michigan camping trip, my four boys

Few things excite me more than summer vacation. Especially a wide-open summer vacation with my boys.

Last summer (2009), summer became a crowded time for selling our house and cars, tending to one of our son's severely broken arm, and moving across the globe to Czech Republic. We still made time for swimming (though it became a series of hotel pools), and experienced many new countries and cultures along the way, but we missed the unstructured time so essential for Summer.

I love the James Dent quote, above, because of its truth ... Summer, if we don't actively guard the time to refresh, becomes an active time in entertaining ourselves, our kids, the neighbors' kids-- a merry-go-round of busyness. And soon, we slip our jackets on and step back into school-time rhythms, the summer is gone, but we haven't really had Summer.  Where does it go, so quickly?

A few years ago, I read Gordon MacDonald's excellent book entitled Ordering Your Private World. It grabbed me at the beginning chapter, defining his personal experience with achieving, ambition, and "the day he hit the wall." I think most of us in this busy world can relate to that, "hitting the wall." And we have to seek out finding a life-balance or risk a lifetime of hitting walls.

Gordon MacDonald's father gave him this excellent advice (p 96):

"Your challenge will not be in separating out the good from the bad,

but in grabbing the best out of all the possible good."

The norm of our era makes an art out of jam-packing our days and our lives, making it feel normal to compress our days into efficient square boxes of daily chaos. And so enters the concept of Summer.

How can we use this Summer to create a season of play, of refreshment, and of grabbing the best out of all the possible good?

In our house, we've been actively making a list on a wipe-board, accessible to see it, follow it, and at a height so that everyone in our family can make their contributions. We might call it our Blueprint for a Great Summer. It says, "What Do We Want to Do this Summer?" And below, a running list of the things we want to do--swimming, basketball, hiking, biking, reading, etc.--along with a few key places we want to go. Because if we don't mark it down and check it off as we go and act intentionally with our days, too soon they are gone.

"It is easy in the world to live after the world's opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our own; but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude."

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

This summer, I'm looking forward to making time for the best of all possible good (family, quiet, travel, adventure, laughter), and to working more toward that balance in life that Ordering Your Private World describes. To days recharging while watching the grass grow ... to all things best ... to the broken mower ... and to Summer.

Starting the Conversation: What do you look forward to doing this summer? What does all things best mean to you?

Reading and the Rich Experience

"When you sell a man a book you don't sell just twelve ounces of paper and ink and glue you sell him a whole new life. Love and friendship and humour and ships at sea by night- there's all heaven and earth in a book, a real book." ~novelist Christopher Morley

I have always loved to read. Some of my earliest memories are of the library in Arkansas where I learned to read: the chalky-white walls, the blue felt-like carpet, and the endless cases of books—the taller ones, of course, had the magical adult books. But I remember loving two things about that library—the books, and the name placards that children could earn by reading lots of books. Yes, I earned lots of placards, but mostly I learned to love to read for the experience of reading a book—to open the cover of a new book was to open the portal to a new world. I still love reading books, and discovering new worlds, experiencing the world through a new character and learning as I read.

About six months ago, when we moved to Prague, our easy access to new books evaporated in an instant. But, this week, I scored a huge triumph. I configured my first international book order, effectively breaking down the barrier to getting new books. I’m elated!

Seth Godin recently said this about e-books versus paper-and-ink books: “Sometimes the goal is to make change happen. A book is a physical souvenir, a concrete instantiation of your ideas in a physical object, something that gives your ideas substance and allows them to travel ... unlike just about any form of electronic media, you get to read the book at your own pace, absorbing it as you go.”

I agree. To me, spending time reading at leisure words permanently printed onto paper is an enriching experience to be savored. The transience of blinking cursors isn’t the same, disappearing so quickly in our e-world that it hardly bears existence at all. But a physical book is a piece of timelessness in page form, with an experience lingering in my mind like the vibrant colors of a stunning sunset, forever changed and moved by the subtleties of savoring.

So, though I blog into the transient e-web-world and spend countless hours putting letters in the space of the blinking cursor writing novels, and even though I read my news, and emails, and blogs, and school updates electronically, I still am not ready to settle down and pleasure read a great novel from a screen. I look forward to every novel I read—especially the ones coming in a few weeks, via international mail. Whichever way we choose to read, whether on an e-page or a paper page, here's to to reading and the richness of the reading experience.

Starting the conversation (click to leave a comment, below): What are your reading habits? Have they changed in the digital age—iPad, Kindle, e-Reader? And, do you recommend any great books you’ve read lately?