D.E.A.R Me

Yesterday, in honor of Drop Everything And Read Day, I wrote about my experience of reading to my children as they were growing up. I admitted that my diligence in reading to them was somewhat selfishly fueled by my own love of books. I've always been an avid reader. I got my first library card in third grade and was awestruck by the concept I could take home and read shelves and shelves of books I didn't own as long as I brought them back in a timely manner. I'm still awestruck by this generosity of the public library system, I guess, in that my husband has to remind me periodically not to check out more books than I can carry to the car in a single trip. And don't even get me started on interlibrary loan! The thought I can request almost any book in existence and have it in my possession within a week or two leaves my giddy...

In recent years, I've started keeping a list of books I have read and their authors. I do this so if anyone should ask if I could recommend a good book, I would have a reasonable chance of remembering one, having the correct title and knowing who wrote it. I've got hundreds of books on the list. I just wished I had started the list sooner. In honor of the day after D.E.A.R. Day, I'm going to share ten of my quirkier favorite reads, books I've stumbled upon that other readers may not have yet discovered. Hopefully, I will give enough information for anyone out there to decide if these books are for them or not.

1.  The Plain Reader: Essays on Making a Simple Life, Scott Savage, Editor

Contributors to this collection include Quakers, Amish, refugees from highly materialistic lifestyles, homeschooling moms, writers that are not opposed to using laptops while they ride in their Amish horse-drawn buggies. This book has something for everyone who has ever wondered if maybe they are being called to a simpler way of life. One of my all time favorites, I found this book to be life-changing.

2.  The Wild Trees, Richard Preston

A book about the tallest trees in the Pacific Northwest and the people who climb them and sleep in them...for fun. Who would think that trees and the slightly nutty people who are obsessed with them would make for such a fascinating read?

3.  Down the Highway: The Life of Bob Dylan, Howard Sounes

One of the best biographies I've ever read. Bob Dylan, of course, supplies a lifetime of interesting biographical material, but the true charm of this book is that it is so well-written. Sounes researches well, attributes well, organizes well and produces a non-sensational portrait of a complex man who has been one of music's most prolific and ever-changing figures.

4.  The Eyre Affair, Jasper Fforde

A novel that defies description. The main character, Thursday Next, is a literary detective in a alternate reality set in present day England. She has the ability to “book jump” that puts her into classic novels, interacting with literary characters. You find out why Thornfield Hall really burns down in Jane Eyre, hear Fanny Dashwood fret over her unwarranted bad reputation in Sense and Sensibility. There is a series of novels with Thursday Next in them, all outrageous and cleverly written. Familiarity with classic literature is helpful to fully appreciate the craziness, like the anger intervention group for Heathcliff of Wuthering Heights. Fforde also has a detective series based on nursery rhymes -The Big Over Easy, The Fourth Bear - and one novel about a society based on color saturation - Shades of Grey (No, not that one...!) Fforde's writings consistently make me laugh out loud.

5.  Where'd You Go, Bernadette? Maria Semple

Another novel I found cleverly written and very entertaining. The story of a runaway architect mother, a Microsoft father, and a precocious 15 year-old daughter told through a series of emails, official documents, and random letters and notes. This book has everything -Ted Talks references, a cruise to Antarctica, out-sourced personal assistants. Funny and sharp, yet heart-warming at the same time.



6.  A River Runs Through It, Norman Maclean

A novella about the flyfishing sons of a Montana pastor. (Of course, there had to be a fishing story on this list!) Best literary capture of the art (Yes, art!) of flyfishing ever. And the writing is just beautiful, even if you don't like fishing. For an example of exquisite writing, read the first five pages and the last page. So good...and short enough for me to read every year.

7.  The Gun Seller, Hugh Laurie

A thriller detective novel written by the actor that played House, who is also an accomplished piano player and recording artist. A light, fun read if you like the genre.

8.  The Language God Talks: On Science and Religion, Herman Wouk

An interesting little non-fiction piece by the man who wrote Caine Mutiny, Winds of War, War and Remembrance, and many other excellent novels. Written as his passion piece when he was 94 years old, he uses his orthodox Jewish sensibilities to try to reconcile his understanding of God, science and the Holocaust. A thoughtful book from both a Jewish and scientific perspective.

9.  Sudden Sea: The Great Hurricane of 1938, R. A. Scotti

Before there was the Perfect Storm and Superstorm Sandy, there was the great hurricane of 1938, which changed the geography of Long Island and Rhode Island. This book tells the story of a devastating storm in the days before non-stop media coverage and hype of weather systems. The destruction from this massive unnamed hurricane was little known by the general public at the time, with most news outlets focused on Hitler and his activities in the Sudetenland that week. Gripping eye-witness accounts.

10.  Muriel Foster's Fishing Diary, Muriel Foster

Not really a reading book, but a flyfishing journal of a woman living in Scotland in the first half of the twentieth century. It contains hundreds of sketches and watercolors of fish, flies, and birds as well as Muriel's notes on her wildlife observations and some poetry. There is a gap in the journal entries during the war years when Muriel was too busy with the war efforts to fish, but she takes up her drawing and writing again afterward. A beautiful book for watercolor artists, creative journalers, and anyone who flyfishes. Hard to find. Definitely an interlibrary loan book.

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So, whether or not you dropped everything and read to your kids yesterday, today is your day. The laundry can still wait...

It is what you read when you don't have to that determines what you will be

when you can't help it. - Oscar Wilde

Tomorrow:

D.E.A.R God