Everyone has a birthday, so when yours come up, or even before, here is my birthday recommendation to you: Into the Magic Shop, by James R. Doty, MD, and Gratitude, by Oliver Sacks.
My birthday is coming up. From years of experience (plus sharing my birthday with my sister), I am well aware that birthday gifts are hard to come by at the end of December. This year, all I am asking for is the title of a book people think I would enjoy. I’m getting ready to join the 2017 Goodreads Reading Challenge. If I choose to read a book a week, I will definitely need suggestions.
Everyone has a birthday, so when yours come up, or even before, here is my birthday recommendation to you: Into the Magic Shop, by James R. Doty, MD, and Gratitude, by Oliver Sacks.
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When I published Joyful Learning in Kindergarten and my other books about teaching, I knew they would take on lives of their own. What I wrote was personal, in that I opened the door of my classroom for readers to see what the kids and I were up to. Very Grateful, on the other hand, is both personal and intimate. I have opened the door of my heart and let people in. I can’t believe that I am just realizing this! The books I mailed to family, and those ordered by friends on Amazon are beginning to arrive in peoples homes. They are being read as I write this, although I haven’t received any substantive comments yet. Maybe I never will, which will be okay with me. Here is one comment, however, offered in person from a good friend. “I want to read the book because you wrote it. But I wouldn’t choose it on my own because I know it will bring up more than I want to remember about the deaths of my mother and father.” We all have genre we read and genre we don’t read. Very Grateful is not a must read for anyone. Let us just be grateful that we have the choice. A few days ago I ‘promised’ that on this trip I would write in all the libraries I could discover in Florence. Well, a promise broken as a different rhythm has developed. I’ve gone to my two favorites, the Guelph and Oblate, but have also discovered a marvelous café on the colonnade along Piazza dell Repubblica. Yesterday it was raining but I was cozy and content at the RED Café at La Felltrinelli RED: RED as in Read, Eat, Dream. I was writing, not reading, as well as eating and dreaming, but this place is also a book store, and besides, they have to keep in tune with their RED motif. Today is sunny. At the Galleria dell’Accademia I visited Michelangelo’s David and Bound Slaves as well as the extensive gallery of twelfth, thirteenth and early fourteenth century paintings that decorated the churches in the city. Now I’m back writing at the RED. So you see, I am fulfilling my promise to write. Solitary travel, especially staying in one place for a length of time, offers no excuse, and so I have been writing at libraries, cafes and my apartment. There is plenty of time to sight see, walk, and of course eat, as well as write. Every hour of the day is mine. Along with the blog writing, I’ve participated in what those in educational circles call ‘pre-writing’, which really is thinking about your writing. I’ve done a lot of that as I’ve wandered about Florence, but as we all know, too much pre-writing means not much real-writing. Finally, however, I have gained clarity about the direction I want for Very Grateful, and so, I have opened the screen and begun to write—with the ‘promise’ to finish by the end of the month. Part Two of my Jane Austen project has begun. I am reading an annotated edition of Pride and Prejudice. Eventually I’ll get a CD of the book but for now, as I drive around, I’m listening to Longbourn, by Jo Baker, a novel about the life of the servants at the Bennet household. Someone had to wash all those dresses and polish all that silver! My Jane Austen project is coming along, although more slowly than I had anticipated. I have finished reading Sense and Sensibility, listened to the audio on CD and watched the 1995 movie on DVD. The movie component of this project adds nothing as far as plot is concerned; in fact, it could detract if I choose to be upset that it isn’t true the story. I do, however, appreciate the scenery, architecture and costumes. Now to take a deep breath. Since I’m not quite ready to immerse myself in Pride and Prejudice, for my reading pleasure I am returning to my love of all things Italian, particularly Florentine. My reading choice is Mona Lisa: A Life Discovered, by Dianne Hales, copyright 2014. I just completed a 1000 piece puzzle of a library scene, aptly named “Sanctuary of Knowledge”. The picture reminds me of a university library of old, undoubtedly in England, with stacks receding into infinity. In the foreground is an elderly couple and a young boy and girl. Perhaps we are seeing grandparents and grandchildren reading together, the women and children sitting in over-stuffed chairs, the grandfather standing with book in hand by the fireplace. They are surrounded by several cats, books stacked on tables and an array of collectables acquired over the years. Angels fly in from the nearby stacks. This comforting scene, with its moment of silence, solitude and simplicity, is worth a dream. I like to imagine that in the next minute someone will comment on what they are reading. Or, one of the cats, looking for affection and a comfy place to snooze, will jump into a welcoming lap. Here’s what’s new from my silent, solitary and simple home. Thank goodness my husband and I fit well with this. We both like it. 1) I love my new washing machine, but am also delighted with my old dryer. I had ordered a new one to go along with my new washer, but cancelled the purchase when it wouldn’t fit in the door. I can’t believe that I was sucked into thinking that washers and dryers have to be bought and discarded as a team. After all, they don’t die at the same time! My twenty year old dryer is still tossing the clothes around, and since I hang most of my laundry out to dry, I figure it should last my life time—even if I live to be 101 like my mom. 2) Speaking of Mom, the memoir is about ready to be mailed to my friend Carolyn for developmental editing. Next there’s the copy editing, cover design, formatting for print copy on demand and for e-book, and then the launch of Very Grateful on Amazon—hopefully by the end of the year. 3) The Jane Austen project has slowed down a bit because I just received an annotated edition of Sense and Sensibility from interlibrary loan. 400 pages of text, notes, photographs and paintings. So I’m rereading but I haven’t given up the e-book, which I must say is an extremely different experience. All good—including the audio edition in 10 compact discs. Here’s an update on my Jane Austin project. I’m still living with Sense and Sensibility and the Dashwoods. I’m taking it slowly, savoring, reading only a couple of chapters a day—am up to Chapter 17. I purchased all of Jane’s (we’re on a first name basis) works for $.99 cents for my Kindle. It’s the simple way to go for this kind of reading. I just click on and am right at the page where I left off. Spending less than a dollar satisfies another one of my criteria for simplicity—be intentional about how I spend my money. The CDs just arrived from inter-library load, so I’m getting ready to listen, always at least a few chapters behind my reading. The characters are forming more and more clearly in my mind. Although each conforms to the times in which Jane lived and wrote about, each personality is distinctive. I’m reminded of my family, of all families. Am I Elinor, Marianne, Margaret? Definitely not any of the other women I’ve met so far. I’ll have to ask my sisters who they’d pick for themselves. I wouldn’t be surprise if we’re all variation of Elinor. Living a simple life is no easy task. We say that our electrical appliances are here to simplify our lives. Well, yes and no. My computer, for example, not only simplifies my writing, but makes any writing I do, after I’ve scribble away in my journal, possible. Drafts, final copies, publishing, and of course blogging. I'm about to begin a little Jane Austen project. I'm planning to reread her works, as well as listen to them on tape; not simultaneously but more or less in parallel. Then I'll watch the DVD. As I begin, I’m in awe of what Jane (note how I consider her a personal friend) accomplished in her rather short life. She didn’t have a computer, not even a simple one. Imagining how a computer might have simplified her writing, is a rather useless exercise. What is important is her intense desire to write. I’m not certain why I’ve taken on this Jane Austen project, but it feels comforting. All of Jane's heroines were homebodies, which is what I am this fall for the first time in quite a few years. I’m not in Italy. I’m home writing, on my computer of course. Jane is my heroine. (At the moment I am reading Sense and Sensibility on my Kindle. More simple than “The Modern Library” print copy.) I blogged about Wilderness Blessings sometime last year when the book first came out. Now I’m posting again because more than ever I am convinced than this book speaks to all people, not just those with a defined faith nor with a loved one with Down syndrome. Yesterday Jeff Gallagher and I got together at his church office in Kittery Point to catch up and talk about writing. Jeff went to divinity school with me and was a field education student at my church. He is now the father of two boys, Noah a third grader, and Jacob a kindergartener, who has Down syndrome. In 2013 Jeff published Wilderness Blessings: How Down Syndrome Reconstructed Our Life and Faith, a book about his (and his wife Kristin's) early experiences parenting Jacob. It is a book about love, parenting, Down syndrome, medical wonders (specifically at Children's Hospital in Boston), faith and so much more. It is how all these aspects, especially the ‘wilderness’ ones, can become blessings. |
Contact me: bobbifisher.mac@mac.com
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