Compassionate Reading

The Library Book, by Susan Orlean

11/27/2018

    This is one of the most remarkable, and by that I mean different, unique, on-of-a-kind books I have ever read. Although its focal point is the 1986 fire at the Los Angles Public Library, Orlean weaves in history, humor, compassion, and expands to include both general and specific information about libraries and books.
    The Library Book will definitely make my list of Top Twelve Favorite Books for 2018 (can’t recall if I started out with Top Ten, but that has changed).
    If I were looking for a career, I would walk across the street to my local library and apply for a job; then I get a library science degree.

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Fear, by Robert Woodard

11/22/2018

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Compassion for everyone who is fearful: for President Trump who lives out of fear, and for all of us in the world who live in fear because of this fearful man.

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The Race to Save the Romanovs, by Helen Rappaport

11/19/2018

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An historians detailed quest to understand the plans and plots to rescue Tzar Nicholas II, Tsarist Alexandra, and their four daughters and one son. We are given insight into the complicated relationships between the children and grandchildren of Queen Victoria and the role they played in World War I.
In summary: “Whatever the degree of responsibility of the King of Great Britain, the Kaiser of Germany and their various European royal relatives in the terrible fate of their Russian cousins, there is no doubt that the murder of the Romanovs at Ekaterinburg in 1918 was a pivotal event in the long history of European monarchy. It dealt a body blow to an institution that had persisted against the odds, through centuries of revolution, acts of terrorism and the constant threat of republicanism” (p. 292).

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Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption, by Bryan Stevenson

11/6/2018

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This will definitely make it to my Top Twelve Favorite Books of 2018. It is an informative, powerful, page turner, and eye opener to the incarceration or the poor and predominantly black men in our country. As a white privileged female living in Massachusetts, I am shielded from so much of the bigotry that lies deep in our psyche. This book has helped open my heart to compassion for the other. But I still have a long way to go.

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A Sister in My House, by Linda Olsson

11/1/2018

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Definitely on my top ten list for the year. In fact, any book by Linda Olsson will make it. Olsson’s main characters are solitary types; she taps into their interior, private thinking. Maria is no exception.
Compassion for siblings, each one of them; compassion for how each views any family situation. Hope when people tell their truth.

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Before and Again, by Barbara Delinsky

10/24/2018

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First book I’ve every read by prolific author Barbara Delinsky. Compassion for people who find themselves in tragic situations not of their own making. A story of the how people move on from horrendous situations when they take the courage to tell the truth. Hope for families when each member is willing to let go of past misunderstandings and accept the other just as he/she is. A good read.

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A Place for Us, by Mirza Fatima Farheen

10/17/2018

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This novel is about a first and second generation Muslim family in the U.S., As this story progressed, my compassion and appreciation for what families such as this one experience deepened.
Through artful dialog among the characters, Farheen reveals insights into family relationships—between parent and parent, child and parent, and sibling and siblings. She also lets us into the thinking of each of four main characters through conversations with themselves.

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Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, Gail Honeyman

9/27/2018

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This book may end up on my Top Ten Favorites; a fascinating story of a fascinating life unraveled from page to page by Eleanor Oliphant who tells the story of her life from abuse toward healing. A compassionate and hopeful tale.

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Hill Towns, by Anne Rivers Siddons

9/21/2018

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My reading slowed down while I was vacationing in Florence this month. Visiting churches and museums, walking and enjoying pasta ate (pun intended) into my reading time. I did, however, read, Hill Towns, set in Rome, Venice, Florence, and Siena. This is the first book I’ve read by Anne Rivers Siddons; perhaps I’ll read others because I found her characters intriguing. The main attraction of this book, need I say, was the setting.

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After Anna, by Lisa Scottoline

8/26/2018

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A good summer read offering compassion for all the victims caught in the web of sex-trafficking; and for those involved in the penal system in our country—those incarcerated, and those whose jobs are those keep law and order in prisons.

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    Compassionate Reading may sound strange, but that’s my purpose in joining the Goodreads 2017 Reading Challenge. A book a week seems like a reasonable goal. Maybe I’ll read 52, maybe I won’t. Maybe I’ll read 32, but probably not 520.
     Number goals appeal to me, especially ones connected with the calendar. As a teacher, I loved the definitive school year. There is nothing like a Monday morning every seven days to give me another jump start. The first of every month I take delight in turning the page of my wall calendar. I like numbers.
     However, this reading goal isn’t about adding books to a list. My goal is understand lives different from mine. Up until now I have read through the lens of my own life, one of ease, privilege, freedom and advantage; they never promised a rose garden, but I was given one. Now I want to wear the lens of the authors and their characters. I want to step into their feelings and experiences without comparing them to mine. I want to observe without judging. I want to appreciate the nuances rather than put everything into categories. I want to I want to read with my heart more than my head.
     My plan is to post how each book opened my heart to compassion.

The Library Book, by Susan Orlean

Fear, by Robert Woodard

The Race to Save the Romanovs, by Helen Rappaport

Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption, by Bryan Stevenson

A Sister in My House, by Linda Olsson

Before and Again, by Barbara Delinsky

A Place for Us, by Mirza Fatima Farheen

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, Gail Honeyman

Hill Towns, by Anne Rivers Siddons

After Anna, by Lisa Scottoline

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