A Cottage by the Sea
  • Home
  • On My Mind
  • Quotes
  • New Beginnings
  • Secrets of an Old Woman
  • A Solitary Traveler
  • Compassionate Reading
  • About me
  • About me and my blog
  • Comfort food
  • Books
  • Suggested reading
  • Poems

The Adventures of Henry Thoreau: A Young Man’s Unlikely Path to Walden Pond, by Michael Sims

10/30/2017

0 Comments

 
Picture

My compassion for Thoreau expanded page by page as I read. I love the man, the good, the bad, and the indifferent. Isn’t that true of all of us humans? We have our admirable parts, as well as those dark places we want to hide, at least those we know about or to which we are indifferent.
Thoreau kept detailed journals most of his life. Thankfully we are the privy to them through his published writings: Walden, A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers, The Maine Woods, and Civil Disobedience.
I loved this book because I felt I was talking with Henry as we walked along. We had much in common.

0 Comments

Fifth Business, by Robertson Davies

10/24/2017

0 Comments

 
Picture

     Remember in school you were taught never to include in a book report: Everyone must read this book? Well, that’s what I want to say about ‘Fifth Business.” But instead, I will recommend it to everyone, knowing that not everyone will love it.
     Protagonist Dunstan Ramsay writes his memoir in the form of a post-retirement letter to the headmaster of the school were has taught his entire adult life. His purpose is to clarify misgivings about how he is perceived toward the end of his life. His story reveals how he has been the Fifth Business in the lives of others, namely his boyhood friend, Boy, and Mary Dempster, for who he feels responsible due to a childhood accident.
     From the NYT, Nov. 25, 1970: “Fifth business? Here is the definition that Davies offers in a preface: "Those roles which, being neither those of Hero nor Heroine, Confidante nor Villain, but which were nonetheless essential to bring about the Recognition or the denouement, were called the Fifth Business in drama and opera companies organized according to the old style; the player who acted these parts was often referred to as Fifth Business."
      I read this book word for word. No speed reading possible. I hope you will be on of those everyones who loves it. I will read it again.

0 Comments

Mr. Emerson’s Wife, by Amy Belding Brown

10/16/2017

0 Comments

 
Picture
     My first thought isn’t about compassion, although I do feel compassion for the second class/servant role that women have played in history, and unfortunately still do. As wives, regardless of the circumstances, they had few choices, and that includes Mr. Emerson’s wife, Lidian. That being said, I love the way Brown develops the character of these people we know in history, especially Emerson and Thoreau.
     Living next door to Concord, I’ve visited many of the places mentioned in this novel. I’m ready to explore some more, as well as read a biography of Emerson, and, reread Walden. Hmm, I notice I’m not rushing to read Emerson’s original works. I figure a biography will include enough for me.

0 Comments

Grandparent read aloud~

10/9/2017

1 Comment

 
Picture
Yesterday I visited friend’s new granddaughter, little Josie, two months old. What joy. I left smiling, knowing that she will have many ‘bedtime stories’ because she was born into a family that knows the value of reading to young children, and, that will give her books.
Every day I spent teaching kindergarten and first grade was based on the theory and practice of reading out loud. I wrote about it in the books I published for teachers, and in For Reading Out Loud, the book my daughter and I wrote together. When my grandchildren were born, the reading aloud began again, and, so did the book giving, but with a twist.
On special occasions—birthdays, holidays, visits at house or theirs (be creative), I would write a letter to them on the inside cover of the book I was giving them for the occasion. It would start: Dear Colin, Jemma, Clement, or Abigail (don’t forget to date it), and go from there with whatever came into my mind to tell them--the immediate situation, such as what we might do together, what they liked, wonderful things they were doing, where they were living. I’d tell them what I remembered about their mom or dad when they were the same age. It wasn’t hard to write, because, after all, I was just conversing with a little person I loved. What fun to pick just the right book, and then begin writing.
So, all you grandparents, aunts and uncles, friends, and parents, too, I pass this suggestion along to you. Start your own very special collection of books for the very special person in your life.

1 Comment

Why Thought This Was a Good Idea?, by Alyssa Mastromonaco

10/8/2017

0 Comments

 
Picture

Hilarious memoir of time serving in various roles at the White House, including assistant to the president and deputy chief of staff for operations. Alyssa has nothing but admiration for Obama, but this book is about her life journey, the easy, hard, good, bad, most of all, her honesty.

0 Comments

Miss Me, by Kate Eberlen

10/6/2017

0 Comments

 
Picture

Loved this book. It begins and ends in Florence at some of my favorite spots. And in between Tess and Gus lead their lives the best they can. In fact, they do it quite well, compassionate people that they are, responding to the good and the bad, and always able to move on.
Always fun to have a book that I want to keep reading all afternoon, which I did. Very grateful for the luxury.

0 Comments

The Zoo Keepers Wife, by Diane Ackerman

10/4/2017

0 Comments

 
Picture

Another book about Nazi Germany, this one set in Poland. Based on a true story of the zoo keeper and his wife saving three hundred Jews in the midst of occupied Warsaw. Compassion does not begin to express how I feel. I am humbled beyond belief by the horror people go through in war and by the resilience they demonstrate to stay alive and to help others live.
    I liked the film.

0 Comments

Lilac Girls, by Martha Hall Kelly

10/2/2017

0 Comments

 
Picture

World War II stories, with a holocaust theme are showing up on library and bookstore shelves these days. Lilac Girls is a good read. I came away with compassion for all three lilac girls: for Kasia, victim of Nazi medical experiments, Caroline, who worked for safe havens for Jewish children, and even Herta Oberheuser, a Nazi doctor.

0 Comments

September reads~

10/1/2017

0 Comments

 
An 8 Day Ignatian Retreat, by Thomas P. Rausch, SJ
Lilac Girls, by Martha Hall Kelly
The Beautiful Necessity: Seven Essays on Theosophy and
Architecture, by Claude Bragdon
A Light in the Window, by Jan Karon
Sisters: A Novel, by Lily Tuck
0 Comments

    Author

        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.

    Archives

    January 2023
    November 2022
    April 2022
    January 2021
    November 2020
    October 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017

    Categories

    All
    Akiko Busch
    Alan Bennett
    Alyssa Palombo
    Amy Belding Brown
    Anita Moorjani
    Ann Cleese's
    Ann Patchett
    Anthony Doerr
    Banana Yoshimoto
    Cara Wall
    Cindy K. Sproles
    C.J. Sansom
    Colson Whitehead
    Cornelius Wencel
    David I. Kertzer
    Delia Owens
    Elaine Pagels
    Elif Shafak
    Elizabeth Berg
    Elliot Perlman
    Gail Honeyman
    Garth Stein
    Glass Castle
    Henning Mankell
    Howard Norman
    James McBride
    Jamie Ford
    Jamie Raskin
    Jeannette Walls
    Jean Thompson
    Jennifer Egan
    Jess Montgomery
    Jhumpa Lahiri
    Jim Defede
    Jodi Picoult
    Jojo Moyes
    Joshilyn Jackson
    Joyce Carol Oates
    Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
    Kate Eberlen
    Kate Morton
    Kazuo Ishiguro
    Kristin Hannah
    Linda Olsson
    Louise Erdrich
    Lucinda Riley
    Marie Benedict
    Mark Gimenez
    Martin L. Smith
    Mary Oliver
    Melodie Winawer
    Mirza Fatima Farheen
    Nina Sankovitch
    Pamela Krens
    Paul Kalanithi
    Paul Strarthern
    Richard Powers
    Robert Harris
    Robertson Davies
    Robert Woodward
    Ruth Ozeki
    Sarah Dunant
    Sarah Valentine
    Sebastian Junger
    Sherman Alexie
    Sigrid Nunez
    Stephen Mitchell
    Susan Ella Macneal
    Thrity Umrigar
    Tracy Chevalier

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly