Category: Reading - A Cottage by the Sea

Simple and profound

7/11/2018

     I’ve had a few days of relative solitude since the active July 4th week. For me, I don’t crave solitude because I need to get away from it all, although that is sometimes an added benefit. I need solitude because it restores me so I can get back into it all. Too much of a good thing, be it time alone or time in community, and it becomes not a good thing.
     What I’ve just written sound simplistic, you might say, and I might agree. Nevertheless, I seem to need to clarify that for myself, and so I do, here in public. Sometime I can’t tell the difference between my simple thoughts and ones that might be profound.
     Back to my reading, both simple and profound.

Summer reading

7/6/2018

       June was a productive reading month; thirteen books, bringing the count to 43 for the Goodreads Reading Challenge. I’m over half way to my goal of 78, may age.
       July so far as been a little slow, but now that the 4th is behind us, I can pick up. We had about forty people watching the parade and enjoying a cookout. Folks brought delicious salads and dessert, my son-in-law was a masterful grill chef, my daughter did whatever was needed, and my husband was head gardener, but there’s still a great deal of work preparing and cleaning up.
      And now for a reading day, and once again the power of reading washes over me as I sit outside with my books. Contentment, release of fear, trust in human beings, affirming that life is purposeful, and letting go of judgments, are some of the feelings that settle deep within me. I am aware I am privileged with the gift of time to read; with that goes challenge to offer something back to the universe. Reading time is not something to hoard.

Give yourself a "My Day"

3/16/2018

A quiet day for me here, a day that is turning out to be a “My Day,” at least until we meet friends for dinner. I want everyone, those of us who like silence, solitude and simplicity, and those who always like to be with others, to have a day like this once in a while. On a ‘My Day” there are no outside obligations or commitments. I figure out what to do as the day enfolds.
Per usual, I’m staying home, satisfying my typical pleasures of reading, writing, meditating, walking, and, I must confess, keep an eye on the news. To my surprise, I realize I have just spent a couple of hours reading “Bernini: His Life and His Rome,” by Franco Mormando, purusing “Bernini and the Art of Architecture,” by T.A. Marder, and planning the four days I’ll be in Rome in April, which seems to be shaping into a Bernini visit.

For the love of reading~

12/31/2017

On the table, read to read.

her    On this New Year’s Eve afternoon, as I watch the New England Patriots win again, I’m organizing my 2017 Goodreads Challenge and deciding what it should be for 2018. I challenged myself to read 52 books, but as of this minute, I’ve read 102. Wow.
    I read for compassion and to keep from getting too involved in the daily drama of politics. I don’t read to compete with anyone, and certainly not with myself. Putting my list on Goodreads is a great way to keep track of what I’ve read.
    Last January 1st I never imagined that I would read 100 books. Thinking I could to so again might encourage me to slip into a competitive mood, rather than read for compassion. 52 books still feels like a calming number, calming and attainable. I read for the love of reading. Besides, who knows what 2018 will bring.
    You can see my list of favorites for 2017 here

What's going on~

11/13/2017

Here’s my status report as of today.
• I’ve read 95 books so far this year. I set my 2017 Goodreads Challenge at 52. I figured one a week, but it looks like I’m on my way to doubling it. I think I’ll go for 100 next year.
• My bad: I got into watching too much news. Channel flipping indicates too much.
• My good. I’ve spend every morning looking out the window and praying, “No guns, no guns.”
• I spend a good deal of time each week visiting people who are more or less homebound. I love it, but am feeling the to get off by myself to write. Solution: Florence, December 3-16.

Book stores in Florence~

9/15/2017

Here’s an update on my 2017 Reading Challenge. To date I’ve read 82 books. Traveling, however, has slowed down my pace. I just don’t have the time. My reading is pretty much relegate to Kindle reading in restaurants. Kindle tells me I have read 11% of The Medici: The Rise of Parvenu Dynasty 1360-1517, by Danny Chaplin, and have 14 hr. 28.mins left in the book (I’m skimming some). I’m also reading The Beautiful Necessity: Seven Essays on Theosophy and Architecture, by Claude Bragdon. Its 111 pages are filled with architectural drawing, but I can only digest a few pages at a time before I go out into the street and observe the real thing.
I confess that I spend some reading time wandering around the Feltrinelli bookstores at the train station and Piazza Republica--as well as enjoying their cafes. And today, for inspiration, I visited the Laurentian Library, designed by Michelangelo. And besides, back in May I reached my goal of 52 books.

Still reading for compassion

7/20/2017

In her recent book, My Life with Bob: Flawed Heroine Keeps Book of Books, Plot Ensues, Pamela Paul, editor of the New York Times Book Review, discusses reasons people read. The follow are from a group of literary agents, English teachers, editors and authors she knows:
• “I read for sheer entertainment.”
• “I read to learn.”
• “I read to make sense of the world.”
• “I read to find out something new.”
• “I read to escape.”
• “I read because it makes me happy.”
• “I read for discovery.”

“Making sense of the world” comes the closest to mine: “I read for compassion.” I usually learn, discover, orfind out something new, and I love to escape, be entertained, and made happy. But if I don’t make a compassionate connect with some person or situation in a book, I stop reading. Last night I closed “The Widow Nash” after page 28. There was nothing there for me. But no worry, I live across from the library and am on my way right now to make my returns and pick up , which is waiting for me on the reserve shelf.
According to Goodreads, my read count for 2017 is 63. July list is a little meager due to family reunions, Red Sox baseball, and, I must confess, time spent watching the news. All worth a read.

* Grief Cottage, by Gail Godwin
* Dinner with Edward, by Isabel Vincent
* The Woman on the Stairs, by Bernhard Schlink
* My Life with Bob, by Pamela Paul

2017 Goodreads Reading Challenge

6/10/2017

I have completed my 2017 Goodread Challenge of 52 books, and it’s only June. Now what to do with my time. Maybe I’ll go for 100 for the year, a nice round number.
The last three books I’ve read will remain high on my list of best books ever.
In Other Words, Jhumpa Lahiri
A Wall in Jerusalem: Hope, Healing, and the Struggle for Justice in Israel and Palestine, Mark Braverman
A Stranger in the Woods: The Extraordinary Story of the Last True Hermit, Michael Finkel

2017 Goodreads Challenge in Edinburgh

6/3/2017

Currently reading.

My fourth day in Edinburgh. I’ve been writing, as evidenced by the daily posts in A Solitary Traveler, part of “Seven Days Writing in Edinburgh.” Thus reading has been less prolific, although I am now one book short of completing my 2017 Goodreads Challenge of 52 books. I’ll reach it in a day or two, taking just a little over five months. What to do? Should I revise the challenge, double it and go for 104 books for the year?
Recording on Goodreads is an easy way to keep track of what I read, but the challenge has never been an impetus to get me reading. The challenge I began on January 1st was personal: to be a more compassionate person, and to keep from letting the news take over my life, which at best was a waste of time, and at worst added negative energy to the world. I am satisfied that I have adhered to this personal challenge, and am amused by the number of books I’ve read. For certain, reading is an essential element in writing.

Doubling my reading challenge!

5/2/2017

Here is an update on my Goodreads 2017 Reading Challenge. I made the commitment to read 52 for the year, figuring a book a week. So far I’ve read 44. I figure I’ll read the remaining 8 by the end of May.
This hasn’t been an overpowering challenge for me. If nothing else, Goodreads is a great place to keep track of books. But I like the challenge enough to make a mental commitment to double the number and go for 100 for the year. As long as don’t watch the news, I’ll have plenty of time to do so.
Here the list for March and April and a slideshow of some of the books. The book I just finished, A Book of American Martyrs, had over 700 pages. Well worth the time.

March 2017
Eileen, by Ottessa Moshfegh
La Bella Lingua, by Dianne Hales
Do Not Say we have Nothing, by Madeleine Thien
Flight of the Sparrow, Amy Belding Brown
The Geography of Genius, by Eric Weiner
A Full Life: Reflections at Ninety, Jimmy Carter
Today Will Be Different, Maria Semple
A Tale for Time Being, Ruth Ozeki
Morning Glory, Sarah Jio

April 2017
The Jesus Style, Galye D. Erwin
Death in Florence: The Medici, Savonarola, and the Battle for the
Soul of a Renaissance City, Paul Strarthern
The Gentleman in Moscow, Amor Towles
In the Name of the Family, Sarah Dunant
The Lowells of Massachusetts, Nina Sankovitch
The Undoing Project, Michael Lewis
A Book of American Martyrs, Joyce Carol Oates