Category: Reading - A Cottage by the Sea

Reading for silence, solitude and simplicity

11/16/2022

Can we attain the habit of silence, solitude and simplicity if our practice does not include reading? Well, speaking for myself, it would be mighty difficult without reading.
   I usually have three books going: fiction, history, and something spiritual. Presently I’m reading "Dissolution: A novel of Tudor England," by C.J. Sanson, set during the rise of Oliver Cromwell at the beginning of the dissolution of monasteries by Henry VIII. "The Pope’s War: The Secret History of Pope Pius XII, Mussolini, and Hitler," by David I. Kertzer is my history selection. "The Eremitic Life," by Fr. Cornelius Wencel fills the spiritual category.
   Two of the three, Dissolution and The Eremitic Life, satisfy my longing for silence, solitude and simplicity in the context of the monastic life I strive to lead. The Pope’s War, leads me to the streets of Rome and the country I love.
   My longing for silence, solitude, and simplicity is best satisfied by a ‘real” book that I can hold in my hand. Audio books are not silent; e-books are not simple.

Seasonal book ends

9/1/2022

What is so rare as a day in June? I know, I know, it’s September, but those two months are always bookends to my summer books.
This book end to summer brings memories of school days. As a child I stood at the end of the driveway with my older sister, waiting for the school bus. Each of us in a new dress—no pants back then! Fast forward to my days teaching kindergarten. The kindergarten bus took about as much planning and energy as did all that went on in the classroom and on the playground.
My book ends are still holding up my summer books, with, I note, more non-fiction this year. From my window I can watch the school bus stop and then drive on; but my thoughts don’t travel to school. I relax and get on with the day, the month, autumn. Today: visit my 102 year old friend, Ruth. This month: off to Florence. Autumn: church activities, family visits, and maybe I’ll get back to reading fiction.

A book or two on the table

3/11/2021

We received our second Moderna vaccine on Tuesday, slept eleven hours Wednesday night and are back to our usual form today. The computer hack has been taken care of. That’s two things completed. Parents, however, are still deciding whether to send their children back to school now that the hybrid possibility is off the table.
Life is like that. Some things get taken care of and we move on. Others remain sloshing around. Either we don’t know what to do or the situation outside our control remains in flux.
For many of us, in spite of unrest and uncertainly, slosh and flux, we have a book or two ready on the table .

Curbside library pickup

6/18/2020

I picked them up!! My library books. My pickup time was between 10 and 11, and I was there. Every hour the librarians place on a cart the bags* of books for the ten people who scheduled that pickup time. After grabbing mine at 10:30, four bags remained. At the end of the hour any remaining bags will be taken inside and bags for the 11-12 time slot will be brought out. If you miss your appointment, you have to reschedule.
My selection: two mysteries, one non-fiction, one cookbook, and one CD.
* Note the recycled the grocery stores bags.

A bag of books from a friend

6/13/2020

My library is opening for curbside pickup next week. The librarians are in the process of gathering books from my On Hold account. Hopefully on Tuesday I’ll receive an email asking me to schedule a pick up time. Books from the Minuteman Library Network won’t be available, but those owned my library should be ready for me.
With this news, along with the bag of favorite books a friend gathered for me yesterday, I figure I’d better get reading. My first read from the bag has got to be Murder at the Kennedy Center (1989) by Margaret Truman (1924-2008) . I recall my mother commenting that the president’s daughter (of all people) was writing mysteries, and, that she was quite good. I’m sure my mom never read any, nor have I, but it’s time to begin.

Pandemic reading

5/26/2020

My reading habits have shifted a little since this pandemic took over. I can still look across the street and see my personal storehouse of books, but the library is closed. Frequent emails tell of plans to open as soon as it’s safe for librarians and members. No question, curbside is the new way to go, not just for food establishments and retail shops, but also for libraries.
For fiction I’ve settled on three mystery authors: Richard Kent Krueger, Henning Mankell, and Martha Grimes. I rotate, round and round and round, finding the next read in the series from the several book services my library has made available, and occasionally purchasing one on my Kindle.
For non-fiction my ‘reading’ is auditory, via YouTube, Great Courses, podcasts, and T.V. news. However, curling up on the couch with a good mystery, is my pandemic default.

Reading is a constant

7/16/2019

One of the constants in my life is reading. Constant when silence, solitude, and simplicity are interrupted in small or big ways, and constant when all is calm. There is always a book on the table. Of the books i took out the other day on Touch a Truck Day, I’ve read two, discarded two, kept one, and taken out another. For me this is easy joy because I live across from the library. But wherever I might live in town, it would be an easy drive. Not so in the city; carrying five or six books home on public transportation would be a challenge.
Then there is the beautiful truth that libraries are free. I’m aware that my library habit doesn’t support the economy the way that book buying does, but with all these freedoms, I read more .
Retreat into a book and you’ll always have a hold on silence, solitude, and simplicity.

Books and trucks and the library

7/10/2019

What a surprise to see that this is my first post of the month. It’s been busy here at Camp Fisher but now things are back to our usual silent, solitary, and simple routine. July 4th festivities and company have departed. All good. In fact they make this quiet time more precious and appreciated. I definitely like a change of pace.
   Earlier this morning, from our open widows, I could hear the whistle of the little train at Truck Day over at the library. Well, when we took our grandkids it was called “Truck Day,” but now it’s “Touch a Truck Day.”
    I just went over; took a few pictures outside, and a few books from inside--random books from the stacks. New books don’t seem to appeal to me these days. Maybe it’s because the characters are younger than me—younger by many, many years. Maybe I want stories set back when I was younger. Regardless, I wanted a good novel so I pulled a book from the shelf, read the dust cover, and made a choice. I came home with five.
      I’m very grateful for libraries and that I live within hearing and seeing distance of one.

Reading and silence

5/6/2019

I’m still reading, but not with the fevered pitch of a few years ago. I’m up to 23 books on my 2019 Goodreads Challenge, just 57 to read my birthday goal of 80. I’ll get there, and if I don’t, who cares? I don’t, Goodreads doesn’t, and certain you don’t!
At the moment I have four books going:
• The Overstory, by Richard Powers (502 pages of deep reading)
• Power and Force: The Hidden Determinants of Human Behavior, by Stephen R. Hawkins (reading slowly, chapter by chapter)
• The Book of Dreams, by Nina George (good read at the end of the day)
• Kushner, Inc.: Greed, Ambition, Corruption, by Vicky Ward (the news speaks for itself).

Some books (the last two) I can ready while watching Boston sports teams. Tonight the Sox, Bruins, and Celtics are all paying at the same time, so flipping the channels may slow down my reading. ‘Mute’ will be my setting of choice, which is my little way of staying in solitude.

Librarians' Choice

1/28/2019

Right across the street at the library I’ve discovered a new source of ready-to-read reading selections: the books on the Librarians’ Choice shelf. Librarians and readers have a built in basis for friendship, and what do readers do? They share book suggestions. The shelf is another way of doing this.