Books & Stacks
An Occasional Serendipitous Reading Adventure
The backstory for this occasionally posted series can be read in this post: The Struggle to Read. The title is a play on words since I will offer thoughts on my readings from the library stacks and Substack. Other sources may sneak into the lineup—we shall see.
A Book in Progress
I imagine this book will show up often because it includes small doses of wisdom intended to be read one day at a time. I intended to read a page a day since it was written with that intent—with 365 entries. That did not happen and now I know it is unlikely that I would ever commit to such a thing without it feeling like controlling myself once again. So, I will simply wander over to it occasionally. Henri Nouwen is one of my most-quoted thought leaders but this book was new to me. This entry was for January 6 and the writer in me immediately wanted to respond and somewhat disagree.
Spiritual Choices Choices. Choices make the difference. Two people are in the same accident and severely wounded. They did not choose to be in the accident. It happened to them. But one of them chose to live the experience in bitterness, the other in gratitude. These choices radically influenced their lives and the lives of their families and friends. We have very little control over what happens in our lives, but we have a lot of control over how we integrate and remember what happens. It is precisely these spiritual choices that determine whether we live our lives with dignity.
Nouwen, Henri J. M.. Bread for the Journey: A Daybook of Wisdom and Faith (p. 26). (Function). Kindle Edition.
I agree that there are two paths that one can take after a traumatic event. I would disagree that those two paths are completely of our own making. On one hand, someone might have family and friends who walk alongside them—or even be so fortunate to be able to access professional care. The other might have none of these supports available. While it would still be possible to choose gratitude this would also be based on the view of the world formed during childhood that says the world is a safe place where people care about them. Even without this, there is the possibility of choice but to assume that everyone has an equal opportunity to make that choice can easily result in a form of victim-blaming—toward others or ourselves.
A Book Completed
I have a Kindle Unlimited account and often use it when a book shows up on the list that looks interesting or worth researching but might not need permanently. This book was recommended at a book club and I was taken by the cover (admitting to a personal obsession with book covers) and then some creative plot twists—for instance, to quote Princess Bride, people who were “almost dead.” It has a 3.7 rating on Amazon, which seems right. I enjoyed reading and found some great quotes.
“Life is just too wild for words sometimes, so then you’re left with paintbrushes.” (p. 95)
“You write and you tell stories and nothing changes. You wonder what makes something worth the attention—how much of a disruption one would have to create to be of interest to science. To be of interest to the world. To be enough.” (p. 116)
“He had told her once that his only real interest in the world was absorbing as much of it as he could without having to travel too far. It was astonishing, he’d said, how vast one’s small world turned out to be when you explored every corner of it. She wasn’t done yet. She wasn’t even close.” (p. 235)
Klagmann, Jessica Bryant. This Impossible Brightness: A Novel. (Function). Kindle Edition.
That last quote felt completely applicable to where I find myself. Traveling vast distances is out of the question in the foreseeable future but I was reminded that I haven’t even fully explored the small world available to me in my own backyard.
A Random Reading
Many years ago, I came to understand that the very conservative Christian world I lived in was dictating my reading and cultural choices. The realization that it rarely had any foundation began with the Smurfs cartoon and blossomed under the Harry Potter controversy (outrage and culture wars). I picked up a copy of Harry Potter because I was a children’s literature professor and needed to do research (only two books in the series had been published at that time). The writer in me was captivated and I realized the books were exquisite examples of the genre of fantasy that often is—at the core—the fight between good and evil. More about that another time, but that was when I began to be curious about culture that was outside of my comfort zone—now a much more expanded comfort zone.
The Super Bowl halftime show was something that required curiosity—I explained this in a Facebook post:
Curiosity is a remarkable gift. I watched the halftime show and realized I was maybe old, very white, and clueless. There was clearly so much that I didn't "get," but the artistry was evident. So, I spent quite a bit of time today searching for backstories and explanations. It was a symbolic representation of much that I did understand but with cultural nuances that completely eluded me. There is hardly anything I enjoy more than learning about something that is completely out of my realm of knowledge. Now, I am going to go back and watch it all again with new appreciation. So many of my friends have done excellent posts on this; I don't feel the need to add anything--only to say, be curious. The richness of who we are as Americans is so remarkable.
The previous week, the Sugar Bowl halftime show was another example that required curiosity. Since I am not a Country music fan, I was very confused until I read the following Substack post.
With ‘Cowboy Carter,’ Beyoncé performed a divine restructuring of Country Music. She moved Whiteness from the center and replaced it with actual European cultures (English, Irish, Spanish), mostly maintaining the core ingredients of Country music. Then she placed those European cultural influences in a larger conversation with African and African American cultures—all of which were present in the wilderness of Country’s birth.”
