Sunday Salon ~ books and life

Owls and Other Fantasies ~ by Mary Oliver, 2003, poems and essays, 92 pages

A perfect introduction to Mary Oliver’s poetry, this stunning collection features 26 nature poems and prose writings about the birds that played such an important role in the Pulitzer Prize winner’s life.  

 

Within these pages you will find hawks, hummingbirds, and herons; kingfishers, catbirds, and crows; swans, swallows and, of course, the snowy owl, among a dozen others — including ten poems that have never before been collected.  She adds two beautifully crafted essays, “Owls,” selected for the Best American Essays series, and “Bird,” a new essay that will surely take its place among the classics of the genre.

In the words of the poet Stanley Kunitz, “Mary Oliver's poetry is fine and deep; it reads like a blessing.  Her special gift is to connect us with our sources in the natural world, its beauties and terrors and mysteries and consolations.”

For anyone who values poetry and essays and for anyone who cares about birds, Owls and Other Fantasies will be a treasured gift.  For those who love both, it will be essential reading.

This also counts as a Nonfiction November selection.  Oh, and I can also claim it as library loot.

I'm still reading The Social Construction of Reality: A Treatise in the Sociology of Knowledge by Peter L. Berger and Thomas Luckmann (1966), and my friend Fay's copy arrived by mail earlier than expected.  She and I plan to discuss it one of these days soon.

When I took the Crown Center bus on the grocery store trip this week, I chanced upon a new (to me) chewy granola bar:  fudge-dipped coconut.

This photo shows a 2-ounce size, but what I bought were 1-ounce bars.  I ate one shortly after I got home, and it was delicious.  😄  I used to call Donna a choco-holic, so I'm pretty sure she would have loved one of these.

Here's a 2019 photo of a blooming tree near the old gazebo at the Crown Center where I live.  I found it while searching for something else on my blog.  This whole area and the greenhouse you can see beyond the gazebo are no longer there, since that's where our new building is currently being constructed.

In the background is the Crown Center building that will remain when people from my building are moved into the new one being built where you see the grass and the gazebo and the pink tree again.  It looks like I took these photos on the same day, but they were taken two years apart.  This one is from 2017.

Bloggers gather in the Sunday Salon — at separate computers in different time

zones — to share what we have been reading and doing during the week.  

Sunday Salon is hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz.

Nonfiction November ~ covers five weeks

These five bloggers invite us to join in the Nonfiction November challenge:

1. Katie at Doing Dewey
2. Rennie at What’s Nonfiction?
3. Jami at The OC Book Girl
4. Christopher at Plucked from the Stacks
5. Rebekah at She Seeks Nonfiction

Here’s the lineup of assignments for this year:

Week 1:  (Oct 31-Nov 4) – Your Year in Nonfiction

Take a look back at your year of nonfiction and reflect on the following questions – What was your favorite nonfiction read of the year?  Do you have a particular topic you’ve been attracted to more this year?  What nonfiction book have you recommended the most?  What are you hoping to get out of participating in Nonfiction November?  (Katie @ Doing Dewey)

Week 2:  (November 7-11) – Book Pairing

This week, pair up a nonfiction book with a fiction title (or another nonfiction).  It can be a “If you loved this book, read this!” or just two titles that you think would go well together.  Maybe it’s a historical novel, and you’d like to get the real history by reading a nonfiction version of the story.  Or pair a book with a podcast, film, or documentary, TV show, etc. on the same topic or stories that pair together.  (Rennie @ What’s Nonfiction?)

Week 3:  (November 14-18) – Stranger Than Fiction

This week we’re focusing on all the great nonfiction books that almost don’t seem real.  A sports biography involving overcoming massive obstacles, a profile on a bizarre scam, a look into the natural wonders in our world — basically, if it makes your jaw drop, you can highlight it for this week’s topic.  (Christopher @ Plucked from the Stacks)

Week 4:  (November 21-25) – Worldview Changers

One of the greatest things about reading nonfiction is learning all kinds of things about our world which you never would have known without it.  There’s the intriguing, the beautiful, the appalling, and the profound.  What nonfiction book or books has impacted the way you see the world in a powerful way?  Do you think there is one book that everyone needs to read for a better understanding of the world we live in?  (Rebekah @ She Seeks Nonfiction)

Week 5:  (November 28-Dec 2) – New to My TBR*

It’s been a month full of amazing nonfiction books.  Which ones have made it onto your TBR?  Be sure to link back to the original blogger who posted about that book.  Pro tip:  Start this draft post at the beginning of the month, and add to it as your TBR multiplies.  (Jaymi @ The OC Book Girl)

* TBR = To Be Read, meaning the list (or stack) of books you hope to read.

Another book in the Crown Center library

Leak in the Heart: Tales from a Woman's Life ~ by Faye Moskowitz, 1985, autobiography (Michigan), 224 pages

These are twenty-four autobiographical story-essays, witty, vulnerable, and wise, about growing up part of a puzzled and unassimilated Orthodox Jewish family in a Michigan small-town in the 1930s and 1940s and about the wider world of marriage, children, teaching, and writing after that rich beginning.

When I re-shelved books in the Crown Center library, I noticed this one, which looks interesting.  It's with the nonfiction books, if you want to take a look at it.  Maybe I'll read it for Nonfiction November, which is coming up quickly.

Nonfiction November ~ Week 5: Additions to my TBR

Week 5 of Nonfiction November (November 29-December 3) — New additions to my TBR with Jaymi at The OC Bookgirl:  It’s been a month full of amazing books.  Which ones have made it onto your TBR?  Be sure to link back to the original blogger who posted about that book.

Except for the blogs I already read, like Helen's Book Blog, I have no idea what bloggers are posting because they post links on Twitter or Instagram or whatever.  Anyway, I'm not on those and am not trying to add to my TBR list anyway.  I also regularly read nonfiction that interests me, without needing help to "find" nonfiction that someone has convinced me is worth taking my time to read.  Who ARE these people anyway?  I may not bother doing Nonfiction November again.  I confess that I've read more fiction than nonfiction this November.  The best nonfiction I did read was If God Is Love, Don't Be a Jerk: Finding a Faith That Makes Us Better Humans by John Pavlovitz (2021, social issues, 233 pages), which I rated 10 of 10.  I've written about it here and here.

Nonfiction November ~ Week 4: Stranger than Fiction?

Week 4 of Nonfiction November (November 22-26) — Stranger Than Fiction with Christopher at Plucked from the Stacks:  This week we’re focusing on all the great nonfiction books that *almost* don’t seem real.  A sports biography involving overcoming massive obstacles, a profile on a bizarre scam, a look into the natural wonders in our world — basically, if it makes your jaw drop, you can highlight it for this week’s topic.

"Truth is stranger than fiction" means things that actually happen are often more surprising than stories that are invented.  I can't think of a particular book.  I can't think of a particular event.  This week's subject is a non-starter for me.  Wait!  I just googled and found a (kind of long) story about something that was "stranger than fiction."  It will have to do for my Nonfiction November post.

Susan Lyon (of South Carolina) posted this on Quora 6 years ago to answer the question, "What are some great examples of coincidence?"  (The wording and punctuation is all hers.)

I was in my late 30’s, three children, recently divorced, working two jobs, trying to stay afloat.  My second job was that of a waitress and I worked a couple nights a week and Sundays.  Not a lot of employees wanted the Sunday shift.  We were on a major highway for beach traffic.  Sunday traffic consisted of sunburned children who were cranky and tired, bad tipping (mostly because they spent too much on amusements, hotels and restaurants) and parents who were regretting having to return to work the next day.  Sunday’s could be busy, but mostly, they were on the slow side.

One Sunday, a family of four came into the restaurant and sat down - Dad, Mom, two children – one girl approximately 7 and one boy around 5.  It was a slow day and a storm was approaching.  The little boy was quite talkative and I found out just about everything they did the week before.  They were the only table in the restaurant and ate dinner and relaxed while the storm passed.

I should let you know I love rainbows.  I sometimes feel like I am a rainbow chaser.  People like me know the look and feel when rainbows should appear in the area.  As a matter of fact, my kids to this day, call me when they see a rainbow.  That being said, after the storm I noticed that look.  Went out back and saw the most beautiful rainbow.  (sigh)  Checked on the table and asked the parents if I could take their kids to see the rainbow.  I could see the glance between them, probably wondering if I was a kidnapper, but that quickly passed as I described the sheer beauty of what was happening right outside the door.  Told them we would be right out front and they could come too.  They let the children go with me while they paid the bill.

The little boy grabbed my hand and we walked out and sat down on the curb.  By now there were two rainbows and working on a third.  I explained a little science and the children were just amazed.  They had never seen real rainbows only ones in pictures.  The parents came out and we all sat there and watched for a few minutes at the wonder of the rainbow.  Another car drove into the parking lot and I knew this had to end because I was about to get another customer.  We said our goodbyes.

A year later, working one Sunday, I had a family come into the restaurant and sat down - Dad, Mom, two children – one girl and one boy 5.  When I approached the table, the little boy jumps up and says to me, “Can you make it happen again?”  I of course had no idea what he was referring to.  The mom and dad explained they had been in the year before and their little boy told everyone how he met someone who could make rainbows.  His sister kept telling her brother that it didn’t work that way and there would not be any rainbow and he should just shut up.  The young man was very convinced that I could indeed make it happen.  I didn’t know what to do, but I tried to explain as nicely as I could, that I didn’t think we would be able to see a rainbow that day.  It was a beautiful sunny day.  As I left the table, I could hear the little boy saying to his sister, “You just wait and see.”

Well, if you haven’t figured it out yet, there was a storm that blew in really fast.  The sky darkened and it poured for about 5 minutes and then all cleared up and what remained was a beautiful rainbow.  Now you may call this a coincidence, miracle, sign from above or just damn amazing.  All I know is there was one little boy who proved his sister wrong, amazed his parents and sat with me for a very long time on the curb calling me the rainbow maker.  Just to let you know, I got a damn good tip.

This "stranger than fiction" story has been viewed more than 652,000 times!

Nonfiction November ~ Week 3: Be the Expert

Week 3 of Nonfiction November (Nov. 15-19) – Be/Ask/Become the Expert with Veronica at The Thousand Book Project:  Three ways to join in this week:

1. BE the expert = Share three or more books on a single topic that you have read and can recommend.
2. ASK the expert = Put the call out for good nonfiction on a specific topic that you have been dying to read.
3. BECOME the expert = Create your own list of books on a topic that you’d like to read.

I've decided to BE the expert on the subject of prayer, using three books from my bookshelves:

The Greatest Prayer: Rediscovering the Revolutionary Message of the Lord's Prayer ~ by John Dominic Crossan, 2010, religion, 10/10

Crossan explores the prayer line by line that every Christian knows by heart, so we can rediscover why this seemingly simple prayer sparked a revolution.  Addressing issues of God’s will for us and our response, our responsibilities to one another and to the earth, and the theology of our daily bread, he reveals the universal significance of the only prayer Jesus ever taught.

A Place to Pray: Reflections on the Lord's Prayer ~ by Roberta C. Bondi, 1998, religion, 9/10

Bondi put this study together in a unique way, with each chapter written as a letter to her friend.  "As for us, ours is a God who loves, and if we love this God who is love, we long to express that love by imitating God, that is, by loving those whom God loves in the way God loves, in an appropriately human manner" (p. 128).  This prayer helps us to love God and to love our neighbors as ourselves.

Lord, Teach Us: The Lord's Prayer and the Christian Life ~ by William H. Willimon and Stanley Hauerwas, 1996, religion, 7/10

After a short introduction, the authors work through each phrase of the Lord's Prayer, using it as a framework for the Christian life.  Providing basic faith understanding, this book will help the user experience Christianity as attractive and inviting, not distant, difficult, or foreboding.  They apply this prayer to the whole Christian experience as life reflects these words.

Nonfiction November ~ Week 2: Book Pairing

The second week of Nonfiction November (November 8-12) is hosted by Katie at Doing Dewey.  This week, we are to pair up a nonfiction book with a fiction title.  It can be an "If you loved this book, read this!" or just two titles that you think would go well together.  Maybe it’s a historical novel, and you’d like to get the real history by reading a nonfiction version of the story.  I'm not on Instagram, so I can't really link up with her #NonficNov, which is frustrating.  Anyway, here are the two books I suggest for a pairing:

Eighty Days: Nellie Bly and Elizabeth Bisland's History-Making Race Around the World ~ by Matthew Goodman, 2013, history

On November 14, 1889, Nellie Bly, the crusading young female reporter for Joseph Pulitzer’s World newspaper, left New York City by steamship on a quest to break the record for the fastest trip around the world.  Also departing from New York that day — and heading in the opposite direction by train — was a young journalist from The Cosmopolitan magazine, Elizabeth Bisland.  Each woman was determined to outdo Jules Verne’s fictional hero Phileas Fogg and circle the globe in less than eighty days.  The dramatic race that ensued would span twenty-eight thousand miles, captivate the nation, and change both competitors’ lives forever.

The two women were a study in contrasts.  Nellie Bly was a scrappy, hard-driving, ambitious reporter from Pennsylvania coal country who sought out the most sensational news stories, often going undercover to expose social injustice.  Genteel and elegant, Elizabeth Bisland had been born into an aristocratic Southern family, preferred novels and poetry to newspapers, and was widely referred to as the most beautiful woman in metropolitan journalism.  Both women, though, were talented writers who had carved out successful careers in the hyper-competitive, male-dominated world of big-city newspapers.  Eighty Days brings these trailblazing women to life as they race against time and each other, unaided and alone, ever aware that the slightest delay could mean the difference between victory and defeat.

A vivid real-life re-creation of the race and its aftermath, from its frenzied start to the nail-biting dash at its finish, Eighty Days is history with the heart of a great adventure novel.  Here’s the journey that takes us behind the walls of Jules Verne’s Amiens estate, into the back alleys of Hong Kong, onto the grounds of a Ceylon tea plantation, through storm-tossed ocean crossings and mountains blocked by snowdrifts twenty feet deep, and to many more unexpected and exotic locales from London to Yokohama.  Along the way, we are treated to fascinating glimpses of everyday life in the late nineteenth century — an era of unprecedented technological advances, newly remade in the image of the steamship, the railroad, and the telegraph.  For Nellie Bly and Elizabeth Bisland — two women ahead of their time in every sense of the word — were not only racing around the world.  They were also racing through the very heart of the Victorian age.

The Girl Puzzle: A Story of Nellie Bly ~ by Kate Braithwaite, 2019, historical biographical fiction

Her published story is well known.  But did she tell the whole truth about her ten days in the madhouse?  Down to her last dime and offered the chance of a job of a lifetime at The New York World, twenty-three-year old Elizabeth Cochrane agrees to get herself admitted to Blackwell’s Island Lunatic Asylum and report on conditions from the inside.  But what happened to her poor friend, Tilly Mayard?  Was there more to her high praise of Dr Frank Ingram than everyone knew?

Thirty years later, Elizabeth, known as Nellie Bly, is no longer a celebrated trailblazer and the toast of Newspaper Row.  Instead, she lives in a suite in the Hotel McAlpin, writes a column for The New York Journal and runs an informal adoption agency for the city’s orphans.  Beatrice Alexander is her secretary, fascinated by Miss Bly and her causes and crusades.  Asked to type up a manuscript revisiting her employer’s experiences in the asylum in 1887, Beatrice believes she’s been given the key to understanding one of the most innovative and daring figures of the age.

I haven't read either of these books.  I found the nonfiction/history book (at the top) online and bought the novel for my Kindle in April of this year.  An alternate that I could have substituted for the fiction is another novel about Nellie Bly, one that I read in 2015 (#25).

No Job for a Lady ~ by Carol McCleary, 2014, fiction (Mexico), 7/10

History, mystery, and murder are the traveling companions of Nellie Bly, the world's first female investigative reporter.  In this novel, Nellie defies the wrath of her editor and vengeful ancient gods while setting out to prove a woman has what it takes to be a foreign correspondent in dangerous Victorian times.  Pyramids, dark magic, and dead bodies are what the intrepid Nellie encounters when she takes off for Mexico after her editor refuses to let her work as a foreign correspondent because "it's no job for a lady."

It's 1886 and Mexico has not cast off all its bloodthirsty Aztec past.  Among the towering pyramids in the ghost city of Teotihuacán, Nellie is stalked by ruthless killers seeking Montezuma's legendary treasure and an ancient cult that resorts to the murderous Way of the Aztec to protect it.  Nellie travels with Gertrude Bell, who will go on to be called Queen of the Desert for her later exploits in Egypt, as well as the most glamorous and beautiful woman of the era, Lily Langtry, consort to the Prince of Wales.  Along for the ride is a young gunfighter called the Sundance Kid.  And there's the mysterious Roger Watkins, who romantically and physically challenges Nellie's determination to be an independent woman in a man's world.

I didn't choose this one, because I rated it only 7 of 10.  The subject fascinated me, but not this particular book.  I do like the cover, though.  The other two pair better, anyway, since both are about her trip around the world.  If you want to read more about Nellie Bly, take a look at what Wikipedia offers.

Nonfiction November ~ Week 1: Your Year in Nonfiction ~ A Look Back

The kickoff of Nonfiction November (Nov. 1 through Dec. 3) is hosted by Rennie at What's Nonfiction?  This week, we take a look back at the nonfiction we have read this year and reflect on four questions:

1.  What was your favorite nonfiction read of the year?

Inside Animal Hearts and Minds: Bears That Count, Goats That Surf, and Other True Stories of Animal Intelligence and Emotion by Belinda Recio. a 2017 book about the psychology of animals that I rated 10/10.  Here's a quote from the book:  "If a cat and an iguana can nuzzle each other and nap together, and a dog and fish can 'kiss' upon meeting at the boundary between their terrestrial and aquatic worlds, then it's time for humans to take a lesson from other animals in how to get along" (loc. 632).  Click here to read about this book.

2.  Do you have a particular topic you’ve been attracted to more this year?

As I read down my list, I was surprised to see lots of children's books this year.  The best was Wood, Wire, Wings: Emma Lilian Todd Invents an Airplane by Kirsten Larson, a 2020 children's picture book illustrated by Tracy Subisak.  It's only 48 pages long, but I rated it 10/10.  I had never heard of Emma Lilian Todd, who really DID invent an airplane.  Click here to read about this little known engineer, who tackled one of the greatest challenges of the early 1900s:  designing an airplane.

3.  What nonfiction book have you recommended the most?

I haven't been out a lot in over a year, so I haven't recommended many books to anyone.  I know I have told several people about the two above, though, so I'll just say those are my most recommended nonfiction.

4.  What are you hoping to get out of participating in Nonfiction November?

I hope it inspires me to finish the nonfiction I'm currently reading before the end of November.  One is John Pavlovitz's 2021 book on social issues If God Is Love, Don't Be a Jerk: Finding a Faith That Makes Us Better Humans.  I checked it out of the library, but it's so good that I've already downloaded in onto my Kindle.  The other is a book I'm re-reading with my Sunday school class (by Zoom):  John Shelby Spong's 2018 book of theology Unbelievable: Why Neither Ancient Creeds Nor the Reformation Can Produce a Living Faith Today.  I rated it 10/10 when I first read it, and it is still very much worth perusing.  Click here to read about both of these books.

Nonfiction November ~ a favorite book

This quote is from page 259.

This week, folks who are doing Nonfiction November are talking about what makes a book you've read (specifically, a nonfiction book) one of your favorites.  A book that immediately came to mind when I read what Helen posted on her blog was Atul Gawande's Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End (2014).  I read this book in February and rated it 10 of 10 because I couldn't put it down.  I've recommended it to several people since then, both online and in person.  I notice  that I saved several quotes from it in my list of books read in 2019 (scroll down to #14), but I've never shared them in a post here on my blog.  Now's a good time to do it.

"Research has shown that loss of bone density may be a better predictor of death from atherosclerotic disease than cholesterol levels" (p. 30).

"The three primary risk factors for falling are poor balance, taking more than four prescription medications, and muscle weakness" (p. 40).

"Three Plagues of nursing home existence:  boredom, loneliness, and helplessness" (p. 116).

"Four crucial questions.  At this moment in your life ... :
1. Do you want to be resuscitated if your heart stops?
2. Do you want aggressive treatments such as intubation and mechanical ventilation?
3. Do you want antibiotics?
4. Do you want tube or intravenous feeding if you can't eat on your own?" (p. 179).

"What were her biggest fears and concerns?  What goals were most important to her?  What trade-offs was she willing to make, and what ones was she not?" (p. 234).

"For human beings, life is meaningful because it is a story. ... And in stories, endings matter" (pp. 238, 239).

"People want to share memories, pass on wisdoms and keepsakes, settle relationships, establish their legacies, make peace with God, and ensure that those who are left behind will be okay.  They want to end their stories on their own terms" (p. 249).

The vital questions:  "What is your understanding of the situation and its potential outcomes?   What are your fears and what are your hopes?  What are the trade-offs you are willing to make and not willing to make?  And what is the course of action that best serves this understanding?" (p. 259).

Why is it a favorite?  I live in a retirement center, so I see lots of elderly people daily.  One of my friends died in July, while I was in Montana.  Another died in October.  A friend who eats at my table in the dining room is in another hospital getting chemo, and a neighbor on my floor is in another hospital.  I'll be 80 in April, so end of life is on my mind, too. 

Yesterday, some of us took a survey about senior housing administered by Washington University students inquiring about what's offered, what's needed, whether we have those things here, and to what extent.  The Crown Center is for independent living, but HOW independent are we?  Do we need help dressing? taking medicine? cooking? bathing? shopping? cleaning our own apartments?

Being Mortal is a book for people ready and willing to face their own mortality, but I think it's equally important that physicians and medical people read it.  As a doctor speaking to other doctors, Gawande says they've been focused on the wrong thing:  keeping people alive, even if they are miserable and maybe tied into a wheelchair in the hallway of a nursing home.  He advocates asking people what THEY want out of what's left of their lives.  I agree wholeheartedly.

This single book is enough about nonfiction favorites for me today, but maybe I'll write about another book or two later.

If you click this link, you can read what others have written about nonfiction this week.