Happy National Read a Book Day! Before we dive in an update on my TBR pile, y’all were very helpful. I am currently almost done with The Enchanted April (although I realized I had actually returned that ebook - why? who knows!! - but so many of y’all recommended it I got it from Hoopla. Is this progress? Hard to say!) and I did donate The Midnight Library and Stones from the River because a solid majority were meh on them. I also let go of several of the publisher-sent nonfiction that nobody even mentioned. I’m hoping to get through a solid third of the list in September. 🤞
Now, let’s get started with a book I did in fact order a long time ago and finally read!
Housekeeping: A Novel by Marilynne Robinson
Then, too, for whatever reasons, our whole family was standoffish. This was the fairest description of our best qualities, and the kindest description of our worst faults.
I’m not sure why I read Gilead and thought, “Well, that’s enough Marilynn Robinson for now!” Maybe because her quiet brilliance can be a bit intimidating? Either way, a year ago or so, I was reading an article where a professor said they assigned one page of Housekeeping a day to their class to appreciate the patience of Robinson’s writing and the importance of patience while reading and I ordered Housekeeping immediately.
It took me a while to finally read this modern classic about Ruth and her sister Lucille but the slow pace and steady build of this story was worth the wait. I will not, however, wait another several years before I continue through the rest of Robinson’s works. Let me know which of her books you think I should read next.
Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman
But smoothness, it turns out, is a dubious virtue, since it’s often the unsmoothed textures of life that make it livable, helping nurture the relationships that are crucial for mental and physical health, and for the resilience of our communities.
As many of you know, I experienced a school shooting as a junior in high school. Experiencing death in such a traumatic way at such a young age changes you. Momento mori - remember you must die - is something I have fought with, danced with, and ultimately integrated into the core of who I am.
I am also an enneagram one and have had a long and complicated journey with the idea of control and perfection and their delightful cousin - time management. The way this book puts all of these ideas together in such a cohesive way was revelatory to me. It wasn’t that Burkeman was saying anything I hadn’t thought or considered before. As the best books always do, he just put these ideas together in a way that helped me make sense of my own life and behaviors.
We are all going to die. Time is something we participate in and not something we will or ever can master. And, facing that reality will absolutely set you free to truly live.
Bonus! Beth and I just had the most amazing discussion about this book on our premium channel and Patreon literally just added an option where we can sell individual episodes so you can listen even if you don’t subscribe!
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
To examine the causes of life, we must first have recourse to death.
I reread this classic because of an upcoming and VERY exciting project I can’t tell you about yet (and I feel bad about that I do!). I read it in college but hadn’t revisited this this gothic novel since becoming an adult and having children.
We all know that Mary Shelley was nineteen which she wrote this book and basically created the genre of science fiction. However, I think it’s easy to overlay our own more modern ideas about being nineteen over her life. By nineteen, Shelley was highly educated and travelled. She was also committed (emotionally, if not legally) to Percy Shelley and had already given birth to two of his children. The first, a daughter born two months premature, had died in her sleep and that tragedy had sent Shelley into a deep depression.
The undercurrent of birth and death is well-documented in the scholarship surrounding Frankenstein but it is the experience of pregnancy and loss that really struck me while reading. (For example, did you know the time range of the letters Watson sends to his sister is nine months!?!)
It is hard to describe the fine line between awe and horror that exists when you’re pregnant. The power of nature to be both miraculous and terrifying exists profoundly inside your own mind as your body distends and your own life is at risk. Even as I was reading the story of a man creating a monster, I felt Shelley’s experience as a mother - a mother who would ultimately bury three of her four children - holding this tension and examining that terror.
Smile by Raina Telgemeier
But the more I focused on my interests, the more it brought out things I liked about myself.
I LOVE a must-read list. Top books of the 20th Century. 100 greatest novels written by women. Ten books you must read before traveling to Kansas.
Put it all in my veins! (We might have found a source of my TBR pile problem…)
Often, they are very focused on adult readers OR children’s literature. So, finding a list the whole family can participate is hard. Years ago, the Washington Post published The best books to read at every age from 1 to 100 and I immediately printed it off and went through it with Nicholas and the boys.
Now that Felix is fully reading novels, the easiest way to keep up is to make sure we’ve all read the novel for his recommended age. Smile is recommended for age 10 (which Felix will be in February!) and is the first book on the list that all the boys had read but I had not.
It is a delightful graphic novel about the author’s transition from middle school to high school and such a great reminder (as children’s literature often is) that it is very easy to let our adult perspective crowd out the felt fear and anxiety of being a kid.
The Small and the Mighty: Twelve Unsung Americans Who Changed the Course of History, from the Founding to the Civil Rights Movement by Sharon McMahon
This is a reminder that this country's ideals were and are lived by people brave enough to go against the grain.
If you follow Sharon on Instagram, you are familiar with her mix of civics and history and government education with a big ole dose of midwest nice and love for humanity. This book is a great reflection of that Sharon Says So energy.
She shares inspiring stories that leave you empowered and bigger histories that give you important perspective. Plus, she dishes on Franklin Pierce, which I didn’t even know I needed!
We recently had Sharon on the show to discuss her first book and I can’t wait to share that conversation with all of you!
What did y’all read in August?
I’m a bit jealous that you got to read Sharon’s book already. I can’t wait to hear the interview. I’m going to Nashville to see her on her book tour as well. Can’t wait!
I loved The Midnight Library. It was great on audio.
I’m trying to include some graphic novels in my reading. Haven’t found a good way to find what interests me. I will keep looking.
Love this Substack. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on what you are reading.
Gilead is on my lifetime list of 10 favorites. Next up you should read Lila, then Jack. I’m looking forward to her newest nonfiction, Reading Genesis, which my son and I are planning for a buddy read together.