Now that we’ve covered music, let’s move on to books, shall we …
One of the best things about being confined to my house for the better part of 2020 was the latitude to sit quietly and bury my nose in book after book after book. Not that I needed a reason, of course; I am rarely without a book in my hands. Hold up, I should probably stop here and note that I did not play the coveted lady of leisure role (I wish!); my reading times consisted of about 10-20 minutes before bed (sometimes not even that long) and then an hour or so at the break of dawn each morning before I start my day. Kids, you see.
Anyhoo, I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: There’s just something about shedding the weight of the world and losing yourself in a (great) story that soothes the soul and unburdens the mind. And it doesn’t matter the genre, either, because even though these days I tend to veer more toward fiction—specifically historical fiction and fantasy—delving deep into a self-help book or a piece of nonfiction provides solace in the sense that I’m learning, growing, sharpening my mind. I think Tyrion Lannister said it best: “A mind needs books as a sword needs a whetstone if it is to keep its edge” (A Game Of Thrones, George R.R. Martin).
So, where did 2020 take me in terms of literary journeys? Here are seven books or series that took the edge off an insanely tumultuous year and offered some critical food for thought.
Let’s start with the classics. Now, I won’t be delving deep into these books because they’ve already been covered by a litany of literary scholars (which I am not) and I’m pretty sure I have nothing of value to add. I’m simply adding a snippet of what I took from each book on a personal note. The takeaway here is that after decades spent resisting the idea of “indulging” in books listed as required reading in school, I am now smartening up and slowly backtracking to these literary gems. I truly had no idea what I was missing!
A Tree Grows In Brooklyn (Betty Smith)
I began my classics journey with this book, which I wrote about in March 2020. I love this book because it’s real, honest, and raw, three things I try very hard to encapsulate on this blog. We live in a world where social media allows us to fudge the truth blatantly and consistently. I am not judging here; I am guilty of this myself. But it is wearisome to always feel the need to connect with others in this way, to constantly show the world a happy, smiling face when you’re crying and crumbling on the inside. Not that I feel this way every day, but you get the gist.
I really admire people (like Betty Smith) who have the courage to share their tragic stories because we all have them and they do shape who we become, whether we choose to admit it or not. And this is such a relatable story. We could learn a lot from little Francie Nolan and her coming-of-age tale about growing up in poverty and desperately trying to find the beauty in the ugly, whether within her neighborhood, the education system, or even her only family (specifically her dad). Like many young children, Francie questions everything about the world around her, and her place in that world, and learns some harsh lessons along the way. She never lets those things bring her down, though, which I find highly commendable. Plus, she processes her thoughts and feelings through writing and that is something I wholeheartedly relate to, not to mention our shared love of trees!
I think the key takeaway for me is just how much our childhood illusions change as we grow older, and how those perceptions quietly and stealthily form the fabric of our lives. But also, that no matter what trials and tribulations life throws in our path, we can find a way to persevere.
A Tale Of Two Cities (Charles Dickens)
How to tackle Dickens, that is the question. My answer: you don’t (ha ha). My fascination with Charles Dickens began about two years ago when I watched The Man Who Invented Christmas, which depicts how Dickens came up with the idea behind his novella, A Christmas Carol. (Full disclosure: The primary reason I initially indulged myself here is, uh, Dan Stevens, my one-time crush from Downton Abbey. Sorry, not sorry.). As someone who enjoys writing and aspires to one day pen her own novel (fingers crossed), I found this movie so compelling, from his tragic past and how he uses this to center his books, to his struggles with writer’s block, to his excitable conversations with imaginary people who would later become characters in his novels. While acknowledging creative license likely smoothed out much of this tale, it doesn’t change the fact that I find Dickens an interesting human being. And yet I’d never read any of his books.
So, when a close friend (and English teacher) listed A Tale of Two Cities as her favorite book on Facebook, I figured it was time to start. In retrospect, maybe I shouldn’t have started here but … If I’m being honest, it was not an easy read for me. I had an extremely hard time understanding the language, especially at first, which almost put me off. Almost. Once I got into the story, though, it took on a world of its own and I came away with a whole new appreciation for Dickens, his writing, and his story. It’s definitely a book I will have to read again, though, because I’m sure I missed out on important details and clues as I puzzled out the language. But it did hook me enough to seek out other Dickens novels, not to mention other literary classics, and for me, that’s huge!
East of Eden (John Steinbeck)
This is a novel I honestly wasn’t expecting to enjoy–even knowing it’s a classic–but it captivated me from beginning to end. The battle between good and evil is as timeless as time itself, as is the idea that we are blessed (or cursed) with the freedom to choose who we want to become. Why do some of us stumble down the broken path toward mortal sin while others are able to resist, or at the very least show remorse and attempt to redeem themselves? Is it the classic adage of nature versus nurture? And if so, how do you explain siblings who have similar upbringings/experiences and yet find themselves on opposite sides of the track? Or what about seemingly “good” people who do “bad” things for “good” reasons? Or the proverb that “bad” things always seem to happen to “good” people?
Free will sure is one tricky, fickle dame. It’s fascinating and yet terrifying, especially as a parent trying to raise two distinctly unique personalities, which is one thing that really stood out for me in this story. In certain ways, my sensitive, introspective, emotionally mature daughter demands an entirely different momma than my cool, calm, agreeable son. And it’s up to me as the parent to recognize and understand the ramifications of that and adjust my mindset, my actions, my reactions accordingly. That is a monumental task—maybe even the hardest part about being a parent—and just another bullet on the list of things that never crossed my mind before I had kids. I wonder if Adam Trask felt the same?!
The Kingsbridge Trilogy: “The Pillars Of The Earth,” “A Column Of Fire,” and “World Without End” (Ken Follett)
I discovered this awesome trilogy through one of my go-to Game Of Thrones commentators, Erik Kain (he writes for Forbes), who tweeted that “The Pillars Of the Earth” was “scratching his Game Of Thrones itch.” As someone who so dearly and desperately misses her beloved GoT, of course I bought this book immediately (you can read my thoughts on Game Of Thrones here). And I’m so glad I did because I couldn’t put it down. In a nutshell, this story takes place in 12th century England and recounts the tale of Prior Philip, the religious leader of a small village called Kingsbridge whose greatest ambition is to build the biggest, grandest Gothic cathedral of all time. (If you’re unfamiliar with the term “prior” [as I was], Merriam-Webster lists the definition as “the superior ranking next to the abbot of a monastery.”)
This is a complex, fast-paced, riveting story of good and evil that pits Prior Philip (and his dreams for the cathedral) against various villains–including kings, knights, archbishops, even Mother Nature–within the contexts of war, politics, social injustice, religion, romance, all the goods you would expect from a piece of historical fiction. If you’re a fan of Game Of Thrones and other similar shows, or even if you’re just looking for something outside your normal literature scope, this trilogy would be a great addition to your reading list. The other two books, “World Without End” and “A Column Of Fire,” center around the Black Death pandemic (which takes place two centuries following the first book) and the turbulent power struggle between Catholics and Protestants (which begins around 1558), respectively. Hmm, a pandemic and a power struggle? That sounds familiar …
The Century Trilogy: “Fall Of Giants,” “Winter Of The World,” and “Edge Of Eternity” (Ken Follett)
I loved the Kingsbridge trilogy so much that I started scouring Amazon for other Ken Follett novels and came across this Century trilogy. Hot damn, this one was even better than Kingsbridge!! Thanks to TV shows (and books!) like Poldark, Outlander, The Last Kingdom, The Crown, even Game Of Thrones and Downton Abbey to some extent, I’ve become so enamored of historical fiction. So enamored! And this trilogy really, really hit the sweet spot with that. The story begins in 1911 and follows five families–American, German, Russian, English, and Welsh, all of which are intertwined–through World War I, Russia’s Revolution, and women’s fight for voting rights (“Fall Of Giants”); then the rise of the Third Reich and Hitler, the Spanish Civil War, and World War II (“Winter Of The World”); and finally, the global turmoil of the 1960s through the 1980s, including Vietnam, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and civil rights (“Edge Of Eternity”).
This whole series was just … awesome, and I highly recommend it. I am always astounded at the amount of research that clearly goes into writing a novel or series of novels like this one. I’ve learned so many things about history just by reading these stories and it doesn’t stop there either. They’ve lit a fire under me to the extent that I often find myself scouring the Internet for more information about these historical events and the impact they’ve had on our world. Who knew I had such an affinity for the past? Oh, wait … Too bad I didn’t pay more attention in history class all those years ago! One thing I will say after reading this: The more I read, and the more I learn, it becomes so abundantly clear that history will never stop repeating itself because we humans just never learn our lesson. It’s the same story over and over and over again, just in a different time and with different players. Makes me so sad.
The Coddling Of The American Mind: How Good Intentions And Bad Ideas Are Setting Up A Generation For Failure (Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt)
This book is both enlightening and terrifying. Lukianoff (a lawyer with expertise on the First Amendment) and Haidt (a social psychologist) explore a “worrisome” trend that’s been slowly and quietly overtaking college campuses since about 2013: a culture of what they call “safetyism” whereby young adults are unable and unwilling to tolerate diversity and adversity, which has led to an attack on free speech across campuses nationwide, even to the point of violence. The authors provide numerous examples of this and discuss the factors they believe led to this concerning trend–social media, political polarization, and overprotective parenting/children’s loss of unsupervised play–and offer suggestions for how to reverse this way of thinking, to our children’s benefit.
As a parent, I worry constantly about the type of children I’m raising. On the one hand I want them to be kind, sensitive, humble, tolerant, but I also want them to be strong, passionate, independent thinkers with big ideas and the courage to stand up for themselves and their beliefs. All while having respect and appreciation for others’ opinions and convictions. It’s a fine line–one we parents walk every single day–and it’s bothersome and disheartening to me that even with the best of intentions and armed with the adamancy that every decision we make is in our children’s best interest, we parents can still unconsciously inflict a certain amount of damage. That is a tough pill to swallow for someone who already feels like she falls short as a momma. Obviously, this book isn’t the holy grail of parenting or anything like that, but it does raise some very good points of awareness. And I think being aware is half the battle right there. A remarkably interesting read indeed.
Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear (Elizabeth Gilbert)
Anyone who reads my blog knows I live for fear—or should I say, “in fear.” I have no idea what happened to the strong, independent, motivated, witty woman I used to be, but damn do I miss her. As I’ve written about ad nauseum, my number 1 fear right now is sickness, specifically with regard to my children. My mind is a fragile mess over it. I acknowledge it, I admit it, I accept it, and I am working on it to the best of my ability. But let’s move a few rungs down the fear ladder and we reach … drum roll please … my angst concerning writing and judgment, ladies and gentlemen! This one is twofold: anxiety over being judged for the things I choose to write about (and the way in which I write about them) and anxiety that I lack the creative juices to follow through on my ambition of penning a novel. Enter Big Magic.
In this book, Gilbert, the author of Eat, Pray, Love (itself a great story), offers her interesting take on the complexity and beauty of inspiration and how to discover it within ourselves no matter which creative endeavor we’re pursuing. She writes from–and for–a writer’s perspective (obviously?), but creative living goes far beyond art and sometimes we just need someone to point us in the right direction. At the very least this book got me thinking about what’s next for me and the specific steps I need to take to unleash the creative fires within. Who knows, maybe 2021 is my year …
Wow, I had a lot of fun writing this post! Books are a huge part of my story (I know, I said that about music, too, but that’s OK because all stories have more than one chapter) and I’ve already got some good ones–I hope–lined up for 2021, in no particular order:
1) The Wheel Of Time, Books 5-14 (Robert Jordan)
2) Fire Cannot Kill a Dragon: Game of Thrones and the Official Untold Story of the Epic Series (James Hibberd)
3) Sounds Like Me: My Life (So Far) in Song (Sara Bareilles)
4) No Time Like the Future: An Optimist Considers Mortality (Michael J. Fox)
5) Forgiving What You Can’t Forget: Discover How to Move On, Make Peace with Painful Memories, and Create a Life That’s Beautiful Again (Lysa TerKeurst)
6) All The Light We Cannot See (Anthony Doerr)
7) A Christmas Carol (Charles Dickens)
8) Great Expectations (Charles Dickens)
What’s on your reading list for this year?