Monday, January 19, 2009

Bayside Book Sharer

Yesterday during the snowstorm I sat in my cozy living room and read Anne Lamott's book, Bird By Bird, Some Instructions on Writing and Life.  I remember hearing about the book on public radio and thinking I would like to read it but that was a few years ago.  Still the memory of it was with me since when I saw the book on the shelf near my computer in Meg's room, I picked it up and jumped in.

I will quote at length from her chapter 'Getting Started' which is what I'm doing in a way -
"Books are as important as almost anything else on earth.  What a miracle it is that out of these small, flat, rigid squares of paper unfolds world after world after world, worlds that sing to you, comfort and quiet or excite you.  Books help us understand who we are and how we are to behave.  They show us what community and friendship mean;they show us how to live and die. They are full of all the things that you don't get in real life - wonderful, lyrical language, for instance,right off the bat.  And quality of attention; we may notice amazing details during the course of a day but we rarely let ourselves stop and really pay attention.  An author makes you notice,makes you pay attention and this is a great gift."

So if you've read this far, I'm going to ask you for a gift.  Share the name of a book, and write me a bit about it.  Thank you, Beverly

3 comments:

  1. OK - I finished Angle of Repose, Wallace Stegner, while at Breitenbush. What a mammoth story, cross generational, illustrative about the West and its beginnings, about the people who lived, both East and West, at that time. I really cared about the characters and had wanted to discuss with someone/learn more about the structure/sources of his novel: were these real people? although he says in the intro, something about using some original sources, he made up the story. I loved the image of the 'angle of repose', the place were rock settles after it is disturbed - and how that concept applies to people as well.

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  2. It has been so long since I read that Stegner. I'll look and see if it is on my shelf. One of my Christmas present was "Alex & Me" by Irene Pepperberg. Alex is the talking grey parrot. The story was fascinating - how she trained the bird to communicate, how she found money to continue her research. Not sure my scientist Meg finds that all of Pepperberg's work
    holds up but...

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  3. While looking for Stegner online, I found this website, since I have read and enjoyed several of the books including Stegner's All the Little Live Things, I'm passing it on.

    http://www.epls.org/readers/BookGroupSets.pdf

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