Terrapin Station

Looking for fiction suggestions to make me think!

So what I do is, I read. 

That's one of my most basic identities. I'm a reader. Coincidentally, I have 2 degrees in literature. 

When I was in high school I used to set myself "summer reading projects" with the idea to read all of a particular author. So I'd go to my Houston Public Library (Kendall Branch) and check out all of Roald Dahl (a rude shock to read his adult work after James & the Giant Peach), Kurt Vonnegut, Herman Wouk, Wallace Stegner, etc. I have no idea where I got this idea, or how I picked the writers I included, beyond seeing they had a lot of books on the shelf. I also didn't really understand that my library might not, probably didn't, have all of the works of any author. I liked doing this because it was a challenge. 

After it took me 7 years to finish my Master's degree, I wasn't able to read for pleasure for several years. Finally, I got it back. Now I find myself reading a lot, some nonfiction and a ton of fiction, but not very much fiction that's challenging. I'm not apologizing for that...I've done my time. I'm not going to apologize for anything I read or don't read.

I have read a lot of nonfiction in the last few years about racism, cultural and social issues. This includes a good bit that's been challenging, stretching. 

BUT. 

I just realized something. In fiction, which is my escape, I tend to choose locations and people that are familiar...that look like me. And I didn't get that until I started a book recently (which I cannot find the name of) and about 10 pages in a character described herself as having "brown skin." I thought, "brown skin? huh, is she Hispanic?" and then I realized she is Black. The entire family was Black. I didn't get that until it was TOLD to me. I assumed they were "white like me." 

Yep. Not so woke, am I? 

So. I have a new summer reading project, which, now that I am out of school and retired, can last forever: reading fiction by people who don't look like me. Not all the time. But I need to stretch my imagination. I have a list. But any suggestions are welcomed. 

The books that ate my weekend

First, I read Prognosis: A Memoir of My Brain by  Sarah Vallance. This is in the Amazon First Reads series, pre-publication books that are available early to Kindle Unlimited readers. 

It's incredibly well written and fascinating. Sarah is a difficult person with a tremendously troubled family life, which surely contributes to her attitudes and actions. Her triumph over traumatic brain injury is amazing and fascinating.

What, then, to read next? 

I had picked up Tomb of the Unknown Racist by Blanche McCrary Boyd from the local library's New Acquisitions shelf. The jacket flap indicated that this was the third book in a trilogy, but each could stand on their own.

I checked it out and then, listening to an inner voice, read the other two on Kindle first. It was the right choice. 

None of this is light or easy reading, but it is fascinating and compelling. Violence, sexual politics, Southern heritage and that form of racism learned at the breast, all resounded for me. 

The Revolution of Little Girls

sets up the story and characters.  Time turns and curves in this novel, and I found myself moving around and back. Ellen Burns, the protagonist, has much in common with author Boyd. 

Terminal Velocity

shows Ellen in the next phase of her life, a passionate and dangerous series of events including a radical feminist commune. 

 

Finally, Tomb of the Unknown Racist explodes into exploration of white supremacist action in America today. It's a finalist for the Pen/Faulkner award and a great candidate. 

This book will horrify you, scare you, and amaze you. Through binge-reading these books, I've come to care about Ellen and this story. Racism has many sides and I think that we who are called white can profitably examine our own complicity through fiction, as well as in other ways. 

In addition, Sarah Vallance and Blanche Boyd are openly lesbian authors, as is Ellen is as a character. Lesbian fiction doesn't always come across my path, and as a cis-het woman I'm not usually looking for it. Reading these four books in sequence gave me a bit of an extended experience, also valuable in terms of cognitive dissonance. 

 

 

Book Review & Giveaway: Raising White Kids

Say something. Don't say nothing! 

Jennifer Harvey's Raising White Kids is an excellent introduction to the issue facing parents and grandparents of how to talk about racial issues that I was taught "it's not nice" to talk about. 

The fact that I phrase it that way tells you that I'm white. I should also say that I grew up in the South with tremendous privilege, many advantages, and virtually no Black peers at school. In the  1930's, my mother had to parade to the graves of Our Beloved Confederate Dead to lay a wreath (this was in Tallahassee.)  We had black maids when I was little and that was IT. I rarely saw and never met people who weren't Caucasian. 

My parents never, ever talked about race with us that I recall, beyond one time when I came in from watching TV and announced, "Black people are so lucky!" My parents looked startled and asked me what I meant. "Because their white teeth look so nice against their dark skin!" Mom and Dad sort of rolled their eyes and said, "well, maybe." I was aware that I had said something silly but they didn't go any farther with it. I slunk away, ashamed. 

Say something. Don't say nothing! 

Now, as I care for my almost four-year-old granddaughter, I want to do better, but I do not know how. This book gave me an introduction to ways I can improve on what I was (not) taught. 

Harvey gives examples of her own and other children saying things and asking questions that would have been quashed the way mine was back in the 70's, and discusses her responses and the conversations that followed. In that vein, my parents could have asked me more questions and explained a little bit about why black people actually have quite a bad time in America, and why. It would not have been too early to tell a 7-year-old those things. 

Recently I was playing a CD of children's songs for my granddaughter (we love to sing together and I sing her all sorts of things: hymns, folk songs, playground doggerel.) "Jimmy Crack Corn" came on and I fast-forwarded! Nash said, "why did you do that?" I said, quickly, "Gramma doesn't like that song." I missed the opportunity to explain to her WHY. Because it's a song about a slave caring for a master. Because it has a history in blackface minstrelsy. I just shut it down. I was embarrassed and scared. 

Say something. Don't say nothing! 

I read Nash a book about the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King on his holiday last month, and we talked about how sometimes people are not nice to others because of the color of their skin. I had planned that. I was ready for her questions. But it's the questions that she asks when I am NOT ready that I need to find the courage to face head-on. To wonder with her about them. Jennifer Harvey's book has begun to prepare me for the task. I expect to be uncomfortable and probably to stumble. But I am determined to try. 

 

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I received two hardcover copies of this book from Abingdon Press with the understanding that I would write an unbiased review and give away one of the copies. If you are interested in reading it, please comment here or on the Facebook post and I'll draw a name at random on March 15.  

The book is always better than the movie

I have always known this to be true, for me. 

I think that is as much a personal thing as it is to do with the movies: I just plain like reading anything, much better. I can flip back and re-read. I can spend as much or as little time on a passage as I need to. I can put the book down and process for as long as I need to. Even with instructional materials, I'll fight you to be able to read it rather than watch a video clip. 

It's not that movies show things in a way I didn't imagine, but that I don't actually imagine a full-color illustrated world of the books I read. I don't quite know how to explain it, but it's true. So when I see a movie, it puts pictures in my mind...where there really weren't pictures before. And then, I can never escape them. Harry Potter and his crew are always going to look the way they do in movies, now. 

Also, the current way of making movies causes me severe sensory overload. Most movies (and ALL trailers) require that I shut my eyes to get through them). Too much in the way of juddering images and explosions and flipping from one part of the scene to another just drives me crazy. 

So, as I anticipate the new Wrinkle in Time movie...the book that has shaped my theology and worldview since 1973, written by my all-time favorite author...my primary emotion is not excitement, but dread. 

I saw the trailer today. Mr. Murry lecturing about the Divine? That's not quite right. And collapsing mountains? where'd that come from? Are they going to use the amazing dialogue L'Engle provided, or are they ignoring it? 

I want so much to see and love this movie. I'm thrillled about the opportunity for so many people to be introduced to this story and to Madeleine L'Engle, who was truly ahead of her time. And I'm very, very hesitant to even try. 

What do you think? Do books change for you once you see a movie based on them? How does that feel to you?

 

Church Libraries

At RevGals, Jan poses an interesting question about two topics close to my heart:

Church libraries seem to be diminishing and even disappearing in some churches. Our church is full of scholarly books that no one looks at, and how should it change, be developed, or continue? As the de-facto chairperson of the library, I need ideas and suggestions about church libraries in this day and age. Please help!

1. Does your church have a library? What is it like?  My church does not have a library (as far as I know, I am quite new there).

2. Has this church library changed in recent years? I remember the church library of the church I grew up in...as a reader and a curious person, and as the child of the Sunday School superintendent with a lot of time to kill in the summers, I read extensively in the church library. Most of it I didn't understand. But it was fascinating.

3. Does your church library serve as space for other activities, such as meetings or as a multi-purpose room? I attended a meeting this week that was held in the chapel...it was mentioned that, lacking a library, this was the best space available to us.

4. Is a church library necessary? What does a library need? At my former church, the rector mentioned somewhat huffily that "someone said there was not a church library...that's not true!" He went on to point out 2 shelves of books and films in the church office. Those had never been mentioned in my hearing as "the church library." You have to tell people you have one, if you want them to use it.

5. Imagine the library your church would use and describe it.  Of course, I am all about a few tood reading chairs and some interesting books. In fact, I have a good many books I'd like to donate to a church library.  Wouldn't it be great to have a computer in there, bookmarked with lots and lots of different online sites for spirituality, prayer, RevGals (of course), etc.?  You could have classes to help people learn to navigate the web, too. 

"Addictions for Nines"

Addictions for Nines can include overeating or undereating due to lack of self-awareness and repressed anger, lack of physical activity, and misuse of depressants, alcohol, and drugs. Be aware of these tendencies today. (The Wisdom of the Enneagram, 351)

Uh, thanks.  I didn't know this about myself. 

As. if.

I've spent the last two weeks eating as if I were TRYING to gain weight, instead of being on WW.  And, accordingly, gaining weight at each weigh-in.  And I did have the thought: "well, at least I'm not a drinker."  Because that totally makes it okay, right? 

I got to the WW meeting yesterday afternoon with a headache (lovely Spring allergies) and thought, "well, this is dumb.  I'm not driving all the way across town for this any more."  (You need to know how small this town is for that to be properly ridiculous.)  But, whatever works, works. Last night I managed to stop eating after dinner. That is the trouble time.  So that was big. 

 

I started a book last night that Gigi Greene turned me on to called Mindset by Carol Dweck.  There's a pretty good website for it that you should check out.  The premise is that one either has a fixed mindset or a growth mindset.  For instance, a fixed mindset says, "I can't do math, never could."  A growth mindset says, "cool!  Math's hard!  I'm going to figure that out!" 

I'm feeling very challenged by this (in a good way).  More to follow, I'm sure. 

 

What are you Reading These Days?

As I admitted to my Sunday School class recently, while some people strive to read a certain number of books a year and post them on their blogs...I don't do that.  Because, while reading has been my great friend and solace, it can also be my place of utter checking-out.  And I read a lot.  Really a lot.  So I don't keep track (though maybe I should?  that's a new idea.) 

Anyway.  Terri at Seeking Authentic Voice was asking "what are you reading these days?" and I answered at length in her comments about one of my favorite authors.  Thought I'd bring that over here, too. 

For some grand mysteries, check out Susan Wittig Albert.  She's done several series. My favorite is the China Bayles series about a former lawyer who runs an herb shop in a small Texas town. There are 19 in the series now...and I saw on her Facebook wall that she is working on a contract for more.  Yay!

She has two new series: The Cottage Tales of Beatrix Potter, (not nearly as twee as it sounds, great historical fiction), and also The Darling Dahlias.

Also love the Robin Paige Victorian-Edwardian mysteries ... Robin Paige is the "author" but the books are written by Susan and her husband, Bill Albert.

AND, her non-fiction is great too. Spiritual writing, nature writing.  She is a former University administrator who escaped. :)  I loves her work.

In addition, she is a great champion of women finding their voices.  She founded the Story Circle Network ("for women with stories to tell") in 1997 and it is now a flourishing 501(c)(3) group offering workshops, contests, blogging, conferences, and podcasts. 

AND, she's a blogger. 

Definitely worth a look.

Book Review: Writing To God

Here's a cross post of my book review, posted today at RevGalBlogPals. 

Rachel Hackenburg's Writing To God: 40 Days of Praying With My Pen (Paraclete Press, 2011) is a gift that lasts for 40 days and beyond. It is designed to be used for any 40-day period, with a special section of "Prayers and Prompts for Holy Week."

Rachel, Pastor of Grace United Church of Christ in Lancaster, PA, is a newer member of the RevGals ring. I resounded with her blog posts at Faith and Water, and was delighted to be asked to write a review of this book.

Paraclete Press sent me a review copy and I immediately began using the book in my morning prayer practice. I loved it. In the past, I have done Morning Pages (from The Artist's Way), 750Words.com, and Praying in Color. All take me outside of myself in an important way, in that they are either not prayer (the first), or a foreign-to-me way of prayer. This book specifically pairs writing prayer with daily writing activity.

As "a words person," writing my prayers is something I have done all my life, in an attenuated form. That is: If I am praying for you, your name is bound to be written somewhere on my desk, my shopping list, even on my hand. Probably, many places. I explained the practice to a college friend by saying, "by writing you down, I keep you safe." I understand prayer differently, now; there is no guarantee of safety...but writing something, making it The Word, makes it real and embodied for me in a way that other prayer methods have not revealed.

For each of forty days, Rachel pairs a poetical reflection on a daily matter with a scripture, and prompts the reader to write to God to correspond to the passage. I found it a fresh way of seeing scriptures, many of which are so familiar as to be flat.

There is also an index of Scriptural Praying Prompts, matching the days of the 40-day cycle with the scriptures from which they are drawn in the order they appear in the Bible.

Rachel says, "Praying through your pen is not about finding the right or perfect words for prayer; it's about connecting your whole self in an act of physically produced prayers. It's about practicing prayer daily in the safety of a book's pages. It's about exploring the fullness of words as you journey with Jesus through the trials and passions and joys of life. It's about enjoying your conversation with the Holy, creatively, freely, sincerely, in mind, body, and spirit" (p. x).

The book may be purchased through Paraclete, which offers a volume discount program as seen on their webpage for the book. This would be a wonderful tool to use with a church group or a group of spiritual friends. It could be used in any season, though the 40-day structure and the Holy Week feature make it ideal for Lent. I recommend it!

If you have read this book, or read it in the future, please share your thoughts in the comments.

Reading Recently

So, I've been reading a lot, but not writing about it. 

Let me tell you about a few things read recently:

Bright Dark Madonna, by Elizabeth Cunningham, is about a Celtic Mary Magdalen.  It's the third in a series called The Maeve Chronicles.  I normally do NOT like to read things out of order...but this was the one I found on the new books shelf, and the book jacket INSISTED that this could be started at any time.  I enjoyed this one and have requested the first two;  will catch up to what I've read over the Christmas holidays.

The author biography on Amazon notes:  "Best known for her pagan novels, The Return of the Goddess and The Wild Mother, (Station Hill), Elizabeth Cunningham is the direct descendant of nine generations of Episcopal priests. She was ordained as an interfaith minister in the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. She balances writing with a counseling practice."

The book, as you might imagine, is not orthodox.  It is funny, irreverent, blasphemous, and an "interweaving of Biblical-Celtic themes."  Mary Magdalen (Maeve) has spent a number of years running a holy whorehouse, for instance...It made me think about things I "know" from the Bible and my religious life in a different way...and that's really the point of reading, isn't it?  Some reading, at least. 

 
Some reading is amusement and comfort, and I found that in The Gerbil Farmer's Daughter, another "new book shelf" find.  My family might have been a little odd, but my father did not raise 9,000 gerbils in our back yard.  And that's a good thing. 

 
Another lovely, poetic, philosophical find was Infinity in the Palm of Her Hand: A Novel of Adam and Eve, by Gioconda Belli.  "Rather than merely turning the biblical version on its head, Belli’s luminous portrait of the first couple respectfully provides material for discussion and reconsideration" (Booklist). 

 
Finally, I've just started Frank Schaeffer's latest, Crazy for God: How I Grew Up as One of the Elect, Helped Found the Religious Right, and Lived to Take All (or Almost All) of It Back.  I'll have to check back in with you on this memoir by the son of Francis and Edith Schaeffer, evangelists extraordinaire and founders of the L'Abri community.  I grew up with a house full of books by the latter two, so I'm very curious.  And I just like memoir, biography, epistolary novels.  I suppose naturally nosy.   

What have YOU been reading?  Let me know! 

Botswana Day!

Did you know that today is Botswana Day? 

This, according to my Returned Peace Corps Volunteers of Wisconsin-Madison calendar.  It's an amazing, colorful, beautiful item that I treasure each year.  "Created, produced, and marketed by volunteers, all proceeds from calendar sales are donated to educational and development projects at home and abroad. " Don't you want one yourself?  Some to give as gifts?  Go to their website and order now for 2010! 

Anyway...Botswana Day. 

Here is a link to information about the history of Botswana and its independence from the UK in 1966.  Here's a link to the Botswana national anthem.  Hum along! 

Why (you may ask) am I all excited about Botswana?

Well, any of you who have read and loved the wonderful No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency books by Alexander McCall Smith (his website is a delight!) are not the ones asking!  These lovely books are a peaceful and gentle look at a proud country where the citizens' concerns are the same as those of us all...love, relationships, fear, jealousy.  Mma Precious Ramotswe runs the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, using cleverness, common sense, and (largely!) her listening skills to solve mysteries that come her way. 

If you have not read them, you are in for a treat.  I have recently gone on a feast of re-reading this series and have a great desire to travel to Botswana!  Here is information from the Botswana Tourism Board.  Their website home page says: 

Welcome to the very best part of Africa. Botswana, a country better known for peace and tranquillity, diamonds and beef, holds a lot of suprises for you.  Come and explore the diverse cultures of its people and nature at its best. If there’s a place where one wishes time could stand still, it is the beautiful country you will be viewing on this Web site.

Recently, an exchange consortium to which we belong has opened a site in Botswana!  So now my students have the opportunity to do an exchange semester or year at the University of Botswana!  Oh, those lucky students!   

Do a little bit of reading about Botswana, and dream with me about a visit to Mma Ramotswe and her compatriots.  And for heaven's sake...if you haven't read these books...get to your local library!