No.214: My Latest Reads // January

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#01. FIND THE GOOD: UNEXPECTED LIFE LESSONS FROM A SMALL-TOWN OBITUARY WRITER by Heather Lende

My Rating: ★★★★☆

I will begin…by taking advantage of a day that is topsy-turvy without my consent.  If the snow keeps me home from an important meeting, I’ll take a walk in it.  Shovel my neighbor’s stoop.  Then build a snowman at the end of the driveway.  When was the last time I did that?  When my plane is delayed for two hours, I’ll call Dad.  Listen to the entire saga of his knee replacement surgery and recovery.  Ask him how he’s adjusting to living alone after forty-nine years of marriage.  I’ll finally have the time to listen.  And I’ll cry a lot after a friend dies.  Attend the funeral.  Bring my best bean salad to the potluck.  Wallow in grief.  When I’ve had all the sorrow I can bear, I’ll take a hike down by the river to wring myself out.  Then I’ll be ready to invite a new friend over for coffee and begin again. (p.28)

But something happens over the weeks, months, and years of regular workouts.  Pretty soon it’s not about the tummy roll or the wobbly thighs or even how many crunches we can now complete in a minute.  That’s all beside the point.  It’s about doing the best with what we’ve got and appreciating our scarred-up, well-used, stretch-marked, marvelously individual bodies just as they are…even as we strive to improve what they can do, one lunge and squat at a time. (p.69-70)

I got this little book for Epiphany and zipped through it in two days.  A perfect start to the year with my one little word.

#02. THRUSH GREEN by Miss Read
My Rating: ★★★☆☆

A beam of sunlight fell suddenly upon Mrs. Bailey’s hand, the first real warmth for months, she thought delightedly, and her spirits rose at this token of the summer to come. (p.68) 

Books centered around village life are just so cozy and comforting, don’t you think?  I enjoyed the simplicity and innocence of Thrush Green – it was a sweet mix of romance and humor and a teeny bit of mystery.

#03. THE NIGHTINGALE by Kristin Hannah
My Rating: ★★★★★

“It’s hard to forget,” she said quietly.  “And I’ll never forgive.”
“But love has to be stronger than hate, or there is no future for us.”
Sophie sighed.  “I suppose,” she said, sounding too adult for a girl of her age.
Vianne placed a hand on top of her daughter’s.  “We will remind each other, oui?  On the dark days.  We will be strong for each other.” (p.526)

World War II books affect me deeply and The Nightingale was no exception.  Such a powerful story of courage and love despite harrowing circumstances.  I kept asking myself the question, “What would I do in this situation?”  I know that I’ll be thinking about this one for awhile.

#04. NO WAY HOME: A MEMOIR  OF LIFE ON THE RUN by Tyler Wetherall
My Rating: ★★★☆☆

#06. THE LONG LONELINESS by Dorothy Day
My Rating: ★★★☆☆

They were kind to me.  I saw them wrestling with moral problems, with the principles by which they lived, and this made them noble in my eyes.  I saw them pray, and the public prayer in the church and Blanche’s kneeling down by the table on which was spread out her hats and trimmings did something to me which I could not forget.  As with the sight of Mrs. Barrett kneeling beside her bed, this posture, this gesture, convinced me that worship, adoration, thanksgiving, supplication – these were the noblest acts of which men were capable in this life. (quote about her Catholic friends, p.107)

It is not only for others that I must have these retreats.  It is because I too am hungry and thirsty for the bread of the strong.  I too must nourish myself to do the work I have undertaken; I too must drink at these good springs so that I may not be an empty cistern and unable to help others. (p.263)

I finally finished up the last quarter of Dorothy Day’s autobiography, The Long Loneliness…it only took me a year!  I found this book thought-provoking and interesting in some places and painfully boring in others, which explains why I kept putting it down.  Still, there were enough insightful tidbits to make it worth the read.

#07. CITY OF THIEVES by David Benioff
My Rating: ★★★☆☆

I have never been much of a patriot.  My father would not have allowed such a thing while he lived, and his death insures that his wish was carried out.  Piter commanded far more affection and loyalty from me than the nation as a whole.  But that night, running across the unplowed fields of winter wheat, with the Fascist invaders behind us and the dark Russian woods before us, I felt a surge of pure love for my country. (p.233)

Where do I begin with City of Thieves?  It’s haunting and horrific, but interlaced with humor too.  I don’t think I’ve ever read a WWII book from the Russian perspective before, so I learned a lot about Leningrad (St. Petersburg) during the German offensive.  I’d hesitate to blindly recommend it due to the profanity and crude “men’s locker room”-type comments throughout, but it’s a powerful story if you can look past all of that.