Reading, July 2024

Despite the heat and despite Hurricane Beryl, there was a lot of good reading done. 

Swan Song by Elin Hilderbrand. A nice summer read. Interesting but not heavy. A good read. 

The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill, Alone, 1932-1940 by William Manchester. There is no word other than magnificent to describe Manchester’s Churchill trilogy. This is volume 2 and it is truly a work for the ages. Now on to volume 3, Defender of the Realm. 

The Backyard Bird Chronicles by Amy Tan. We all know what a great writer of fiction Amy Tan is but did you know that she is an artist and keen backyard bird watcher? A lovely book about a lovely subject written by a talented artist/writer. A good read. 

Life Ascending by Nick Lane.  This may be an excellent book for people with a serious background in biochemistry and genetics. But it was simply over my head.  I am disappointed because I would like to find out more about the subject. I wish the book had been written more for a layman. I didn’t finish it. 

Currently Reading:

The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill, Defender of the Realm, 1940-1965 by William Manchester and Paul Reid. 

The Emperor of All Maladies by Siddhartha Mukherjee.

The Nutmeg’s Curse by Amitav Ghosh.

Fever, 1793 by Laurie Anderson. 

Wage Peace by Mary Oliver

 Wage Peace

Wage peace with your breath.

Breathe in firemen and rubble,

breathe out whole buildings

and flocks of redwing blackbirds.

Breathe in terrorists and breathe out sleeping children and freshly mown fields.

Breathe in confusion and breathe out maple trees.

Breathe in the fallen and breathe out lifelong friendships intact.

Wage peace with your listening:

hearing sirens, pray loud.

Remember your tools:

flower seeds, clothes pins, clean rivers.

Make soup.

Play music, learn the word for thank you in three languages.

Learn to knit, and make a hat.

Think of chaos as dancing raspberries,

imagine grief as the outbreath of beauty

or the gesture of fish.

Swim for the other side.

Wage peace.

Never has the world seemed so fresh and precious.

Have a cup of tea and rejoice.

Act as if armistice has already arrived.

Don't wait another minute.

~ by Mary Oliver

The Peace of Wild Things by Wendell Berry

 

THE PEACE OF WILD THINGS

Wendell Berry

When despair for the world grows in me

and I wake in the night at the least sound

in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be,

I go and lie down where the wood drake

rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.

I come into the peace of wild things

who do not tax their lives with forethought

of grief. I come into the presence of still water.

And I feel above me the day-blind stars

waiting with their light. For a time

I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

What did I read in April:

The Reading List by Sara Nisha Adams.  A well-written story with relatable characters. A good read. 

The Nature of Oaks by Douglas Tallamy. I have always loved oaks but really had no idea of the depth of their nurturing effect on the environment. A good read. 

This Ain’t Normal by Joel Saladin. (Audiobook) Some good information but he is just too radical to be taken seriously. IMHO. 

The Coming Fury by Bruce Catton. This is the first volume of Bruce Catton’s magnificent trilogy of the American Civil War. This volume deals with the events leading up to the war. Excellent history, terrific writing. 

Currently Reading:

The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill: Alone, 1932-1940 by William Manchester. (My read aloud book)

Terrible Swift Sword by Bruce Catton. (Joe’s read aloud book

The Comfort of Crows by Margaret Renkl

Silent Spring Revolution by Douglas Brinkley 

Excellent Women by Barbara Pym

Nature’s Best Hope by Douglas Tallamy

.

 

Mary Oliver

 

My work is loving the world.

Here the sunflowers, there the hummingbird —

equal seekers of sweetness.

Here the quickening yeast; there the blue plums.

Here the clam deep in the speckled sand.

Are my boots old? Is my coat torn?

Am I no longer young, and still half-perfect? Let me

keep my mind on what matters,

which is my work,

which is mostly standing still and learning to be

astonished.

The phoebe, the delphinium.

The sheep in the pasture, and the pasture.

Which is mostly rejoicing, since all the ingredients are here,

which is gratitude, to be given a mind and a heart

and these body-clothes,

a mouth with which to give shouts of joy

to the moth and the wren, to the sleepy dug-up clam,

telling them all, over and over, how it is

that we live forever.”

~ Mary Oliver

What’s on my To Read list???

 

What’s on my to read list?

I have to chuckle at myself when I think back to when I thought that once I was retired, I could clean out my To Read list.  Ha!! That surely didn’t happen.  

Top 10 books on my Nonfiction To Read list:

  Life Ascending: The Ten Great Inventions of Evolution by Nick Lane

  Better Living Through Birding by Christian Cooper

  Brining Nature Home by Douglas Tallamy

  The Quaker Way by Rex Ambler

  Lincoln by David H. Donald

  The Nutmeg’s Curse by Amitav Ghosh

  Power by Richard Heinberg

  To Speak for the Trees by Diana Beresford-Kroeger

  Nature’s Best Hope by Douglas Tallamy

  Under the Sea Wind by Rachel Carson

Top 10 books on my Fiction to Read List:

  The Twilight Garden by Sara Nisha Adams

  The Secret History by Donna Tartt

  Birnam Woods by Eleanor Catton

  Lessons in Chemisty by Bonnie Garmus

  After You by JoJo Moyes 

  The Cuckoo’s Calling by Robert Galbraith

  Homecoming by Kate Morton

  Old Filth by Jane Gardam

  Still Life by Louise Penny

  Miss Clare Remembers by Miss Read

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

So many books, so little time

What did I read in March?

The Song of the Cell by Siddhartha Mukherjee. Excellent for anyone interested in cellular biology, immunology in particular. To really understand the subject you really need a background in biology. Long. 

Dear Mrs. Bird by A.J. Pearce. Historical fiction. Set in London during the Blitz. 

The Light We Carry by Michelle Obama. Interesting information about her family, her life, and her personal philosophy.

What am I reading now?

The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill, Alone, 1932-1940 by William Manchester. (FM read aloud book)

The Coming Fury by Bruce Catton (JMM read aloud book)

The Reading List by Sara Nisha Adams

Silent Spring Revolution by Douglas Brinkley

The Comfort of Crows by Margaret Renkl