Reverb 13, Day 2: Nourishment and the BEST moment

The prompts:

1. The way we nourish ourselves determines our ability to shine our light in the world. And nourishment doesn't just come in the form of food and drink and sunshine; it's equally important to nourish your spirit.
What made your soul feel most nourished this year?

2.  Shine: What was the best moment of 2013?

 Ah, nourishment of the soul: what feeds my spirit? 

 The arts, short answer. Theater, books, magazines, movies, music, even television. Creativity unfolding in story, notes on a scale, words on the page, actors and designers and directors creating timeless emotion and story. 

When I was recuperating from surgery, I literally could NOT do things and thus sat still for days. So I read more than I usually get to, devouring books and stories and articles daily and luxuriating in that freedom to just read. My first real excursion outside the house was to a play while I was still non-weight-bearing in a wheelchair. Nearly the first outing when I graduated to the boot and using a cane was to a play, the annual performance of The Vagina Monologues, held this year at Rolling Hills Casino. We watched movies a lot, have our favorite television shows.

They make me think. They stir my emotions and my beliefs. They help me find answers to hard questions, and ponder paths and options. Bits of music -- yes, even the dreaded earworms -- help me through difficult times and even pain (my iPod was with me in the hospital and got me through some hard and noisy hours). 

I am challenged and found and redeemed by the words I have read and seen this year, and I am so grateful for the ability to see and to hear them. 

The best moment of 2013: hmmmm.

I think the best moment was when we drove to our favorite Oregon coast spot in Bandon on our 13th wedding anniversary to spend a few days, and seeing our glorious Mama Ocean rolling in. It rained quite a bit while we were there, but we watched her from our windows facing in two directions and went places anyway. We met by the ocean 16 years ago and were married on the ocean. She never fails to settle our spirits and minimize our worries and fears, and we've happily spent many more days this year on her coast than we have in some time. But that day, May 20, we had come through months of surgery recovery and work and worry, and it was so good to be together by our beloved ocean and not to have a list of chores to do. It was a beautiful time away and apart from everything else.

Same old, same old ... sorta

I'm still spending a lot of time reading with my foot up, but last week I graduated to a cam walker boot and am now lurching from room to room using a walker.

Nothing like a walker tricked out with a basket in front and glides on the rear legs to make you feel old.

But it helps me with balance and to ease the stress of putting weight on a foot that's been screwed and glued back together, and that hasn't had weight on it for two months. The leg looks better than it did a week ago, when it was all flakey skin and emaciated muscle and bloody steristrips, but bearing weight causes some redness and swelling -- something the doc said is needed for the bone to heal well -- and some discomfort -- even downright pain, especially on the side and heel. Tylenol takes care of it pretty well.

I don't know how long I'll be in it, but suspect it'll be at least another two or three weeks minimum. I'm most afraid of falls at this point, so am very careful where I put my feet.

We take a lot for granted when we're younger, don't we -- skipping about on heels and flimsy sandals, thinking little about walking in fashionable boots on icy sidewalks, going barefooted outside and in. Time was when I jumped rope and skipped and danced and tromped around on uneven rocks and ground, generally fearless. No more, although I'm not quite sure when that left me. I suppose that's another sign of aging, that awareness of how damaging a fall can be.

At any rate, I'm in another phase of healing, and still am grateful for how well the foot has healed, how little desire I have to resume life as I was living it before the surgery, and how free I am feeling to do things that I want to do, like reading and watching movies. I still feel very positive about the outcome and am grateful to all the friends who have helped us in this process.

*****************
So I'm still reading. Lots of beach-type reading, actually -- nothing in this group would classify as literary fiction. Most were either free or under $3. The Kindle Deal of the Day can be pretty good, as can the list of top Kindle books under $3 or the top 100 free books.

The Witch's Daughter was not as good as I'd have liked it to be. It switches back and forth from present day to the character's past, and I could easily put it down. (A 2.99 pricetag when I bought it.)

The Rose Garden was also fairly predictable, although mostly entertaining. Some time travel in this one, but not a compelling read. (99 cents when i got it.)

The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane was a bit more engrossing and included a bunch of Salem witch trial history. Price was definitely right at $2.99.

The Fortune Quilt was sort of fun, and it was a Kindle freebie at the time. (Kindle owning friends -- I can lend this one. Let me know.) I liked  the vivid descriptions of the little Arizona town and some of the plot twists.

Firefly Beach was iffy. I know it had a lot of favorable reviews, but I thought it was too heavy on the narrative and rather stilted on the slightly paranormal aspect. The time frame was unrealistic and many plot elements stretched belief to the point of breaking. I can lend it, but am glad it was on the free list and that I didn't pay for it.

The Blue Tail (a gift) and The Fish Wife (lent to me) were both paperback books, and I just loved them. The Blue Tail includes poetry by Mary Oliver and is set mostly in Bandon, Oregon -- one of my favorite coastal places -- and is about a teenager understanding and accepting her heritage and worth. What was not to love!

 The Fish Wife is a fantasy-filled story that takes the reader from misty Ireland to the desert Southwest, and enchantingly fills in the story of the Old Mermaids in the desert. It was a quick read and lovely. The author has a great ear for dialogue and I loved that I could 'hear' the characters tell the story.

I've got several other freebies loaded on the Kindle, and am reading one now that was recommended to me by a blog reader: The Accidental Peacemaker. Being the bargain hunger that I am (and realizing that not only is this a first-time novelist, the book is also self-published), I could not see paying $10, but I was able to use the Amazon Prime Library to borrow it!

It's kind of all over the place with a LOT of detailed location description (I could drive to most places mentioned from the directions), a plot that is interesting but that goes into a lot of directions: is it an action thriller about local militias and Muslim training camps? A romance between middle-aged people? A finding-oneself introspective novel? A guide to fishing in Oregon? A self-help how-to book on meditation? Huh. I'm still reading it but have NO idea where it's going.

I'll give you the lowdown when I'm finished with it.

**************

I'm also sort of doing an e-class on being a Spiritual Nomad. Sort of, because I'm not actually DOING a lot of the exercises, although I'm THINKING them through and that in itself is an interesting process. Tony and I have talked through some of the projects too, which has made for some good conversation. I understand how I got to where I am spiritually (at least better) and the influences on my spiritual life, and even did a Guru board on Pinterest, which was sort of fun and revealing. I suspect I'll come back to some of the lessons and contemplate or even perform some of the tasks a little more thoroughly.

What I'm understanding, though, is what I pretty much knew: I miss having a community of like-minded people to interact with on a regular basis, to celebrate ritual events with, to sing and celebrate with. My beliefs are not easily categorized into a denomination or even a 'religion,' but are based in a belief in a higher power and a strong ethical belief system.

It's been good for me, though, and it fits with all the gratitude and energy work I've been doing. Cultivating that positive outlook and enjoying where I am is a huge gift.

************

Movies and television! We've seen a bunch over the last two-plus months. Just watched the Showtime documentary "History of the Eagles,' about the 1970s-present day band, and loved seeing how they evolved and changed, and hearing the music again.  Loved 'The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel' with an older ensemble cast. I've seen several unremarkable ones that were fun and entertaining but nothing I'd go out of my way to see, too. We continue to enjoy several regular series, including Enlightened, Californication (!!!), Shameless, and House of Lies currently on HBO and Showtime, and Person of Interest and Scandal on network TV. I also watch Grey's Anatomy, Smash, The New Normal, and Monday Mornings, and try to catch Glee (although this year has been disappointing). We've sampled The Americans (still evaluating), The Following, and Banshee (and removed those two from our list). With TV schedules bringing in new shows far more often, that list will change over the next few months, I'm sure.

And that's where I am.

Rediscovering the power in a good book

The last time I spent hours and hours reading was when we rented a house on the Oregon coast in the fall of 2011 and it rained for three days. I started Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series that week and read my way through at least two of the 1000+ word tomes (on Kindle so I didn't boink myself when I fell asleep at night!) during that lovely time away.

Since I'm in full rest and recovery mode, meaning that I need to spend time with my leg elevated, and am fair-to-middling useless when it comes to doing regular chores or running around these days, I have been reading. Yeah, messing around on Facebook and reading blogs and email and so on, but reading honest-to-god books, some of which I found on the free or under $3.99 Kindle list, some of which have been kicking around my nightstand for months.

 I polished off Three Moons Over Sedona by Sherry Hartzler, one I'd gotten as a kindle freebie quite some time ago, in just a day or two, not reading constantly. It was entertaining enough to keep my interest, although fairly predictable and sometimes a little disconnected, but I liked reading about the area and the (again, fairly predictable) growth of the main character .It is not unlike something I have thought about writing, actually....

I've already mentioned Anne Lamott's Help. Thanks. Wow. which was NOT a freebie and indeed is MORE than the hardcover version. It was inspirational and touching and amazing, as I always find her writing.

I'm reading now The Blue Tail by Kim Antieau, in the soft cover version. It was a birthday gift from my lovely and literate friend Melissa, to whom I gave Antieau's Church of the Old Mermaids a few years ago and created a fan of Antieau's work and the mermaids. Antieau lives in Oregon and I've read her blog for several years.

But I've really been wrapped up in two books from the All Souls Trilogy by historian Deborah Harkness, starting with A Discovery of Witches (which was a deal of the day on Kindle several months ago), and then I just HAD to buy the second book, Shadow of Night. She's still writing the third book, blast-and-damn, but I'll snatch it as soon as it's published this year (just like I'm waiting for the eighth in the Outlander series, also to be published this year).

The trilogy is about a witch and a vampire who fall in love.

It is nothing.~~ NOTHING.~~ like Twilight or True Blood, neither of which I've read, but have only seen the movies and the TV series. (I heard such criticism of the Twilight books that I just haven't been interested, and I've found the movies fairly insipid; the Sookie Stackhouse books upon which True Blood is based may be better, but again -- not really interested.)

These two are scholars, educated and interesting, who have these, uh, big character differences. The books are chock-full of historical references (indeed, the second book contains a glossary of sorts that tells you which characters are historical) and detailed descriptions of places, including the Bodleian Library at Oxford University as well as Elizabethan England and Prague and France (in 1590). As a fan and long-time reader of historical fiction, at least some of it, I loved all the description and history.

The world that Harkness creates for her lovers begins in present day and goes back to the 16th century -- yes, there is time travel involved, which I also enjoy. There are four kinds of creatures inhabiting the world: humans, vampires, witches, and daemons, and the author vividly brings them to life with their character differences and flaws and misconceptions.

I had to pull myself out of the books, reluctantly closing my Kindle cover, to come to dinner. The device rode with me on my knee roller and even on my trips to the bathroom, I would pull it out of the little basket and read another few pages. And yet, I forcced myself to leave it alone to watch some television or to do some emails or to read a bit in a magazine or newspaper, simply because I didn't want it to be done, to have to read the last page, especially knowing that the third book isn't out yet! I wanted to savor the story longer, prolong the anticipation of finding out what happens next.

That's a good book, in my humble opinion, when you don't want it to end. (And that's one thing I adored about the Outlander books: there were SEVEN of them to read all in a row, long, long books full of places and history and adventure and great characters, which took me months to do...and then I dragged my feet through the last one, knowing it would be the better part of a year before the eighth book is out!)

So I'm onto the next -- right now The Blue Tail -- but followed soon by The Rose Garden by Susanna Kearsley (another Kindle bargain!) who has several other books. I've read good things about her writing and am looking forward to another good read.

I am loving all this reading, I'll be honest. While I always have a book or two and a magazine or three waiting for me, I haven't taken time to read during the day for a long time, saving it for bedtime (when I always read). These days I'm whipping through magazines almost as soon as they hit the mailbox, two newspapers, and also books. I will not give this up when I'm again two-legged and mobile -- another lesson I'm learning. I need to read. I have always been a reader. It's time now to indulge that more often and for a longer time.

Kindle owners -- or Kindle app readers -- see Kindle Deal of the Day.
See 100 Kindle books for under $3.99 here
There is also a Kindle blog.
Kindle apps for your iPad, your laptop or martphones are free. More info here.

Disclaimer: Don't get me wrong. I love paper and ink books and own many, but I love the Kindle and being able to take huge books with me in a tiny format, and also being able to read pretty much anything I want to read RIGHT NOW. Many of my paper books are going to be donated to our local Friends of the Library over the course of this year as I continue my quest to downsize and eliminate things I won't re-read or don't need or don't cherish.

Rain on the way -- we hope!

Our weather is sharply colder tonight and a north wind is sending the outdoor kitties into corners to shelter from the wind. Nevermind that they have houses that are packed with blankets, foam rubber padding, purrpads, and doors that help keep the wind out. They'll go in, just not when I'm looking.

But we have for the first time in a couple of months the promise of rain for this week. Our favorite Old Forecaster says that our area will have 1-2 inches of the stuff by this time next week, and more in the surrounding area. Since our grass is once again brown and crispy, after a brief greening-up following early winter rains in October-November, that will be most welcome. Most necessary, if we're to escape serious fire threat this summer.

I'm good with this. There is little I love more than snuggling down with an afghan in front of our warm woodstove, kitties curled deep on their tuffets (really RustiesGranny pet beds, which they LOVE, thankyouverymuch Tamina!), a cup of hot tea and something good on television -- and Sunday night is a big one, with Shameless, House of Lies, Californication, Desperate Housewives, Once Upon a Time, and I forget what else. Not that we watch all of that in one evening. It's hard to remember not having a DVR. We seldom watch anything live anymore because it is so easy to record and watch at our convenience.

Our day has been so good: brunch with friends at our favorite Mexican restaurant and then we went to see "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" which was quite good even though we haven't yet read the books. Tonight it's hot beef stew for dinner and a quiet evening enjoying shows. Tomorrow we're back to work and chores.

One of the posts I've been thinking through is about writing, prompted by a question asked at yesterday's Writers Forum conference: Why do you write? What a provocative thought, actually -- and I'll write about that sometime this week.

Another question from the same event asked about the kind of books I like to read and also authors I admire. That, too, deserves more thought, and I'll share with you. Generally, our leaders told us, writers read what they want to write. And I'm not sure that I do. Hm.

Reverb 10 -- Writing my stories

Core story. What central story is at the core of you, and how do you share it with the world?

My core story is about strength, loyalty, fierce independence, recovery, resilience, and creativity. It is who I am, all I've been through (some of it not pretty). It is what I am learning, what I have learned, because of what I've lived and what I've done. It is foolhardy youth and experienced crone. It is still developing, every day.

I share through this blog. I tell my stories and what I have learned in living them. I tell what I see.

And this year I will write a book. Over the past month of Reverb, I have realized how important it is to me to do so, although it's been a vague "someday" thing for some years. But I'm ready to do the work it will take, ready to figure out the form, the story, and to begin to put in the time and the word count.

I don't know if it will be 'good enough' to publish, I don't know if anyone will read it or even want to, but I will write it down. Because I need to do so.

Reverb 10 -- feeling alive!

Moment. Pick one moment during which you felt most alive this year. Describe it in vivid detail (texture, smells, voices, noises, colors).

What came first to mind was our vacation week in Brookings, Ore., in a charming house right where the Pacific and the Winchuck River meet. And in particular, the second full day of the week-long respite, when we woke to foggy skies and brisk, cool winds.

The great room of the one-bedroom house was all windows on the ocean end so we could see the driftwood-studded beach and the river mouth widen and narrow as the tides came in and out during the day. There were some 30 steps off the narrow back deck to the lower yard, which had tall trees, a lawn, and a short path out onto the beach, plus a fish-cleaning station and some of the ocean treasures others had brought from the sand -- buoys, shells, long driftwood poles, and an interesting assortment of oddly-shaped pieces of driftwood, for instance.

On this day we could barely see the beach. The ocean, of course, never ceases its wavery voice, first whooshing into the beach, then withdrawing with a sibilant purr. That was the constant background music for our whole week (and we slept with the sliding door and windows cracked so we could hear it all night long).

With the heat warming the room and lamps brightening corners, we ate a hot breakfast, then made a second pot of coffee. I snuggled into the chaise lounge part of the big, overstuffed sofa, afghan over my legs, and Tony settled in one of the big leather recliners with his laptop. And I cracked open a new book, The Help, and began reading.

Eventually I moved to another chair, propping my legs on the matching ottoman, because it had a better reading light. And read. All morning.

A quiet lunch, and I was back in the chair, this time with hot tea, and continued to read. All afternoon. I finished the book shortly before dusk: the fog never dissipated.

I don't remember the last time I just read a book all day long, blissfully lost in the word-created world. Occasionally I'd look at Tony, who was intent on reading news and blogs and video editing software, and sometimes he'd look back and me and we'd smile at each other, both of us utterly content to be exactly where we were, doing exactly what we were doing.

I have always, always been a reader. I'd read walking to or from school. I'd read in the bathroom. I figured out how to wash dishes with a book propped up in front of me. I'd read while drying my hair, while waiting in a line or for appointments; everywhere I went I had a book with me.

I've lost that in the busy-ness of the years and endless chores that need attention -- and there are always chores that need attention. Oh, I still read every day -- always the newspaper -- but usually a book only when I'm tucked into bed at night, before I turn out the light.

But I found it that day, again, that lovely soft grey day when there was nothing more important for me to do than sit there and just read. I found again the essence of who I am in that day and remembered how important it is for me to connect with my own story every day, to make time for that even with everything else beating on my door.

Days 26-30 -- Better late than never

While I did really well with the beginning of this meme, I've slipped on the job lately. I'm going to wrap this up as much as I can today, and will perhaps search for another such meme. It's been good to write most days -- well, the last week being a notable exception -- and I've enjoyed, mostly, the topic, although there were some questions that were a bit off-putting.

So to the end...


Day 26 – OMG WTF? OR most irritating/awful/annoying book ending
Actually the book I just finished, Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger (The Time Traveler's Wife) had an ending that was rather WTF.

I don't know that it was awful, mind you, but it felt abrupt. While it wound the story into some semblance of resolution in some respects, there was a huge gap between the story as it had developed and the hasty ending. I'm still pondering. No question that her character development was engaging and quirky, and there were some interesting twists to the plot. I'm just not sure that the ending fit the rest of the book.


Day 27 – If a book contains ______, you will always read it (and a book or books that contain it)!
I'm not sure I can categorize my reading habits quite this way: I'm an eclectic reader and always have been. While I like some romances, I don't especially enjoy the 'happily ever after' ones unless there is some quirkiness thrown in there -- Nora Roberts has some trilogies, for instance, that are certainly 'happily ever after' types, but with some enjoyable occult turns...for instance,
the three sisters island trilogy, the garden trilogy, and the key trilogy are pretty similar stories but with nice touches of magic. They're easy, beach-y-type reads, total escape novels. Now that I think about it, these trilogies are pretty formulaic, but they are fun reads.

I like magic. That's one of the appeals for me of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, I think -- all the lovely magic and fantasy thrown in there, the amazing development of the cultures.


Day 28 – First favorite book or series obsession
I'd have to say that one of my favorite series is the Kushiel series, beginning with Kushiel's Dart, by Jacqueline Carey. A friend recommended these books several years ago, and they aren't everyone's cup of tea, but I was hooked from the first chapter and obsessively read my way through them. Carey develops an interesting world that has elements of ours, but a completely different culture -- several cultures, actually. It's erotic, it's entertaining, it's surprising, with lots of action and some royalty thrown in to boot.


Day 29 – Saddest character death OR best/most satisfying character death (or both!)
Of the more recent books I've read, hands down it is Dumbledore's death in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

I've written more about that elsewhere in this meme.

Definitely the saddest.


Day 30 – What book are you reading right now?
Just last night I finished Her Fearful Symmetry.

I've got an Oprah magazine I have barely touched, a Writer's magazine that I haven't even cracked, and a few others around here that will do for a while. I'll probably start in on the pile next to my bed, perhaps beginning with Crichton's Next.

Books, Days 24-25

Day 24 – Best quote from a novel

The very best: Snoopy's quintessential opening line: "It was a dark and stormy night."

But another really great quote, from Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities: "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way . . ."

Sounds like present times, doesn't it.

and the book's close:
"It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known."


Day 25 – Any five books from your “to be read” stack

Among the 20 or so books that have been sitting on my nightstand for, oh, about two years:

A Thousand Splendid Suns
A History of God by Karen Armstrong
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers (which I've read a good bit of but it is so not riveting and more often just confusing)
Next by Michael Crichton (which we've had for a long time -- just haven't read it yet)
Fall on Your Knees by Ann-Marie McDonald (also started reading but haven't finished)

Books -- Days 21, 22, 23

Day 21 – Favorite romantic/sexual relationship (including asexual romantic relationships)

There have been many such relationships in books I've read over the years, and I know I will never remember most. I wish I remembered something stunningly literary -- something that would so clearly demonstrate my amazing memory, my intelligent reading choices, but you know what? I don't. Most of what I've read in the last 30+ years has been stuff more aptly categorized as 'beach reads.'

Nora Roberts, she of the quintessential beach reads, also writes as JD Robb, and her character Eve Dallas is usually great fun to read. Dallas' husband is Roarke, an wealthy businessman who dabbles in nearly everything. The novels are futuristic, quick reads, and entertaining. Their relationship is passionate and humorous. They are, of course, beautiful people.

I don't know that I'd call it my 'favorite relationship,' but it's the only one I can think of right now.

Day 22 – Favorite non-sexual relationship

I'll get back to you.

Day 23 – Most annoying character ever

Ditto.

Day 20 -- kissyface!

Day 20 – Favorite kiss

I've read my share of erotica and other scenes in various books that left me, uh, hungry. If you catch my drift.

But two kisses stand out for me from classic literature that are simply wonderful.

First is the scene from Romeo and Juliet where they first kiss.

Romeo: If I profane with my unworthiest hand this holy shrine, the gentle sin is this. My lips, two blushing pilgrims, ready stand to smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss.
Juliet: Good pilgrim, you do wrong your hand too much, which mannerly devotion shows in this. For saints have hands that pilgrims' hands do touch, and palm to palm is holy palmers' kiss.
Romeo: Have not saints lips, and holy palmers, too?
Juliet: Ay, pilgrim, lips that they must use in prayer.
Romeo: Well, then, dear saint, let lips do what hands do. They pray, grant thou, lest faith turn to despair.
Juliet: Saints do not move, though grant for prayers' sake.
Romeo: Then move not, while my prayer's effect I take.
Romeo: [They kiss] Thus from my lips, by thine, my sin is purged.
Juliet: Then have my lips the sin that they have took?
Romeo: Sin from my lips? O trespass sweetly urged! Give me my sin again.
Juliet: [they kiss again] You kiss by the book.

So wonderfully flirtatious. With its references to Christianity, it sets up their love, their passion, as being true and pure -- and as we know, doomed.

The other, and I'm probably remembering more of the movie than the book, is Rhett's initial refusal to kiss Scarlett in Gone with the Wind: "I don't think I will kiss you, although you need kissing, badly. That's what's wrong with you. You should be kissed and often, and by someone who knows how."

And eventually, of course, he does kiss her, their on-off passion is almost palpable, and she, spoiled brat that she is, only finally realizes how well they are matched at the very end of the book.

For a young teenager loaded with raging hormones, as I was when I first read the book and then saw the movie, it was the quintessential romance. I remember longing for someone to adore me the way he did her, to kiss me with that degree of passion and wanting.**

I happen to think that kissing is an incredible skill that can, done correctly, practically bring a person to the big O without ever touching any other part of the body. It is the most intimate and delicate of touches between people.

**I found him. Took me a long time. It was worth the wait and all the frogs I kissed looking.

Books, Days 15-16 -- Comfort and Poetry

Day 15 – Your “comfort” book

I don't know that I have a comfort book, really. If I need comfort, I either go to a specific topic for which I need advice, like "I'm Still Your Mother," or I'll control my worried monkey-mind with a magazine, like O Magazine, which doesn't require much concentration to go from story to story but still lets me escape and not think about whatever it is I'm obsessing over for a bit. I don't do well with most novels when I'm worried -- takes too much effort to concentrate.

Day 16 – Favorite poem or collection of poetry

I've already talked about Eugene Field and his poetry, my favorites from childhood.

I have always loved poetry: the pithy bits of language that capture a feeling, a situation, a person. I love the strength of Walt Whitman and never see the ocean without thinking of his "Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking." Or fog without recalling Carl Sandburg. Or hear of a death without remembering Emily Dickinson.

I wrote my senior English college paper on Dylan Thomas and his dark and eloquent poems. Arguably the most famous is "Do not go gentle into that good night, " and I'll confess that I remind myself with that poem to savor each day, each event, each emotion with all my self.

My favorite all-purpose poet, though, is Robert Frost and especially his "The Road Not Taken." So many times I've stood at that place where the roads diverge and looked down them, wondering what lay beyond what I can see. I remember him, fine white hair blowing in the wind, trying to read a poem written for JFK's inauguration, and because the sun was blindingly bright, ended up reciting another poem from memory, "The Gift Outright."

Long ago in high school I sang another of his poems, "Choose something like a star," part of Frostiana, a suite written by composer Randall Thompson. I've always loved that poem as well, although to recite it, I hear the music in my head!

And yet another of his prolific works, and one to which I've often referred, is "Fire and Ice."

Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I’ve tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great,
And would suffice.

Books - Day 14 -- favorite character

Day 14 – Favorite character in a book (of any sex or gender)

Probably my favorite character of all time is Katherine (Kate) from Shakespeare's "The Taming of the Shrew." I love her strength, her wily, opinionated, vulnerable dialogue. I love her spirit and her temper. I love her independence, her interdependence, and that she does not, in the end, lose that spirit.

While the gender relationships in the play have been debated for centuries, I have always believed that at the end Kate and Petruchio are equals, each well suited to the other, and have found a comfortable relationship through their jabs and jests. Yet they respect who the other is, I believe, and relish that.

My dad read me this play when I was young, along with others of his favorites, and that has always colored my enjoyment of Shakespeare. He taught me that Shakespeare must be taught as theatre first, and that you truly cannot understand the plays unless you can visualize the staging. When I took a Shakespeare class in college, the teacher was all about the etymology of the words and phrases, and it took the joy out of it. When I taught it to high schoolers, we usually read it out loud and always had a model of the Globe Theatre handy for reference, as well as special projects about the times, the audiences, the actors, and the theatre itself.

It was the one role I always wanted to play and never have, save for a scene done in high school during a variety show for the student body. I loved every line of the dialogue: "If I be waspish, best beware my sting!"

I loved the Burton-Taylor coupling in the 1967 Franco Zeffirelli version and the lush colors and textures of the film. The lighting was a photographer's dream -- warm, deep, and vividly enhancing the landscapes, the costumes, and the sets. I loved the chemistry between the two fiery actors and the nuances of their interpretation of their characters. Given their passionate, often tumultuous relationship off-screen, this play might well have been written for them.

My daughter's middle name is Kate, so named after this independent, spirited woman who ended up in a deeply loving relationship of equals. May that eventually be so.

Books, Day 13 -- childhood reading

Day 13 – Favorite childhood book OR current favorite YA book (or both!)

Hands down my current favorite is the Harry Potter series, although I think it is a little too dark for many children (and that includes the movies -- some of the visuals would give a younger child nightmares, I think). While Rowling may have started the series as YA (young adult) one, it evolved into a series for all of us.

Despite its critics, the series is engaging, imaginative, and clearly is a metaphorical tale of good versus evil, even possibly a Christian allegory, at least in the views of some reviewers, and that despite the early boycotting of the books by the fundamentalist types because of the wizard/witch emphasis.

I love it because I want to believe in magic, I want to believe that bad people eventually get their just rewards (karma!), and I want to believe that ultimately good prevails over bad. And it does, although not without pain and loss.

Just like life. At least I hope that, although when I read the news and contemplate the actions of financiers, most Republicans and far too many Democrats, and leaders on every level in every part of business, I wonder where the magic is, where the good is, that will triumph over the self-serving, inhumane, greedy, judgmental actions that seem to be their creeds.

I want good, decent, kind people to prevail, the ones with ethics that are not compromised by the promise of a dollar, the ones who do not believe in trampling the rights of others in order to get rich or famous. Rowling delivers that.

*******************
The book(s) I remember best from my own childhood do too.

The first book I remember being read is "Wynken, Blynken and Nod," a story poem by Eugene Field. It was a tall, beautifully illustrated book with a red cover, and I gave it some years ago to my daughter, after I'd read it to her throughout her childhood. When my mother was in her last days, I remember reading it to her over the telephone. I still love the calming words, the rocking of the ocean, the rhyme and rhythm of the words lulling me to sleep.

I read constantly, always, as a child. I preferred the company of books and a story to playing outside or anything athletic (that's not changed). I remember hiding books behind my textbooks in class and more than once getting caught by a teacher, especially once in fourth grade when I giggled out loud at a passage during a history lesson. Busted.

I loved anything in a series: Nancy Drew, Trixie Beldon, the Bobbsey Twins, the Little House books. I loved Louisa May Alcott, especially Eight Cousins, and often wished I had such wonderful brothers/cousins instead of the bratty little brother that I was stuck with (and who I love dearly, you understand).

I read my way through the Brothers Grimm and every other fairy or folk tale collection in the Greene County (Missouri) Public Library Children's Section -- I love stories about magic, legend and myth, which also may account somewhat for my enthusiasm for Harry Potter, I suppose.

In fact, I read my way pretty much through the whole section, and by the time I was in fifth or sixth grade had permission from both my parents and the children's librarian to read anything I wanted from the adult section too. Fortunately they never believed in restricting access to anything -- a belief which I carried forward and ultimately became actively involved in protecting the right to read.

Books have shaped who I am, beginning with the books my parents read to me every day, books I remember still after going on 63 years. I am grateful.

Books Day 12 -- Second time -- or more - around?

Day 12 – A book or series of books you’ve read more than five times

I seldom re-read books, at least knowingly, and at most, I re-read them fewer than five times.

Okay, I've already told you about re-reading the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy. I've read that maybe five times, but that'd be a stretch.

I get what I want out of most books the first time. I'll go back to some of the more in-depth ones and re-read passages, like "What Color is Your Parachute," for instance, or the Martha Beck books.

And I've found myself more than once re-reading a fluffy beach read by Nora Roberts or one of the Goldie Baer series by Diane Mott Davidson simply because I didn't realize when I picked it up that I'd already read it! (hate when that happens) Usually I'll go ahead and finish it anyway.

I've read "Huckleberry Finn" more than once but fewer than five times, and it was a long time ago; ditto with "Gone with the Wind." I'll re-read the last Harry Potter book -- "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" -- before the movie comes out in November, partly because I just devoured the first read and know I missed detail, and partly because I do want the background of that lovely rich description before I see the next-to-the-last movie. (And I want to figure out where I think this first movie will end.)

I may read "Eat Pray Love" again before I see the movie. But that will likely be the last time for it.

While I'm reading some books, especially those by the really wonderful writers like John Updike, I will slow down and savor the language, will go back to re-read passages because of the elegant, eloquent words the author chooses. But most of what I read these days does not really merit a second reading, in my humble opinion.

Books -- Day 10 -- a love/hate relationship

Day 10 – A book you thought you wouldn’t like but ended up loving

While there have, I'm sure, been several such books, the one that comes to mind is "The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini.

There was quite a lot of press and hoopla out about this book when it came out, and I just was not interested in reading some novel about Afghanistan and its political turmoil. After 9/11, I turned from a news junkie to a no-news bystander: I simply could not bear to hear more about the pain and despair and grief, the well-laid plans, the evil that was so terribly clearly loose in the world.

So the book sat on my shelf, on loan to me by a voracious reader friend who had highly recommended it.

I don't remember why I picked it up,

But I hardly put it down until I finished it. It was heart-wrenching, about guilt and loss and finding some sort of redemption, and about how decisions and events even in childhood can take a huge toll on our later lives. It was an amazing look at a culture that is very different from ours, one that has not been either kind nor easily understood. And it's written more like a memoir than a novel.

Books - Day 8 & Day 9

Day 08 – A book everyone should read at least once

This is not an easy one. I've contemplated this for more than a day, sorting through the memory banks for books I'd say were on a lifetime list.

Every child should read or have read to them "Goodnight Moon," "The Runaway Bunny," the poems of Shel Silverstein and Eugene Field. And "A Wrinkle in Time, "Charlotte's Web," "The Trumpet of the Swan." And more.

I think every young adult should read "The Little Prince," "Catcher in the Rye," "Romeo and Juliet," "To Kill A Mockingbird," and probably a bunch more I'm forgetting.

And every adult should read many of the books that are on this list, although I'm not sure I agree with them all as 'must-reads.'

But the two that I probably would recommend (okay, okay, so I don't always follow directions) that I believe are the most helpful for generally living your life are:
***drumroll***

What Color is Your Parachute? by Richard Bolles
...wherein you learn valuable information about what you like to do, what you want to do, and how to make it happen,

and

Alcoholics Anonymous: The Big Book
...wherein you learn a blueprint for living your life that will help you in EVERY SITUATION you will ever encounter. You need not be an alcoholic to benefit from this: its basic tenets have formed the basis for 12-Step groups dealing with every sort of addiction, including things like food, sex, and drugs. But it also helps with such issues as control, anger, even 'sin' -- I once taught a Sunday school class using A Hunger for Healing -- based on the 12 steps -- which was one of the best, most popular series we ever did.


Day 09 – Best scene ever

The one that leaps to mind is in JK Rowling's Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, where Dumbledore dies.

I'd already finished the book, horrified and shocked. A few days later my daughter called me near midnight -- always a scary thing to have the phone ring at midnight -- and wailed, without explanation or identification, "He DIED! How could he DIE!" And I knew what she meant.

I'm sure there are other scenes that have left me breathless, that I raced through to find out what happened, but this is the most recent memory.

Books -- Day 7 -- least favorite plot device

Day 07 – Least favorite plot device employed by way too many books you actually enjoyed otherwise

I think of beach reading stuff when I contemplate this question...

I think it's probably when the fairly plain Jane protagonist meets the hot, well-built guy who everyone is dying to date, and she knows that he won't even notice her, but wait! Wrong. He not only notices her but sweeps her off her feet, causing her to wonder what he could POSSIBLY see in her when there are all these anorexic-troll types with great streaked manes of hair (and barbed tongues but not much brain) to choose from.

And then it turns out that he was looking for substance, not looks, all along (although she is always prettier than she thinks she is, and he convinces her of that), and they live happily ever after.

Trite. Blecky drivel.

I know there are probably several specimens in my library, but I'm not going to search for them just to name titles. I've also given most of them away after one read since I know I'll never go back to that book again. But sometimes they're just so comforting, so easy to read, quick and escapist that I'll do it again. Sometimes the rest of the writing makes up for the trite storyline.


Now. This question doesn't really address an author's style, nor does any other question in this meme, so I'm going to talk about it here.

For years as a 20-30 something I read Danielle Steel's books, although I became aware of how formulaic they are (as is Nora Roberts, really, but I'm still enjoying Roberts mostly).

But what has completely ruined Steel's books for me is her use of the ellipsis (...) as a device to show passage of time, to indicate unspoken but directed emotion or action. I hate it. I don't read her anymore because of that.

Recently I picked up one of her books lent to me by a friend, "IMPossible." There is not a line of dialogue in the first 14 pages: it is all backstory. And then most of the first two chapters have maybe 30-40 lines of dialogue, the rest is narrative.

And then I put it down, not to pick it up again. BORING! I'd forgotten how much narrative she writes rather than reveal it in dialogue, or just not go into the whole thing.

I know, I know. I should be so successful! But I hope that if I ever do write a novel that my characters will be less trite, more authentic, and that I don't overuse the ellipsis (which I do use, a lot). I'm counting on you to tell me...

oops. Drat. There it was.

Day 6 -- Movies vs. Books

Day 06 – A book that was adapted into a movie you liked better than the book (or a book adapted into a movie you hated, or both)
or
Favorite book of your favorite series OR your favorite book of all time

The last is apparently the original topic in the meme; the first is what Sylvan, from whom I got the idea to do this meme, has suggested, since the topic really already has been covered.

Generally I like books better than the movies from which they are made. When I read, if the book is well written, I HAVE a movie in my head from the story, and almost inevitably the movie is disappointing.

One such movie/book was "Love Story," a book I read (first and only time) over lunch one day back in the very early 1970s, sobbing my way through the story. I usually read if I'm eating lunch by myself, and that day I sat there until I'd finished the little book, snuffling and mopping tears, and loving the story.

It was touching, engaging, tragic, very romantic. I was fairly newly married myself, although I don't remember being as entranced by my then-husband as were Jenny and Oliver by each other. But I was not long out of college and could relate to their ages, if not their exact situations. I liked the dialogue, the simplicity of the plot.

And then I saw the movie. Yuk. Not only was Jenny, played by a vapid Ali McGraw, not what I'd pictured, her father (played by John Marley) was completely and totally wrong. Ryan O'Neal was cute, sure, and very preppy. His rigid father (Ray Milland) was okay. But Ali's open-mouthed, one-dimensional portrayal turned me so off! It was so disappointing.

After that I always approached movies adapted from books I'd loved reading with great caution, not expecting much. Mostly I was right -- the books were far better than the movies.

On the other hand, both the Lord of the Rings trilogy and the Harry Potter series have been stunningly brought to life in the theater. Although I still prefer the books for the depth and richness of the language and detail, the characters and incredibly detailed sets have etched themselves into our visual memories. They are true to the descriptions in the books, amazingly so, and hopefully have enticed viewers to discover for themselves the stories as well.

I've found that my movie experiences with these series was greatly enhanced because I'd read the books first.

Sometimes I've read the book after seeing the movie: "Marley and Me" is the most recent. Of course my mental movie as I read the book starred Owen Wilson and Jennifer Anniston, but it was a good read, and I puddled up at the end, just as I did in the movie.

I'm anticipating "Eat, Pray, Love." I loved the book; I've seen or read most of the Elizabeth Gilbert interviews, and I like Julia Roberts. We'll see.

Books -- Day 4

Day 04 – Your favorite book or series ever

'Ever,' when you're 62 years old and have been reading since age 5, is a long time. I don't know. I have had important books in my life at different stages and ages. To call out one as my 'favorite' is pretty nigh on to impossible.

One that definitely contributed hugely to my life as it is today was "A Path with Heart" by Jack Kornfield, an American Buddhist priest and founder of Spirit Rock Meditation Center in Woodacre, CA, Marin County. It's one I probably should re-read and see what it says to me now.

I heard about it in about 1996, when I lived in Birmingham and had just discovered the Internet world. I frequented a chatroom, Syadash, housed on a site that was, shall we say, a more 'adult' oriented site, and certainly didn't expect to find what I did:

A gathering, probably serendipitous but with overtones of predestination, of some of the wittiest, most literary, intelligent people I have ever met, all in one place for a brief period of time. I believe we all needed what we found in that group. It didn't last long, maybe a year, but even today I think of them with every full moon, with every lime I slice, and when I look at the little carved moon talisman that sits on my desk, and I say a little prayer for each of them.

We all had pseudonyms, of course. I ended up meeting at least five of them in 'RT' -- real time -- including two of them who helped me in my move to California.

It was there that I was introduced to Kornfield and Buddhist practice, and I remember reading and sobbing my way through "A Path..," recognizing that I was in good company with my own struggles and doubts within the Christian church. I don't think I read any fiction that whole year -- I read Kornfield, Thich Nat Han and others who were on that path of right thinking, right action, loving kindness. I absorbed "Full Catastrophe Living" by Jon Kabat-Zinn. Slightly off-topic, I read Gail Sheehy's " New Passages" and realized that I was in the throes of huge change that was not unexpected nor a phenomenon. I found a meditation group in Birmingham, unlikely as that may seem with churches that had whole blocks as part of their physical plant, and learned to use meditation as a tool for coping. When I traveled on business to San Francisco for a 10-day training and video shoot, I enjoyed a day-long weekend retreat at Spirit Rock with Kornfield and saw for the first and only time an aura around someone -- him.

That book was quite a transformational experience for me. While I am not Buddhist nor practicing much meditation these days, and reading more beachy fiction than inspirational non-fiction, I was forever changed as a result of that little group of people and the encouragement I found to become my true self.

Thanks to Lacy, Angelfire, gentle one, Graham, Fortune Cookie, Avery, Agassi, North Star, Glory, and so many others whose chat names I can't remember now, but who were there at that magical time. May you be happy, may you be well.

Book meme -- best book

Day 03 – The best book you’ve read in the last 12 months

Lordy. I don't know. I don't remember the books I've read in the last 12 months. I usually say that whatever I'm currently reading is the best book, i guess. And my short-term memory is not what it used to be. Actually, my memory is not what it used to be.

As I said below, the two Martha Beck books had a big impact on me -- although I'll confess that I have not gone back and done all the exercises in them yet.

I honestly don't remember reading one that I could hardly put down or that stayed with me to this day.

On vacation, I did read The Help by Kathryn Stockett, and it was just excellent. I didn't know if I'd really like it as well as a friend thought I might, but I did. It's a marginally fictionalized story about the black maids of the South during the 1960s. I did not live in the South at that time, but even when I did, in the 1990s, I encountered the maids when I attended a book club which had a fairly large number of women who lived in wealthier neighborhoods. We'd often go either to their country clubs for the luncheon meetings, or occasionally to their homes, and I have a crystal clear recollection of at least one home with a uniformed black maid who had prepared the meal and served it.

I was one of the 'poorer' members of the club and did book reviews rather than host the meetings -- we all had options about what we preferred to do. It was an interesting experience and I enjoyed meeting all the women and seeing a glimpse of what was much more the 'old' south than the one in which I lived.

The book rings true, though, and is still thought-provoking, especially about the ways we treat others and the perceptions we have of other cultures.

So much of what I read is 'pass-through' -- entertaining for the moment but with no more real substance than cotton candy. Or it is informative -- books on writing, for instance, or self-help like the Martha Beck books. They get absorbed into the general body of information and trivia which is my brain, and few stand out.

I'm wondering if I'm going to be able to sustain this meme for 30 days with the kind of memory I have for what I'm reading!