Casual Friday 10.26.18

FALL IS FOR READING

It’s not quite cold yet, but photos of fall and the light chill in the morning make me want to 1) buy and wear chenille sweaters because they are back in 2) make soup 3) light candles and 4) read.

Every year I do a Goodreads Challenge where I arbitrarily (lightly based on reality) pick a number of books I aim to read. Last year, I only read 13 books, so naturally this year, I made a goal to read 20. So far, I’m 15 books in, thanks to my discovery of Libby and Overdrive, two apps that let you rent audiobooks from the library! But there are always those books you need to buy yourself in hardcover, and Little Fires Everywhere is one of those for me.

I loved Everything I Never Told You, the author, Celeste Ng’s first book. So I’ve been saving Celeste Ng’s second book for the exact right moment, knowing that it’s probably going to be my favorite of the year.

And now, because the year is quickly winding up, I’m getting started!  Was also very excited to hear they are already creating a Hulu series starring Kerry Washington and Reese Witherspoon.

SCIENCE & LITERATURE

My friend Jessica from work was so kind to invite me to go to a book event this week with author, Barbara Kingsolver, who is on tour promoting her new book Unsheltered. After her talk, I’m very excited to put this on my list. It’s very much inspired by the times, written as the primaries, the election, and Trump administration began to unfold, and deals with feelings of profound disconnect between characters and being “unsheltered.” I actually really loved this description of the novel, as bleak as it sounds, because it felt real. And I’m interested to see how she represents it.

Barbara Kingsolver was a scientist by training and a writer by nature. I felt a close connection to her, particularly in my first few months of college, when I was pursuing a Biology degree, but my heart was in the English department. Her writing made it feel like pursuing both, and being successful at both, were not impossible. Eventually, I found my love for English won out over Biology, but her stories always fulfill a sort of craving I have for stories that incorporate, or are defined by, a keen awareness of nature and one’s place in it.

One of my favorite quotes from her talk (probably lightly paraphrased): “Good fiction helps create empathy. A novel takes you somewhere different and allows you to see things from another person’s perspective. To live another life.”

LIBRARY LOVE

Two GREAT articles about libraries came out this week! The first is one from The New York Times: an article in which 12 authors (Barbara Kingsolver included!) reflect on their local public libraries. It’s moving and nostalgic. Each one is a kind of love letter.

For my own part I’ll always remember the Placerville public library, and taking home ARMFULS of books and truly feeling rich and also maybe a touch morally superior, to be hauling out the stacks and trying to read so much. And more often than not, I would actually read them all!

A few favorite excerpts from the article below:

“My first library gave me the freedom to exist in private, to choose and even be greedy. I took 10 books the first time — illustrated books, fables, fairy tales and happy stories of white children and their kind parents. A week later, now initiated, I was allowed to walk to the library by myself, carrying the 10 books I had finished reading, knowing I could choose many more to furnish my vast secret room, my imagination, all mine.”

— Amy Tan

“It’s not merely that libraries connect us to books. It’s that they connect us to one another.”

— Chris Bohjalian

The second is an article in The Atlantic that includes some very stunning photos of libraries around the world.

Whenever I travel, I always try to make time to check out the library. This year, I was fortunate to see a few beauts, so I always appreciate a good library photo roundup. I particularly love #11 — the photo of children in Indonesia clamoring around a donkey with books in boxes on his back. It captures a true hunger for stories and knowledge that I can relate to, but also puts into perspective how easy I have it: access to books in beautiful libraries, online, or via apps.