The Zen of Reading 11/11/07

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The Zen of Reading

November 11, 2007

If you have a terrible day at work, how do you deal with it afterwards? Exercise? Eating? Reading? Talking with your significant other? Playing with your cats or dogs? Flopping in front of the television? Or something else?

Does your choice depend on what happened and how you feel about it? If you’re furious, a serious workout with plenty of sweat is often the best answer. Sad? Maybe a good cry. Depressed? Talking with a trusted SO or friend can be therapeutic. All of those work, I think, depending on the situation and of course on you. But the one thing that seems to work well for those who are readers, either by itself or in conjunction with another outlet, is reading.

A compelling story be it fiction or nonfiction can be a primary tool in moving from the “emotion of the moment” to a state of moving on. My friend, Anne Michael, commented in one of her columns about my Zen attitude. She’s only partly right. It’s there, but it can be disturbed and even turned on its head by ongoing frustrations. On the other hand, it allows me to look at some of the craziness associated with those frustrations and laugh. Returning to that state of Zen is often accomplished by reading. I love the feel of getting captured by a book, feeling its story wrap itself around me until I am gripped as solidly by it as The Creature From the Black Lagoon was held by the soggy vines that entangled his body (if I remember the movie poster correctly).

In addition to a book I am reviewing this week, I have also been enslaved by two others: Bunion Derby: The 1928 Footrace Across America (up for review next week) and No Mercy: A Journey to the Heart of the Congo, a gripping adventure that elicits an occasional “ewww!” (Palm-maggots, anyone?) In all three cases—in fact, in almost all my reading—I am able to enter the world of that book. It matters not if it is the fictional world of nineteenth century Russia or that of modern (and real) California geology.

And isn’t that what we are all looking for in our reading? The opportunity to enter a world created for us, real or not. The opportunity to travel and to leave behind any cares beyond those between the covers. I think so, and I believe that our reading—whatever it is and however and whenever we do it—is key to a satisfying life. Amazing, isn’t it, what well-arranged words can do?

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Where, oh where, is my muse, wonders Anne Michael in this week’s Seasoned Lightly. They both took a vacation recently, and came back at the same time. But it seems that her muse decided that more time off was a good thing so Anne has been seeking inspiration. And where do you think she found it? In books, of course.

The upcoming holiday can be a bittersweet one for Nicki Leone. Between memories of her northern family get-togethers with the traditional meal and the adopted holiday rituals of her now home-state of North Carolina, she has experienced both the thrill and the challenge of adaptation at its peak during the annual Thanksgiving food rituals. In A Reading Life this week, she offers a tribute to the foods and the woman who helped her appreciate her new tradition.

In Reviews & Reflections, Lisa Guidarini explores the need for and her journey in finding her own office within a crowded home. “I’m finally fulfilling a promise to myself,” she says, “I’m taking myself and my writing more seriously.” Serious she may be, but her approach is funny and memorable.

Growing up in Los Angeles in the 1950s and 1960s as I did meant trips to the beach in the summer, stomping around in the flooded streets (happily bootless) in winter, and watching the world turn upside down during the days of the 1964 Watts, Vietnam, peace marches and Richard Nixon. (“The country is going to hell in a handbasket,” my grandmothers used to complain while I rolled my eyes.) But there was also a steadiness in the news market then that no longer exists. One newscaster in particular defined Los Angeles news much as Walter Cronkite did national news, and for an even longer period of time. And he now has a book out about the world of television news as he lived it though most of the twentieth century. I review it this week in Bibliopinions.

John Updike is one of America’s most prolific contemporary writers, a chronicler of our cultural life,” as Henry Carrigan puts it this week in Readings where he reviews the writer’s newest collection. At well over 700 pages there’s no question it’s a doorstopper, but, according to Carrigan, a great one to pick up and read.

Libraries figure prominently in the lives of readers. How could they not? It was the place we learned we could choose and take home any books we wanted (allowing for the interference of overzealous librarians or parental controls). For me, the library, a lifelong habit, became a savior one day about ten years ago. This week, in On Marking Books, I look at a particular library bookmark from 1907, one of my beauties.

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Blogs of all kinds abound. A quick Google search of “literary blogs” turned up an astonishing 43,100. Even eliminating duplicate entries and articles about literary blogs, I am sure the count is still way, way beyond what anyone could consider when looking for an enjoyable blog to bookmark.

That is why, on our Book-Related Sites page, we attempt to bring you some of them. (Alas, even though the list is continually revised and updated it will never be able to contain even a small percentage of the worthy ones.) One of my favorites, however, is the extraordinary Classical Bookworm. This blog focuses on the classics—ancient, medieval, Renaissance, Enlightenment, 19th century, 20th century—as well as those in contemporary fiction and nonfiction. Her links are among the best I have ever seen, and her writing is enthralling. This is definitely worth checking out.

Until next week, read well, read often and read on!

Lauren