WHAT I'M READING V. 40

1. The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey

This is January's book club reading and I gobbled this one up in nearly one sitting! It's about an older couple that moved to Alaska to farm new land in the 1920s, both wanting but unable to have children. As soon as I started the book, I was transported into the cold winter life of Jack and Mabel, and I hurried to make myself a cup of milky tea.  I finished the rest of the book, accompanied by cupfuls of tea, entranced by the story and the writing.  Afterward, I was left with a haunting sadness. It's not a short book, but simple and precise, in the most evocative and lovely way.


2. Life of the Beloved by Henri Nouwen

I had this pressed into my hands by a friend years ago but haven't been able to read it until recently, and I deeply regretted that I hadn't read it earlier.  This book was written as a letter to Nouwen's Jewish and intellectual friend, who asked Nouwen to write about the Spirit in a way that him and his friends could understand.  Nouwen proceeds to write this letter and say that the best way he knows how to explain his religion and spirituality is to say that we are all beloved by God. He goes on further to say it is helpful to him to think of his relationship with God as being taken, blessed, broken and given. It was a helpful book to me in articulating some of the things I've been thinking about in regards to my faith lately.


3. The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel Van Der Kolk, MD

A friend told me she was reading this book a couple of years ago in preparation for fostering and I requested the book at the library and was on hold at the library for months before it finally came in.  It must be a popular book and rightly so. It's a very thorough explanation of trauma and it's effects. Insightful and powerful, I think it would be extremely helpful for all parents and educators.


4. Cannery Row by John Steinbeck

This is a John Steinbeck I've never read before, and it was such a pleasure to read now.  I've been making it a point to read or re-read classics, and I find that my appreciation is deeper than it was 15-20 years ago when I first encountered them. John Steinbeck's East of Eden is one I read 15 years ago and loved, and then re-read 5 years ago with a completely different feeling and response - it's fascinating how books can mark one's change in this way. Cannery Row is about nothing and it's a about everything; vivid and sharply written, you can trust you're in capable hands.