One Way to Stay Sane
The author of Cherry Cola Book Club remarks, “Going to the library to check out my novels has always been my great escape. I get to explore someone else’s mind for a while. It’s a very sane exercise.” 219
Of course, you can find great books in a bookstore and support the owner. Or, maybe you were gifted a tempting volume for a holiday or birthday. Either way, you can escape to another world.
My Recent Escapes
How to Read a Book, my review on Goodreads
Finishing Monica Wood’s How to Read a Book (2024) is like waking up from a fictive dream. I’ve turned the last page but the characters linger: Harriet Larson, who runs a prison book club, meets Violet Powell, a prisoner about to be released, and each discovers Frank Daigle, a retired machinist, now handyman in a bookstore in Portland, Maine, where they meet.
The plot feels intricate and unpredictable to me, a knitting of other characters like Dr. Mikhael Petrov, owner of a parrot laboratory where birds speak and human get tangled in sticky webs of their own making. Frank Daigle’s background as a machinist comes alive in Wood’s description of his tool and die department. Not surprisingly, the author’s acknowledgements include reference to her research at the Precision Machining and Manufacturing department at Southern Maine Community College. In the book’s credits, she also writes a note to readers about the animal-intelligence research of Dr. Irene Pepperberg, whose studies of African grey parrots make the fictional Dr. Petrov’s lab come alive.
As the book flap suggests, How to Read a Book explores themes of letting go of guilt, finding forgiveness, seizing second changes, and understanding the power of books to change lives, particularly The Spoon River Anthology, which the book clubbers discuss. Readers are also treated to gorgeous character descriptions: “Violet’s aunt, . . . a rickety blonde in a black tank top that exposed sunburned arms. She clutched a small white purse that she used as punctuation.” And this: “The phone jounced perilously along the edge of the mantel as it spewed a staticky version of that awful song [“Dancing Queen”] coming to rest just short of a plunge to the floor.”
I will forever cherish the character of Harriet Larson, a former English teacher, who asks the female prison inmates questions about books they are reading; for example, If you were God, would you alter the facts for these characters? Do books change depending on when and where we read them? And finally: Why do people tell stories? Author Monica Wood proves that our stories matter greatly in her outstanding seventh novel, How to Read a Book.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/62365896
Heart of a Stranger, my review on Goodreads
In the book Heart of a Stranger, Rabbi Angela Buchdahl introduces herself as the daughter of a Korean Buddhist mother and Jewish American father. In the course of the book, she charts her uneven path from outsider to officiant, to feeling often estranged, and ultimately to knowing she is embraced. Heart of a stranger is both memoir and spiritual guide. Every chapter is followed by a Hebrew word and a companion teaching. For example, in the chapter where she meets her husband at Yale, “Boy in the Pink Parka” is paired with a short homily on “Kadosh—Holiness.”
She describes herself as a Korean, Jewish, female rabbi—an immigrant—the first Asian American rabbi to serve as the Senior Rabbi of Central Synagogue in Manhattan, New York City, one of the largest synagogues in the world. Jews are biblically referred to as God’s Chosen people. In one chapter, Buchdahl states that “chosenness is not about being chosen above others.” Rather, it’s coming to understand who we are and what we are charged to do. She concludes, “Divine Chosenness [is] not inevitably conferred; we have to choose to be Chosen.” 309
In her work as a rabbi, Buchdahl has had to reckon with race, face the pandemic with her congregation just as she is preparing for a sabbatical, deal with a terrorist with a gun ready to pounce, and sympathize with parishioners on October 7, 2024, during Hamas militants’ unprovoked attack on Israel.
At least a half dozen times in the text, Buchdahl uses the phrase Heart of a Stranger, the book’s title. She admits, “If we recognize that every one of us carries the heart of a stranger, maybe we’d finally grasp that our need for belonging is the starting point for a common humanity.” 271
I was struck by the author’s emphasis on one’s need for community: “We are not meant to go through life alone, nor are we able to discover our highest purpose by ourselves; friendships are our engines, our oxygen, our lighthouse in the harbor; they deserve tending.” 207
Angela’s unique story touches the head, heart, and soul—the latter word a homonym of Seoul, her birthplace in South Korea. Filled with tolerance, kindness, and hope, Heart of a Stranger, Angela’s full-throated voice speaks to the crying needs of our time. The author has chosen to publish her amazing story, like the Old Testament Esther, for such a time as this. Readers of all creeds can be touched by Rabbi Buchdahl’s story, indeed, an unlikely rabbi’s story of faith, identity, and belonging, just as her subtitle suggests.
(Recommended by my walking partner, Barbara Teitelman)
***
A Nod to my Friend author Marsha Ingrao, who reviewed my first memoir, Mennonite Daughter on her blog this month.
This engaging memoir takes the reader from the origins of the Anabaptist movement in 1525 Zurich to the author’s childhood and coming of age in the 1940s and 1950s in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Blending church history with intimate family stories, Marian offers a compelling insider’s view of Mennonite life—its traditions and discipline.
Readers are drawn into a world shaped by faith and firm expectations, especially for girls and women. One of the stories she told was that she had worked all summer picking tomatoes and was promised a bike for her birthday. After months of building up, the moment of her bike’s arrival, the day came. Her proud dad presented her with a damaged used bike. She was devastated by the disappointment to the point that she had to leave the room to keep her tears from spilling over.
You can read the rest of Marsha’s review on her blog.
© Cliff Beaman, artist
Another Way to Stay Sane: Host a Triple Birthday Party
Host a birthday party with friends younger than you are—say, perhaps, 10 or 20 years younger.
In early January, artist Cliff turned 83. When you’re an octogenarian, every birthday is cause for celebration! Here, at our house, are some snapshots of the celebrant with two couples (in their 60s and 70s) from our church on the eve of birthdays for all three: Cliff and Gary & Joanne. Six people, altogether.
You’ll see Marian with her table set for guests, hors d’oeuvres on the kitchen bar, a brightly-hued vegetable salad; goofy birthday boy sporting a sample of the blue-booties gift he got to stay sanitary while he helps “schlepping” groceries from car to kitchen.
And, finally, videos with delightful Donna flashing her HALLELUJAH singing card; Gary, Joanne, and Cliff singing the birthday song to each other! Delightful Donna dances with a card, shouting HALLELUJAH!
Gary and Joanne, a couple each with a January birthday, joyfully sing the birthday song
A merry heart doeth good like a medicine.
King James Version
What books are you reading nowadays?
Any comments about the birthday party at our house—or another you attended?
Good morning, Marian!
The books sound interesting. Thank you for sharing.
Cliff’s birthday celebration looks like it was so much fun, and your friends are delightful here. It looks like the birthday boy and all of you had a wonderful time!
Merril, this was an extra long post this week. Thanks for taking it all in! 😀
You’re welcome, Marian! 😊
(Thank you for always reading mine.)
What a wonderful birthday party with friends. Life is to be celebrated. Happy belated birthday to Cliff!! I love to escape into a good book. These all look very good. I am currently reading Pachinko, by Min Jin Lee; a riveting family saga about Koreans living in Japan in mid 20th century. Excellent! I just finished Moloka’i, by Alan Brennert, a story that takes place in Hawaii from early to mid 20th century. Another excellent read. My review is here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/7254946499 Happy reading!
Darlene, I’m always on the lookout for a good read. Thanks to you, I’ve put Brennert’s first book about Hawaii on hold at the library.
I know we both enjoy Pachinko, as you say, a riveting family saga. Thanks for extending the conversation here–twice a month! 😀
I’m reading I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings and I’m amazed that I never read it before. I love the book and haven’t finished, I’m trying to hang on to it. Did you ever do that…. want to save it rather than get it done?? Anyway, I’m envious of your January birthday party–although I should add we were blessed to spend last Saturday with our January birthday boy who turned 10 and were able to drive to Falls Church Va. and back again without any snow … which started about 11 p.m. that night.
When I published this post early this morning, the last paragraph of Monica Wood’s review got chopped off. RATS!
The part I restored (just now) says, in part:
Do books change depending on when and where we read them?
So maybe your appreciation is deeper now for Maya Angelou’s book than if you had read it, say, in college.
Like us, you make sure your connection to your grandsons is secure. It’s worth the drive to enjoy the celebration. Again, thanks for your comment, Melodie. 😀
I was introduced to Elif Shafak by my friend Tina. I read her book The Island of the Missing Trees. Learned a lot about Cyprus and the division into Greek and Turk areas. Very creative imagining of a fig tree perspective. Good writing, but I find it does not persist in my memory. I had to look up the title and refresh my memory of the names. As I get closer to 80 myself, I find that my response to reading is not like my teenage response or my English major or English professor response. It’s been a long time since I “got lost” in a book. I’m a little sad about that. I still read and write every day, but more of it is online and less with a real book by the fire.
You are still sharp, Shirley, but like you, I find retrieval is harder these days. The best we can do is keep reading & writing, which you still enjoy doing.
Right now I’m reading Lisa Rogak’s Propaganda Girls about four women courageously using their wits and smarts through the OSS, Office of Strategic Services, during World War II. It won’t be by the fire and I’ll have to wait till my vision clears from my eye injections this morning. But, I’ll get to it. . . eventually! 😀
Shirley, I really enjoyed Elif Shafak’s “There are Rivers in the Sky.” Maybe it’s similar to the novel you read but with a focus on water. Just found it in the library one day while browsing.
I will check on these titles, thanks to both of you.
Happy birthday, Cliff! And Marian, I’m currently reading “How to Read a Book” and LOVING it!
I like that we’re “on the same page,” Laurie. (So glad we are still connected, here and there, after all these years. 😀
Oh my goodness, Mariann, this post is just full of so many delights! The love of books, A Jewish theologian, African grey parrots, the joy of celebrating octogenarian birthdays….!
I love this:
“chosenness is not about being chosen above others. Rather, it’s coming to understand who we are and what we are charged to do. She concludes, “Divine Chosenness [is] not inevitably conferred; we have to choose to be Chosen.”
We are on the same wave length, Elfrieda, and thanks for saying so here!
I do think you’d enjoy Heart of a Stranger, both memoir and spiritual guide. Rabbi Buchdahl understands so well what it means to find and then pursue one’s purpose in life. Thanks, always, for reading and commenting here. 😀
I’d say Cliff had a birthday party for the ages! Congratulations on your latest review for Mennonite Daughter.
You are welcome! It wasn’t a milestone birthday (with a “5” or a “0,”) but we have new friends who love to celebrate, a very good thing at our age. 😀
Any excuse for a party!
You certainly know how to hostess a birthday party! Lots of revelry. That looks like carrot cake. Did you make it? The laughter is contagious – I smiled all the way here in the Boston area. I also put How to Read a Book in my library e-book list. I’m # 5 so that’s not too long a wait. I love Cliff’s cartoon for the sad story in Marsha’s review of my book. We never forget those childhood disappointments. I think as adults we’re more prepared for them, knowing that “we can’t always get what we want.”
Happy birthday to Cliff. He looks faaaabulous!
Thanks for sharing the birthday joy. No, I did not make the carrot cake, and yes, I will pass the compliment on to Cliff.
You will enjoy How to Read a Book–both entertaining and informative, the best kind of “escape.”
Stay warm in Boston, Pam! 😀
The photo of Cliff laughing while he looks at what I assume is a birthday card makes me feel good all over. There’s nothing better than seeing pictures of joy and laughter.
You’ve been a busy reader. Harriet Larson sounds like a terrific character.
Birthdays bring out the goofiness in Cliff. Friends help too.
Reading takes my mind away from the ordinary. Teachers like Harriet Larson lead the way. Thanks for pointing that out, Pete. 😀
Thanks for the shoutout, Marian. Your husband’s birthday party looks fabulous. Vince’s 80th will be coming up soon. Time to start planning! I loved the book by Monica Wood. One of the my best reads of 2025 along with your charming book, which I adored. Cliff looks like a man who enjoys life. May he live to be 100+ enjoying every second of it!
Marsha, usually our birthday celebrations are rather tame, compared to this: lunch at a nice restaurant, a small gift.
Recently, a couple at our church invited us to a “Table for Six”-type arrangement. Folks gather at each other’s homes once a month for dinner, alternately among the group to get to know each other better. January was my month to host, with Cliff’s birthday occurring on the 9th. Then, I found out another couple each had birthdays too, so the party accelerated into what you see here.
Thanks for your good wishes for Cliff; I’ll pass it on. We are both climbing the ladder of the 80s with aches and pains, but fortunately we have friends to goad us on!
I appreciate your support so very much, Marsha! 😀
We are not far behind you. Vince will be 80 this year.im wondering what to do for him. He’s not a party guy. Keep up the inspiration!!!
Thanks again! (Maybe draw our family members into the planning.) 😀
Yes, that’s always a good idea. 🙂 xxx
Happy belated birthday to Cliff. What a delightful celebration.
You have been busy with books! I love your eclectic taste. They all sound very interesting! Glad you enjoyed them.
L. Marie, I know you stay busy writing and editing, probably full time, but you are a reader also.
I appreciate your faithfully stopping by! Yes, I do have eclectic tastes. Gotta keep my mind busy and out of trouble–ha!
FUN! What a great evening with friends; these truly are the best times, Marian. And happy birthday to Cliff! I also covet that blue/green lit Happy Birthday sign!!! I think I need one, haha. 😊 Thanks for your new list of book recommendations. I just started Take Me Back to Chicago by Doug. E Jones. I caught him as a guest on Vicki Atkinson’s podcast. It’s set in my favorite city and my favorite decade (the 70s) so it was hard to resist. I think your new year started off perfectly. 💕
The backstory: I love the lighted Happy Birthday” sign too. The Hallelujah singer provided that as well. I’m sure you could find it somewhere on the internet though.
Congratulations on finding a book that’s a great fit for you, the perfect escape, Melanie! 😀
Ha! I see what you did there. 😉👏 Thanks so much, Marian (and I’m going to start the online search for that sign.)
Great!
Sounds like you all had a great and merry time, Marian!! No time yet to read for me, but I did attend a birthday party recently: my mother-in-law’s 90th!!!
I’m happy to hear you can connect with Mark’s family again, I think in Massachusetts. Reaching age 90 is very special but no longer rare any more. I will have to check your website soon to see your coordinates–always changing–ha! Thanks, Liesbet!
What a fun post Marian. Your book reviews are enticing, and I enjoyed the mini vid clips from Cliff’s birthday. He looks great. Wishing him many more. 🧡
Thanks for your comment about the birthday party; I know it comes from a place of grace, Debby.
About the books, I don’t review all my books read, but do share the ones I think others would enjoy. 😀
Hi Marian, Happy birthday to Cliff. 83, wow! He’s only a bit younger than my mom. I think he looks younger. Your table setting is gorgeous. The party looks fun and the singing is a lovely touch.
Thanks for joining the celebration here with your comment, much appreciated, Robbie! 😀