Musings on...My Top Five
When Revisiting the Past Reinforces the Books that Bind
I’ve always been bookish, and I had a habit of writing reports on books and topics I loved. I actually assigned myself the task of writing book reports for no grade or recognition. In my free time, for fun. I can’t make this stuff up, it’s too embarrassing, and who would admit to such unless it was true. As an adult, I turned my teenage habit into its modern iteration- a book blog. Let’s be honest: a book blog is just a book report with SEO. I had tons of fun, meeting great authors and publishers and getting the inside scoop of new releases. There was nothing better than book mail. My favorite was the annual trip to Book Expo. Once, someone insinuated it was prom for book nerds. It’s a snarky parallel, but the jokes on you because grown booknerds can really party. It is a total mood, but what happens at the library, stays at the library. After some technical issues beyond my coding ability, my website imploded. I was dragging my feet deciding if I should have it redesigned, until I thought of this Substack. Since I’m always musing about books, I’ll just house it here alongside my other miscellany and revisit some original posts from time to time. Substack is also free, so my decision may have been heavily influenced, but thanks for nothing GoDaddy Tech Support.
Originally published August 4, 2015. Re-reading this I’m surprised that this list is still solid. I can certainly expand to a top 10, but I won’t replace any of my starting lineup.
August 4, 2015
I spent last week at the International Women's Success Conference getting information and inspiration on how to grow professionally for the rest of this year. Over the course of 3 days, I met many wonderful businesswomen.
After the requisite pleasantries with a certain young lady, she asked what I was working on. When I told her I wrote a blog about the books I love to read, she asked something no one has ever asked me before: "What is your favorite book?"
I was delighted and taken aback. I was delighted, because any time I can talk about what I'm reading, I geek-out. I was surprised, because I've never been asked to choose the top book in my library. For days, the question continued to poke at me...did I have a favorite? Crowning a favorite book is worse than choosing between my children. I only have two children, but I have a lot of books. And I have no problem saying what other parents lie about. I love my children equally and infinitely, but I like each one for specific, individually-driven reasons. So, I've come up with a list of my 5 favorite books, all of which I love, but hold a place in my heart for different reasons. Think about your list as I share mine. Enjoy!
The Age of Innocence
The Belle Epoque is one of my favorite time periods. The idea of Old New York society, straining to keep the civilized traditions of European culture as the world they’ve known changes offers a delicious friction, which Edith Wharton masterfully manipulates. Wharton traditionally pokes fun at the restraining gilded cage of her parents' generation in favor of more modern ideals, but in this novel, family obligations override desire as Newland Archer sets aside his passion for the renegade Countess Oleska to marry the socially acceptable May. Oleska is foreign to the conventions of the time, a woman whose actions are within her right, but put her outside polite society. As the rich retreated into their cocoon of frivolousness, trying to ignore the realities of pending war and economic shifts occurring around them, they developed the most ridiculous code of ethics and manners. This novel places you into a restrictive world where behavior as simple as a lady taking off her glove has great significance and repercussions. The Old World that Wharton describes seems just as imaginary as Crichton's Jurassic Park. To read her is to be transported. Even Scorsese was under Wharton’s spell. His movie’s sumptuous interiors provide cover for restrained and repressed romance.
The Fitzgeralds and the Kennedys: An American Saga
I borrowed this book from the library and never returned it. I could not let it go, so I just paid the library their asking price. This book begins with the tale of two immigrant families and ends with the election of that lineage to the highest office in the land. (Drake has some thoughts about starting at the bottom) In between, Doris Kearns Goodwin leads us through the growth of America, the immigrant experience, the upbringing of Rose and Joseph, their social alliance of a marriage and the shrewd accumulation of a massive fortune. We see Rose as a young mother, struggling to handle 5 children alone as Joseph paves a trail in finance. We learn the values and practices that built that infamous Kennedy hubris. It's such a large epic novel, I remember thinking-will I ever finish this book? I eventually did, and it was such an exhilarating ride that I became a Doris Kearns Goodwin fan for life. She fills the page with thorough research, but deftly keeps boredom at bay as you realize that you are learning history and character at the same time. If this was the only book she ever wrote, she would still be an enviable historian, but the fact that she has also produced equally interesting portraits on Lincoln (used as the source material for the movie with Daniel Day Lewis), both Roosevelts and Lyndon Johnson, makes her my author girl crush.
The Great Gatsby
I adore this book-to me it is the great American novel. I read it in 7th grade and have loved it ever since. I consider Gatsby the model of the American male: self-made, brash and confident, with an unsettling melancholy for the unattainable dream-: a love that feels within his grasp and outside his reach at the same time. It is true, Gatsby was too good for the lot of them. It's a Shakespearean (another favorite author) tragedy waiting to happen, and as a reader, you know it won't end well, but you want the happy ending anyway. I remember being devastated by this book, and I've seen the movie (Redford and DiCaprio) more times than I can count. Fitzgerald is a supreme wordsmith, and The Great Gatsby has some of the most quotable lines in literature. My personal favorite is "Her voice is full of money". To be able to draw so full a character picture in so few words is one of the reasons this small book has such a large imprint in literary study.
7 Kinds of Smart
If anything dampens your love of reading, college will. The non-stop required reading and the requisite regurgitation of information can reduce the love of the written word to dust in your brain. I read this book in college, and it is one of the few books I remember from that time in my life. (What class assigned it???) This book lays out the premise that everyone has a particular "way" of reasoning, learning and absorbing information. This "way" is your personal brand of intelligence or smart and once you identify that "smart", you can unlock the key of how to make learning and life easier. This idea blew my mind!!!!! It is a revelatory read that can help anyone-students, educators, parents and managers work to bring out the best in any individual. The information is fundamental, but the publishers are smart enough to keep expanding the book with updated information. I gave a copy to every friend I had and continue to recommend it, especially to parents, as an essential to any library.
Success Secrets of a Reader
I spent most of my life like everyone else, reading for fun. For me, reading was a hobby that I enjoyed, except for my college career, when reading was used as a torture device. With this book, I learned that reading is an active tool you can use to grow yourself and your life. It informed me that reading is a conduit to experiences, ideas and thoughts as a blueprint. Oh, so this thing I did for fun is actually a road map that I can use, determining my destination by thoughtfully selecting what I read. Brilliant!!! I have been asked why I feature non-fiction books when fiction book blogs garner more followers. I love fiction and hold many fiction books dear (selections above), but in the non-fiction world I can choose stories and heroes that actually exist and with their literary breadcrumbs, I can forge a trail of exciting living as a model for myself. I firmly believe truth is stranger (and more interesting) than fiction, but also more motivating.
Your turn: Share the books you love, read and recommend over and over again
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