Category Archives: Books

Books

Revisiting the classics, or old familiar favorites

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Have you ever revisited an old familiar favorite book, or a classic that you read years ago as a school assignment? Were your reactions similar to when you first read it, or has the wisdom of the years made you view it differently? For example, this summer’s LICL book group read Edith Wharton’s House of Mirth. One of the group members had read this in high school, 50 years ago, and when she attended her 50th high school reunion, talked to her classmates about the book. I had read this book several years ago as part of another LICL book group (an offshoot of Bo Burke’s classics book group, where some of us decided that women writers weren’t being represented). All I remembered is that the ending wasn’t happy, and rereading it brought the same confirmation. Watching the movie version, though, made for a more visual imprint of the story on my mind.

I also recently reread “Tarzan of the Apes” by Edgar Rice Burroughs, which I had read in my late teenage years. I had loved the first book so much that I ended up reading the entire series (26 books), as all the books were such rip-roaring yarns. Re-reading the first in the series reminded me of how much of a rip-roaring yarn it was, but I also found it to be very melodramatic and somewhat racist. Still, it was fun to read, and we may continue reading more of the series at some point, as the first book is kind of a cliff-hanger (will Tarzan and Jane stay together? Well, we know what happens, but the how makes it intriguing).

It’s not often that I re-read a book, but there are some that stay in my memory, so they are worth reading again. I have searched out books that I read as a child, and if they are well-written, they still bring a thrill to my soul, even if I remember the basic plot.

What are some books that you have reread recently, or just books that you return to from time to time?

Books

Authors on the Bay: Steven English

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For those of you who regularly ride down the bay, you may have been intrigued to see a young man with earphones constantly scribbling notes into a notebook, and wondered what he was up to. Well, I would like to introduce you to Steven English, a writer who lives at Diamond Cove. You may have also seen him at Andy’s, the waterfront waterhole for many islanders, where he has worked the past 6 years as a server. But his true passion is writing, and he finds living on Casco Bay to be a perfect setting for this author. Originally from Edison, New Jersey, where his “Class of 85” series takes place (name changed to “Whitfield”), Steve has been writing since he was young, but started his “Class of 85” series in 1999. Written in diary form, these books take place in high school years, and show the different lives and perspectives of high schoolers. There are 5 books published, with 1 or 2 more in the works. Steve self-publishes his books through Amazon and Kindle, which has a paperback division.

Living on an island and commuting by ferry to work allows him the chance to really relax and slow down, and write. When he’s not on the island or working, you can find him at any of the many cafes in Portland, enjoying coffee while absorbing conversations around him, which gives him inspiration and ideas. Steve does not lack in ideas – he has many thoughts in his head. They start there, and then he hand writes them in his notebooks. From there he puts them on computer, and edits, edits, edits. While most of his books take place in 80s New Jersey, he also has some other themes in his books, such as time travel. He does have an idea for a book that takes place in Casco Bay, so stay tuned for that one! In the meantime, Steve says to his fellow island community, “Keep reading!” And he would also love feedback on any of his current books.

Books

LICL summer book group 2019

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It’s that time again! This summer’s choice of book is Edith Wharton’s novel, “The House of Mirth.”  Please join us as we examine the status of women in the “Gilded Age” and follow Lily Bart as she struggles between her search for a meaningful relationship and the indignities of the “marriage market.”

Please sign up at the library if you would like to participate. We will meet on Mondays at 7:00 PM in the small library meeting room, beginning with August 5th, then the 12th and 19th. Please call Penny Murley 766-5931 for more information.

Books

Autism in fiction

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I’ve recently been reading a slew of books that deal with lead characters that are on the autism spectrum, most recently “Ginny Moon” by Benjamin Ludwig. Writing in the first person is quite an exercise for the reader – at least for me, as it makes me feel slightly autistic myself. Another recent read was “Eleanor Oliphant is completely fine” by Gail Honeyman – while Eleanor may not technically be autistic (Asperger’s), she does seem to lack basic social clues. Don Tillman, in “The Rosie Project” by Graeme Simsion, is also a brilliant narrator who misses obvious social clues, but somehow still wins the girl. One of the first books that I read which also had this type of  first person narrator with autism: “The curious incident of the dog in the night-time,” by Mark Haddon. All of these books have an amazing ability to put yourself into the every day world of someone with autism (and many of these can be found at the Long Island Community Library).

Books

Quarry: The Collected Poems of Peter Kilgore

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In honor of National Poetry Month, we are pleased to announce that one of our island poets has a new book out. Peter was the brother of Nancy Berges, Michael Kilgore, and Mervin Kilgore, and father of Shawnee Kilgore, who sometimes delights Long Islanders with her musical gifts. This book will be available at the Long Island Community Library.

 

Quarry: The Collected Poems of Peter Kilgore
Peter Kilgore; Bruce Holsapple and Dana Wilde, eds.
North Country Press

Peter Kilgore (1940-1992) was a well-known figure in Portland, Maine’s literary underground in the 1970s and ’80s. His taut, crisply imagistic poetry of the Maine coast and wilderness areas appeared during his lifetime in many regional publications and in several books and chapbooks, including The Bar Harbor Suite (Blackberry Books) and Drinking Wine Out of the Wind. All of Peter’s published poems and many he left in manuscript are offered for the first time together in Quarry. A graduate of Bowdoin College, Peter was a founder of the Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance, a teacher, and a contributing editor for Contraband, one of Maine’s most influential small magazines. His poetry reflects a deep reverence for Maine’s natural world, particularly his relationship to the sea and Casco Bay. His poems are likely to register profoundly for a long time to come, and Quarry secures Peter’s place in the literary history of Portland, and Maine.

Books

The tale of two first ladies

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One of the members of my book group suggested we read Laura Bush’s autobiography Spoken from the heart. An island friend saw me reading it, and lent me her copy of Michelle Obama’s Becoming. So, back to back, I read two amazing autobiographies about two amazing women, who happened to be First Ladies of the United States. They both struggled with infertility, and then went on to have two daughters – Laura’s daughters were off in college when the Bushes were in office, but Sasha and Malia Obama spent their youthful years living in the White House. Laura grew up an only child in Texas, to middle class parents. Michelle’s tight knit working class family of 4 lived in Chicago’s South Side. Laura was a teacher and librarian, and Michelle a lawyer and director of non-profits. Both rose to the occasion and pursued their passions – Laura for libraries and literature, and Michelle for military families and children’s fitness and nutrition.

Politics aside, both these women were very popular first ladies. I enjoyed both books, but Michelle’s story was more gripping, both from her personal perspective on life, and also the challenges she faced in being a black woman in today’s society. My favorite part of her book is when she met Barack, and fell in love with him. As someone who has always been a huge fan of Barack Obama, I totally got that part. But Laura’s story gave me a new appreciation for the Bush family and Bush years in the White House. The two stories link together in Michelle’s description of the passing of the baton from the Bushes to the Obamas, how the entire transaction was tinged with kindness, which came across so much in Spoken from the Heart.

Books

Favorite books of 2018: a top 10 list

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According to Goodreads, in 2018 I read 49 books. The shortest book, “Owls in the family” by one of our favorite writers, Farley Mowat, was 91 pages. The longest book, at 640 pages, was “Prairie fires: the American dream” by Caroline Fraser – a book about Laura Ingalls Wilder, the beloved children’s book author. The average length of book was 286 pages (probably because the book group I belong to in Portland makes a practice of reading books that are less than 300 pages long). The most popular book was “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” by Mark Twain, read by 1,162,980 people on Goodreads – we read this book for the Long Island Community Library’s summer book group, led by Jean Murley. The least popular book was “Native gems for his crown” by Gary Klumpenhower, which was read by 3 people on Goodreads. Gary Klumpenhower was the pastor of the First Navajo Christian Reformed Church in Tohatchi, New Mexico, where my grandfather was pastor in the early 20th century.

Choosing my favorite 10 books out of these 49 is difficult, but these were some of the ones I enjoyed most, choosing half that are fiction, and half that are non-fiction. Most of these can be found at the Long Island Community Library.


Ross Poldark / by Winston Graham. Okay, so I did read this book picturing Aiden Turner as Poldark, and Eleanor Tomlinson as Demelza. But I loved reading this first book of the series, which takes place in Cornwall, several centuries ago. My favorite Poldark season on PBS was the first one, so it was a delight to read the growing love story between the two main characters. Unlike the television show, it’s wonderful to hear (read) the characters’ thoughts along the way, adding a new dimension to a favorite story.


On living / by Kerry Egan. Kerry Egan is a hospice chaplain, and these are stories about her patients, as well as her own philosophy and thoughts on living, and dying. But rather than being a depressing book, it is so uplifting. Often funny, sometimes sad, Kerry not only shares her patient’s stories, but also brings in her own traumatic story that helped to shape her professionally and personally. She shares the mistakes she made, as well as the beauty one finds at the end of life. This book is a joy to read (and at only 206 pages in a small book, it’s a quick read).

City of thieves / by David Benioff. Two unlikely friends during WWII in search of eggs – good writing and humor tempered the grimness of the background of war and starvation. I stayed up late one night to finish as I wanted to find out what happened to Lev after “the week he met my grandmother, made his best friend, and killed two Germans.” (Mostly wanted to find out which character he married, which I guessed correctly).
Ironically, when I was reading this book, Michael and I took a road trip from Maine to Vermont along country roads, and saw so many signs for “eggs for sale.” I had to remind myself that I was reading a novel, that the two characters wouldn’t need to find eggs in northern New England.

Bonjour Kale: a memoir of Paris, love, and recipes / by Kristen Beddard. Even if you aren’t a major kale eater (I prefer my kale in the Maine Squeeze’s smoothie “Kale Storm”), you will love this book, if you are a fan of great writing. Kristen ends up living in Paris when her husband gets a job there – you will suffer along with her as she struggles with the language and culture and tries to find her path, which ends up being: kale! This is also a wonderful story of falling in love – not just with her husband, but with life in France, which doesn’t come easily to this author expatriate. And yes, there are recipes, mostly featuring kale (of course).

Hitty: her first hundred years / by Rachel Field. What a wonderful book! I finally read it, after all these years of being a Maine resident, and lover of Maine literature, especially children’s literature. I was not disappointed or bored, but instead relished the adventures of Hitty, a most resilient doll, who suffered all sorts of indignities, but somehow survived, with great cheer. Who knows what tales she could continue to tell, 90 years after this book was originally published in 1929? Rachel Field (1894-1942), a Maine author, is known to us islanders for her poem, “If once you have slept on an island” (you’ll never be the same). There are lovely illustrations, too, by Dorothy P. Lathrop.

Grateful: the transformative power of giving thanks / by Diana Butler Bass. This is a timely book – just what we should all be reading in these times, when gratitude (and a little prayer) is the best way to get through. Who would have thought a whole book about gratitude would be so interesting … and uplifting? I actually went to college with Diana – she was a senior while I was a lowly freshman. I don’t think she remembers me, but I do remember her kindness to me, as a newcomer to academia.

The sisters from Hardscrabble Bay / by Beverly Jenson. Alanna Rich lent me this book, which she has a personal connection to (you’ll have to ask her about it sometime). This book about two sisters who grew up in New Brunswick and Maine during the early 20th century, is written with humor and love, as they are based on family members of the author.

A homemade life: stories and recipes from my kitchen table / by Molly Wizenberg. I picked this up at the Art & Soul booksale this summer, and brought it with me on a trip out to Washington State to visit family. It was the perfect book for traveling, especially since Molly lives in Seattle, and got married in Bellingham, where my mother lives. This book was so entertaining and fun to read, it really brought me joy.

Eleanor Oliphant is completely fine / by Gail Honeyman. Nancy Jordan recommended this book in her “Library suggests” and I finally took her advice. Although initially I had my doubts, as the characters seemed very unlikeable, it definitely grew on me, as Eleanor’s heart opens up to the world around her, and she overcomes her difficult past.

Skein: the heartbreaks and triumphs of a long distance knitter / by Christen Mattix. Reading this book felt much like being there with Christen, over the four year stretch of knitting her blue line to the bay (which was supposed to take three months), as it had a meditative feel to the book. I loved this book for many reasons: her spiritual aspect of life and deepness of thought, her beautiful writing, and mostly for her success at creating community, something which is abundance here on Long Island, on the other side of the country from Bellingham, Washington, where this book takes place. My sister, who lives in nearby Ferndale, gave me this book as an early Christmas gift – and presented it to me at the actual bench where Christen knit her blue line. So, now I can picture where all of this happened (in a beautiful neighborhood, where I would love to live), and as a knitter myself, I could appreciate the knitting aspect of the book, also.

I hope these books find their way to your bedside table, or at least make you think about what books you enjoyed most last year. Happy New Year, and may all your books spark joy! (or at least provoke thought)

Books

Two women, two countries – American wives abroad in the mid-20th century

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One of my favorite places to acquire books is in the free book box in front of Maine Charitable Mechanic Association – these books, weeded from the MCMA book collection, are ripe for the picking, and often include many wonderful travel books written in the mid-20th century. Two of these books caught my eye, and I enjoyed reading each one, savoring stories of women living abroad, with their husbands leading the way.


One of the books was Amalia Lindal’s “Ripples from Iceland,” published in 1962. Amalia met her Icelandic husband in college, married him, and moved to Iceland, where she proceeded to have 4 children, all boys (and apparently there was a 5th child born after the book was published). The book covers the years 1949 to 1961, and Amalia’s perspective alternates between personal stories of her life there, and her general insight and opinions about Icelandic life. The photo on the back shows her with her husband and four young boys – although she has a smile on her face, she appears somewhat exhausted, and for good reason! Not only raising children and running a household, but also negotiating a difficult language and foreign culture, not to mention very traditional women’s roles – fortunately her good humor probably saved her. As usual, after I finished the book, I wanted to know what happened to her. Sadly, rather than spending the rest of her life in Iceland, as she intended, she left in 1972 – divorced her husband, moved to Toronto, and remarried. She instructed “Short Story Writing” at the University of Toronto, and was a free-lance writer. She died sometime before 1985.

The second book I picked up was Elizabeth Warnock Fernea’s “A view from the Nile” published in 1970. In this case, Elizabeth, or “B.J.” married an American man, Robert A. Fernea, an anthropologist – they initially lived in Iraq, while he was working on his doctorate. This book was written about their life in Egypt – she is pregnant in the beginning of the book, and by the end of the book she has had three children. She has less general observations about Egyptian life than Amalia about Icelandic life, but the impressions of local life are quite interesting and entertaining. B.J. knew this was a temporary part of her life, which may have made it a more special time. They came home to America in 1965, and she went on to become “an influential writer and filmmaker who spent much of her life in the field producing numerous ethnographies and films that capture the struggles and turmoil of African and Middle Eastern cultures” (Wikipedia). She died in 2008.

Both these books offer an interesting perspective on what life was like in these vastly different countries, and how these women negotiated marriage and motherhood while living in places totally foreign to their usual lives at home in America.

Books

LICL Summer 2018 Book Group

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What is a perfect summer read? How about “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”? Jean Murley is returning to our island to lead this book group in August. Jean, the daughter of Penny and Curt Murley, is a an associate professor of English at Queensborough Community College in New York.

Come join us this month on Tuesday evenings (Aug. 7, 14, and 21, from 7-8 p.m.) at the Long Island Community Library small meeting room, for what promises to be a fun and scintillating conversation about one of America’s best loved books (and also on the banned book list)

 

Books, Libraries

Art and Soul July 21 2018

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The Long Island Community Library is in the midst of preparing for this year’s library fundraiser: Art and Soul. Yesterday a group of us sorted books into categories in one of the classrooms – categories include gardening, travel, cookbooks and food, biographies, history, children’s books, puzzles, and self-help books. Baskets are being created for raffling off. Annie is working away on gathering delicious food items to sell. Jeanne is hanging some beautiful artwork for the silent auction. So, mark your calendars! and come support your favorite island library.