Summer is coming.  It is time to pick out books to read.  “I don’t have time to read”, you say?  HA!  Those who know me realize that I will not accept that answer.  I find it ridiculous.  If I find the time then you can also.

Here are a few suggestions….

Don’t watch so much TV.  Don’t get me wrong.  I love watching television and movies but like I said…summer is coming.  All the shows will be in reruns.  My suggestion is to read a novel that has been made into a movie.  When you have finished it, then watch the movie.  It’s fun to compare the two.  Here are a few examples….

“I have to travel so much”, you say.  Oh, I say, and your mode of transportation?  Automobile?  How about an audio book?  I listen to audio books all the time even when I’m just riding around town, emptying the dishwasher, or knitting.  Literary multi-tasking.  Here are a few suggestions…

“Oh, I’m going to wait until that book comes out in paperback,  then I will read it.”  Guess what?!?!?  It’s out in paperback!  Lucky you!

I will see y’all soon and we can get your “to be read (or listened to) pile” together.  After all, summer is coming.

The title says it all.

Here by Richard McGuire

This lovely graphic novel chronicles the entire history of one small space of earth. In 8,000 BCE a bog trickles out to the edges of the page; while in 1989, a house has been built on that very spot and two couples share cocktails and jokes in front of a dated coffee table. The geographical location never wavers, but to watch time weave in and out, changing the curtains, the rivers, and the wildlife- it feels so strange to have so much history sandwiched between so few pages. A mother stands in front of a window in the corner of the room and shows her baby the moon, and a bison sleeps exactly where the hearth will be in over 10,000 years.

I Was Told There’d Be Cake by Sloane Crosley

More books of essays, always, is my motto. Slone Crosley has set up camp with authors like David Sedaris, Kelly Oxford, and Jenny Lawson. In her perfectly hilarious collection of recollections and murmurings on her own life and the lives of those who surround her, Crosley salutes the normal, the every day, the stupid. There is a piece about toy ponies in a kitchen drawer.

Get In Trouble: Stories by Kelly Link

I already wrote a blog about how great this book is. Read it here.

My Favorite Things by Maira Kalman

Okay people. Why does no one buy Maira Kalman’s books?? This is beyond me. Kalman, writer, painter, children’s book author and illustrator, collaborator, art lover, and student of life, has put out yet another thoughtful and heart-tugging book. My Favorite Things is a collection of thoughts, memories, and objects that have gathered significance over the years. Similar to And The Pursuit of Happiness and The Principles of Uncertainty, My Favorite Things attributes poignant meaning to even the smallest of things. Instead of feeling forced or overly emotional, Kalman keeps her thoughts short and simple.

“There is no reason to save tickets and stubs. They are tiny and inconsequential. But I do save them and remember that number twenty-three was from the coat check at the restaurant where I ate the lemon tart. The number is so elegant and honest. And the lemon tart was SO GOOD.”

The Who, the What, and the When by Jenny Volvovski, Julia Rothman, and Matt Lamothe

This book sheds light on the lives of people who lived in the shadows of their famous spouses, bosses, friends, and neighbors. Each mini biography is a page long, paired with unique portraits from more than 40 artists. Included in this collection is Charles Bukowski’s editor, Coco Chanel’s lover, Al Capone’s mentor, and Emily Dickinson’s dog. Did you know that Rosalind Franklin discovered that DNA had two forms and her research allowed Francis Crick and James D. Watson to prove the helix shape of DNA? Yeah well, now you do.

The Enchanted by Rene Denfeld

Rene Denfeld stuns with this crystal clear novel about a death row inmate during his last days and the movements of his death penalty investigator as she tries desperately to uncover the truth surrounding his case. This novel is an incredibly hard sell because of the subject matter, but never have I experienced a book so concisely and exquisitely written. In the words of a customer, “not a word is wasted”. The Enchanted is set in a timeless, fuzzy landscape that is intent on keeping to the background so that the characters can take the main stage. It is a quiet, still book, with gleaming bits of gold shining through the cracks.

The Book of Beetles: A Life-Size Guide to Six Hundred of Nature’s Gems edited by Patrice Bouchard

I have spent hours looking at this book. Hours. When it was given to me as a birthday gift, I feared that it would simply sit on my shelf, collecting dust after one thorough looking-through, but in the few months since it was given to me, I have taken it back out and poured over it again and again. The encyclopedic collection documents hundreds of different types of beetles, their countries of origin, eating habits, mating rituals, significant physical markers, and include a life-size photo of each specimen. You guys, I don’t even like beetles. Except now I do. Strange how knowledge creates passionate curiosity. Please don’t shy away from this book just because you think bugs are icky. Pick it up, because nature is freaking awesome.

Great acts of destruction haunt us: photographs of Nazi book burnings, piles of shoes, the loose paper that floated in the air after the Twin Towers were attacked. These losses find order in lists. We engrave the names of our dead in war monuments. We catalog our libraries and museums in order to notice loss.

I have been reading through French poet, Henri Lefebvre’s recently translated list poem, “The Missing Pieces.” Compiled from various sources, it is an 83 page list of objects, memories, and people that have been lost, destroyed, or never made.

In some instances the losses are heartbreaking—“Totally deaf, the father of the writer Regis Jauffret never heard the voice of his son”—but other times, the loss is also a creation—“In 1961, the sculptor Arman pulverizes a contrabass in front of Japanese television cameras.”

We are captivated by lost treasure, unsolved mysteries, the compelling questions of what happened and what could have been. It seems that every year another headline touts the discovery of a garage sale painting that is a missing masterpiece. Vivian Maier lived her entire life in obscurity; her photographs were very nearly lost. Vincent Van Gogh’s brother bought all of his paintings in order to bankroll his brother’s lifestyle. In so doing, he kept them safe from destruction.

To be lost is Biblical. We are found in Christ. But what about the things that have faded away? The never-was? The never-again-will-be? What did we lose the three days Christ was dead? But also, what did we gain?

Ezra Pound wrote a sonnet a day for a year. At the end of the year, he destroyed them all.

The sonnets are lost. But the process of making them—of rhyming and metering and twisting the phrase—was gained. The ghosts of art linger.

Austrian artist Otto Muehl said, “I cannot imagine anything significant if nothing is sacrificed, burned, destroyed.”

There is no denying that books have the power to change our lives. The extent to which their contents affects us may vary, but there is not a one that has not gifted me with additional insight, understanding, and knowledge. I have come to realize that books are like people; you learn something from even the worst of them.

While viewing all books as an opportunity for personal enrichment, I must also distinguish those that have affected my life more deeply than others. The book, Boundaries, by Dr. Henry Cloud and Dr. John Townsend is one that not only impacted me deeply, but changed my life. I read it after graduating from college the summer of 2014. I walked away from Boundaries a different person, a much healthier person. My only regret is that I didn’t read it sooner; that it wasn’t recommended to me sooner. I have spent the last year shouting its merit from every available rooftop, and I am thrilled to be able to share its impact on me with those that walk through the door at Lemuria.

The book claims that it tells you “when to say yes, how to say no, to take control of your life.” The claim is not made falsely. In reading its pages, I found both healing and empowerment for the broken person I had become. With the best of intentions, I had drained my personal resources to a scary number well below zero. With a naturally empathetic heart, I had taken on my shoulders the responsibility for those around me. They needed my help. They needed to be shown what it looked like to be loved and cared for, because I truly loved and cared for them. Most importantly in my mind, and also the most draining and difficult: I needed to be what they needed me to be for them. These were all lovely ideas, that ended badly for me. They were unsustainable, as all unhealthiness generally is. I ran into the foundational principle of economics, in that we are faced with scarce resources; and I realized first hand that that principle not only applies to the market place, but to my personal life as well. I am so thankful for the brokenness in my life that led a dear friend to loan me her copy of Boundaries.

I hope that everyone discovers their own personal boundaries sooner than I did, via this book or from another source. I also do know that there are some people out there that do not struggle with boundaries as much I did, but I still recommend this book to you. I firmly believe that there is something valuable in its contents to be gleaned for everyone. For those that do struggle like I did (and do), I hope that the knowledge of personal boundaries and their necessity for healthy relationships can be understood sooner and in a more pretty fashion than mine were. I recommend the contents of Boundaries to both the young and old. I cannot think of a season in life where boundaries are not important. I particularly challenge you to consider buying this book for the young people in your lives, that are just embarking on their path in life. You never know, you might gift them with something incredible; you might change their life.

As you may remember, I’m currently enrolled at Millsaps College, which means homework––endless stacks of homework. Oh, the piles. Luckily it’s not all math or science, I’m also taking a photography class.

In said class, I was assigned to choose a photographer to riff for a presentation. I went with Vivian Maier since I love black and white photography. Here’s the thing though, she takes pictures of complete strangers. Now, photography is hard; and creeping on strangers for street photography is weird, but I did what I had to. Luckily, Adie tagged along on one of my ventures in Fondren, which made the experience more fun.

Vivian’s stuff’s great. You should come take a look at her books: Vivian Maier Street Photographer, Vivian Maier A Photographer Found, and Vivian Maier: Self Portraits. Someone has also made a documentary about her because she is the bee’s knees right now; but that’s what happens when never-before seen photography is found in a random storage facility. Mystery. Intrigue. All that jazz.

Personally, I’m interested in how a few of the children she nannied helped take care of her financially once they were old enough; but that’s just me. If you’d like to know more about her, then you should give her some time and take a look at her work- learn her story. Or not, whatever, deprive yourself of the finer things in life; it’s completely your choice.