Interlude: Summer Vacation Books
The books I'm taking on holiday this year.
Dear Friends,
You may have noticed that I’ve deviated quite a bit from my posting schedule of late. To be frank, the semester has just ended, and I am exhausted. My son learned to climb out of his crib last week, and thus went from two-hour daily naps to… no naps at all. My husband has had three different trips to Europe this spring. I have a conference paper to write and a conference to organize and two novels that I’m actively working on.
In other words, my brain is melting a little bit. “I grow thin, sort of stretched, like butter scraped over too much bread.” I’ve noticed lately that my mind is increasingly fragmented, struggling to focus on any single task for more than a few moments. That mental state makes me easy prey to the distractions of social media, and, in a diabolical irony, makes it very difficult for me to seek out more life-giving pastimes.
But I’m going on vacation next week, and I’m hoping that those few days of absence from the internet and presence with my family will help me to reset. This spring, we took a weekend away at a cabin that had neither wifi nor data, and the total fast from technology was immensely life-giving. I’d like to repeat it.
So as I scramble to prepare for that much-needed break, I though I would just share with you the books I’ll be taking. The list won’t be as long as last year’s, but I am hoping that my reading can be slower and more contemplative.
Devotions, Mary Oliver - I’ve been very slowly reading through this selection of Mary Oliver’s poetry, a bit at a time before bed, but I’d like to finish it on this trip. Recently, I read Annie Dillard’s Pilgrim at Tinker Creek for the first time (I know! What have I been doing with my life?), and I find that Dillard and Oliver pair beautifully, crystalline voices calling for renewed attention to the beauties and terrors of the world around us. It’s a call I greatly need these days.
Leisure, the Basis of Culture, Joseph Pieper - If you think you saw this on my reading list last year… Yeah, you did. I didn’t get to it. One of my vacation philosophies is to over-pack books so that I always have something I’m in the mood for. And I was in the mood for two weeks of nonstop Georgette Heyer last year. But this year, I think Pieper’s book is exactly what I need.
Middlemarch, George Eliot - This is probably one of my top five favourite novels, but I haven’t made time to re-read it in years. So this year, I want to spend most of my holiday reading time immersed in a story that I know will reward my deep attention. Middlemarch is, fundamentally, an exploration of what it means to be a saint, and I find myself contemplating that question often of late.
When I return, I’ll have some thoughts to share on that re-read of Eliot, and on C. S. Lewis’ relationship to her work. He mentions Middlemarch and Eliot’s other novels in his letters on several occasions.
Until then, I wish you all weeks of rest and contemplative reading,
Sarah
I love Leisure! One of my favorite philosophy books of all time.