So, if it seems like I'm yelling it is because I am.
I need a new book to read.
That's really kind of odd considering ALL the books that are stacked beside my bed waiting for me to a) finish or b) get started on.
But they are all pretty much doitbetter or helpyourself-husband-children or thisishowyoushouldbedoingit kind of books.
I want a good 'ol story that I can get lost in.
Something like these:
Sometime last February -March-April I was perusing a table at the library of used books for sale. This book caught my eye, then I saw two others that looked similar and were by the same author, so I bought them.
I had nothing to go on to recommend these books. I was totally judging these books by their covers, which were in very poor condition and practically falling off the books.
And they sat in one of our dusty, cluttered, books-stacked-in-double-rows bookcases for months and months.
And in September I hurt my back and couldn't DO anything.
So I got the books and looked at them to see what they were about...and I was hooked.
I am not going to get into a book review here. I will tell you that I was so caught up in the multi-generational stories that all I did was read. Even when my back was all better, I kept reading.
You know, actually I will say that in the second book I learned a lot about the war we had in Cuba and Teddy Roosevelt's Rough Riders. I didn't really know a lot about that. The books are historical fiction.
History + fiction+ a great story = Happy Me.
I finished reading the books awhile ago and I have been so restless ever since. Today I realized that my restlessness is because I need another book that I can get lost in.
In the meantime I am enjoying reading the Thorton W. Burgess series of books to Abbie at night. We have 20 of them to read. They are entertaining and sweet and gentle and are amazingly full of golden nuggets of wisdom.
I'm going to share a nugget from last night's chapter Bobby Has a Strange Journey. This nugget is for me and it is for my sweet Strawberry friend.
It's a fact. More than three fourths of the troubles that worry people are not real troubles at all. They are all in the mind. They are things that people are afraid are going to happen, and worry about until they are sure they will happen,--and then they do not happen at all. Very, very often things that seem bad turn out to be blessings. All of us do a great deal of worrying for nothing. I know I do. Bobby Coon did when he took his strange journey which I am going to tell you about.
So while I wait until the right book comes along for me to get lost in, I will happily read to Abbie at night and wait for the golden nuggets that drop in my lap as we read about Bobby Raccoon and his adventures.
5 comments:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Dr._Beebe_in_Vermont.jpg#file
Helen Elswyth Thane Ricker Beebe (May 16, 1900 – July 1984) was an American romance novelist. Born in Burlington, Iowa, she was the daughter of a local teacher and high school principal. The family moved to New York City in 1918, and "Helen Ricker" changed her name to "Elswyth Thane". She began working as a freelance writer in the 20s, and became a newspaper writer and a Hollywood screenwriter. Her first novel, Riders of the Wind, was published in 1926. Her novel, The Tudor Wench, about Elizabeth I of England, was made into a play.
On September 22, 1927, she married 50-year-old naturalist and explorer William Beebe. Mrs. Theodore Roosevelt was one of the guests at the wedding.
'Will' Beebe (2nd from left) and wife Elswyth Thane (far right) with friends at home near Wilmington, Vermont in 1957Beebe died in 1962, leaving only half of his estate to his widow. She lived on the couple's farm in Wilmington, Vermont. Her last work, Fighting Quaker: Nathaniel Greene, was published in 1972. When she died, she left her papers to the University of Iowa.
Thane is most famous for her "Williamsburg" series of historical fiction. The books cover several generations of a single family from the American Revolutionary War up to World War II. The action moves from Williamsburg in later books to England, New York City and Richmond, Virginia.
Yes! I did look her up on Wikipedia also. It is the Williamsburg series that I read. She was a really enjoyable writer. I didn't have the Revolutionary War book but would have enjoyed reading that.
Shauna,
I wish I had a book recommendation for you!
But I loved the quote from Robby the Raccoon. Thank you.
-Jen
Shaun, these are the entries that made me question your anxiety. (Anyway, thanks to an earlier post of yours, I'm ordering up disaster supplies from MRE and Mountain House!)
Back to your excerpts...
1. I am thinking...how fragile life is. We know, on an intellectual basis, that trials and heartache will come at one time or another to each of us, but in those first moments when realization hits that HERE IS YOUR TRIAL, for me, at least, there comes with that moment a wave of fear and panic that it might be too big for me and I won't be able to "do it". I think that is the moment when we can gauge our level of faith in God and His plan for each of us. Do you suppose there is a way to live life with lots of faith so that you don't have to be tested? I have test anxiety... Just some stuff I've been thinking about lately.
2. The quoate from the Racoon book. "It's a fact. More than three fourths of the troubles that worry people are not real troubles at all. They are all in the mind. They are things that people are afraid are going to happen, and worry about until they are sure they will happen,--and then they do not happen at all. Very, very often things that seem bad turn out to be blessings. All of us do a great deal of worrying for nothing. I know I do. Bobby Coon did when he took his strange journey which I am going to tell you about."
3. "Because It Makes Me Think" (The photo was orange, reminding me of "On the Beach" colors). "if you can't go to sleep
my dear soul
for tonight
what do you think will happen...."
Oh, Okay. Well, I'll explain myself because I can see how you might think that.
The first one, about how fragile life is. I had just read a newspaper article about a couple who had been in a pretty bad plane crash last summer. http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2008/10/26/20081026sisters1026a1.html. My friend told me about this couple because she is friends with a sister. How this family has handled this tragedy is pretty amazing. Anyway, in the article the wife, who was burned over 80% of her body, said, as they were waiting for the helicopters, "I don't want to do this. I just want to go home and make dinner for my family." That quote was haunting me because I know there have been times when life has been really hard for me (I'm thinking kidney stones here) and I've had those kinds of thoughts, like I just want to do the laundry or vacuum the floor, one of the little things that would be so much more fun than the pain I was trying to endure. Life can change in an instant and I know that and it has made me appreciate the kind of boring things of life. I am able to have more gratitude because I know how hard it can be. So, that's where that was coming from.
The other quote from Bobby Raccoon was intended to remind me that I sometimes will make things more worrisome in my head than they really are. This shift in thinking happened when I became a mom. I don't have an explanation for that. Plus, I had recently been talking with my friend and we both do this worry thing (and she has 7 kids and one on the way, three more to worry about than I have!)and I wanted her to hear that quote. It was the freshest little nugget of wisdom I'd read from the book and I wanted to use an example of how these books have little bits of wisdom in them.
The Rumi quote was one that I had taped to my wall in the art room for about 4 years. I like it because it opens my mind to the possibilities of "what do you think would happen if..." I did THIS instead of THAT. I interpret that poem as a way to remind me that there other ways to do things or think of things. It helps me not get stuck into too much of a rut. You know...what DO I think would happen if I can't go to sleep at night and I lay in bed thinking about things all night? Would that be so horrible? Maybe in all my thinking I'll come up with some new thoughts or ideas. Etc. Etc. That kind of thing. I hadn't seen it for awhile, but came across it again while I was re-organizing the art room and I remembered how much I liked it when I first found it. The photo had nothing to do with anything, I just wanted to have a photo and I had taken that early in the morning from our porch when the sun was coming up and the colors were so magnificent. I don't know "On the Beach". What is that about?
So, there you have a more accurate glimpse into my head.
And...way to go getting a bit of food stored up! I love it. Don't forget water. And bottle of hand sanitizer and some boxes of baby wipes. Hummm...I could go on.
But I won't!
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