When a novel suggests another novel within the story

 What do you do? 

What happens when you are reading a novel and see a character name a novel they are reading within that story? What do you do?

One of the classic examples of this is when Jane Austin in Northanger Abbey mentions how the heroine, Catherine Morland, is reading The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe. Similar to the male character Grigg in the movie adaptation of The Jane Austen Book Club, I immediately ordered a copy of Udolpho (I haven’t finished it yet but intend to do so at some point since I rarely DNF a book).

The times I recall off the top of my head seeing this in modern novels is a few times in books by Preston & Child (where they are usually referring obliquely to one of their own novels, albeit one from a different series) and I’m pretty sure that Sue Grafton’s protagonist Kinsey Millhone does it as well on occasion (I think she mentions reading a Len Deighton novel in one). Of course, now that it’s in the forefront of my mind, I’ll probably come across it more often.

Recently, when I was re-reading for the fourth or fifth time one of my favorite novels (read it the first time back in the 1970s, I think) — The Gabriel Hounds by Mary Stewart — I caught that the heroine started reading a book by Margery Allingham called The Tiger in the Smoke, which led me to get a copy of it to add to my reading pile!

Where have you come across this rabbit hole? Where a novel suggests another novel within the story? And do you feel compelled to also read it? 

 Video Link HERE

Reading or Listening to Story

 Engagement with a story is, for me, something I enjoy with all my heart and soul. That probably goes without saying for fiction, myths, legends, fairy tales, etc., however, I also can feel it with certain non-fiction books. Here’s the thing: once we shift our perspective on non-fiction and realize that the author is still presenting us with a ‘story’ albeit one based in how she perceives and presents information through her own lens. And there are different ways to engage with the story.

One writer a few years back said that, “reading is something you do, where listening is something that happens to you.^⁠1” One is more active while the other leans more passive; both are valuable and worthwhile paths to engaging with story, but not the same. I prefer to read books most of the time, but greatly appreciate that so many books are now available in audiobook format. These different methods activate our minds in unique ways. Understanding the differences is not a case of feeling superior but just to know they are different.

After all, I watch a movie, I engage with a video game, I act out in a play on-stage (or attend one, and therefore watch as well as listen), so, yes, I read text or listen to an audio or to music. All of these are different! They elicit our sensorial and active/passive experience in different ways, occasionally feeling multiple senses almost simultaneously yet each of us leans more strongly into various senses than someone else might. So, no — reading a book is not the same as listening to one in audio format; you do you, but they’re not the same in my opinion. 

This essay came up because the topic, which makes the rounds periodically, popped up on BookTube in response to something like: “Do audiobooks count?” The clue for me is in the use of “count” — many people just like adding up how many books they’ve read, similar to the contests to encourage reading and expand literacy when I was in grade school back in the 1960s. Personally, I’d prefer they be clear and say they read this number and listened to that number, but that’s just my view. It also goes to “WHY” someone is even interested in books.

Listening certainly can be convenient, entertaining, or even educational when we have to do other rote or automatic tasks, and, while can potentially be similar to the bardic tradition of story-telling, is still not the same. Why? Because telling stories used to mean one was not only listening but also watching the teller, and both were engaged together in that moment often without distractions; this was a relational experience, often around a campfire or sitting in front of a hearth.

I realize that the majority of ‘modern’ people generally lead hectic, busy lives and they do nearly everything in the frame of multi-tasking. Most of my experience with listening to audiobooks has been during long, primarily highway, road-trips. But multi-tasking is not my own nature or inclination and can create a lot of inner stress, even anxiety. I like to be fully present in each moment — these moments are gifts from Life.

Most of my other experiences with audiobooks has been late at night, curled up in a chair with a hot drink and a cat and/or dog (or several) on my lap, maybe a candle lit but at the very least with low lighting. Then I listen. Deeply. Actually, some of my favorite stories to listen to in this realm are old time radio shows created specifically for that purpose. Another fabulous audio collection of fairy tales, myths, etc., is the “Dangerous Old Woman” series presented by the incomparable Clarissa Pinkola Estes (produced by SoundsTrue but available on Amazon/Audible, I think).

Which leads me back to my preference for reading rather than listening (most of the time) because I thrill to that total holistic immersion in the story. My connection to story usually goes further than solely entertainment. For me, books are precious as are the stories they share across space-time. I generally choose to, and try to, honor them and their creators through presencing, and with immense gratitude to Goddess for giving our species this extraordinary ability.

¹ https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/friendly-interest/201812/why-listening-book-is-not-the-same-reading-it Accessed 17OCT24.

What does "seriously well-read" mean to you?

Because I enjoy reading, I often watch various BookTube videos. The following is my response to: The Seriously Well-Read Tag (created by Randy Ray @LiterateTexan ). For the following, I'm mostly sticking to fiction -- my answers would be quite different if I dove into my non-fiction reading life. Also, while I do read some 'high-brow' literature, those considered the Classics, and what are often referred to as the Great Books -- I'd consider myself more of a low-brow reader when it comes to fiction. So, spoiler alert, many people would not consider me to be "seriously" well-read if they get all academic and "serious" about it! 

1) What book made you take reading seriously?

I’ve always taken reading seriously because it’s my nature but also the way I was raised. My dad was a lifelong reader and learner, always seeking more knowledge and ways to bring that into living a Good Life. Books were important from my first exposure to them when I was toddler and being read to by my parents; I was hooked on stories and wanted to read the ‘magic’ words myself. So there hasn’t been any particular book that performed that function.

2) What book did you pretend to understand? Be honest.

Can’t recall there being one for that. I’m not a college graduate or an academic or anything but consider myself intelligent, reflective, curious, discerning, and I enjoy language. If a story or book at some point leaves me feeling a bit lost, I usually pause or slow down, do some ‘close reading’ or even journaling (of which I’m a huge advocate and life-long journal-keeper).

3) Which three books are on your personal ‘required reading’ list?

This is a big question! And to try and narrow it down just three? Crazy! Also challenging to quickly separate ‘favorites’ from why I think they could be considered ‘required.’ My choices have certainly changed over the years and could easily change tomorrow or next year but … 

Since BookTube focuses mostly on fiction, I will answer to that up front. The first ones that come to mind are: A Tale of Two Cities; Gone With the Wind; and, hard to narrow it down, but maybe Lost Horizon. Honorable mentions, just to name a few more, are: The Thirteenth Tale, The Stand, Winter Solstice, The Gabriel Hounds, The Overstory, The Sparrow, The Memoirs of Elizabeth Frankenstein, Frankenstein, Jurassic Park, Earth Abides, The Lace Reader, The Double Bind, The Wood Wife. Maybe in a later post I will go to each of these and describe how I understand their importance in this context — and perhaps clarify why I remember them so well. I’m sure many more will pop into my head the moment I post this.

Required reading for non-fiction: The Matter With Things by Iain McGilchrist; Becoming Animal by David Abram; and The Righteous Mind by Jonathan Haidt. And so many could be listed here that I’m not even going to go down that rabbit hole!

4) What author have you been avoiding? 

Not author really but book that immediately comes to mind is: Moby Dick by Melville. I’ve had an aversion to that book for decades, mostly because it’s about a man’s desire to seek vengeance against an animal. I admit that I may be giving it short-shrift and approaching it with the pre-judgment that I recommend others not do. So there. Thanks to this question, maybe I will make time to read this one. That said, being now in my elder years with only so much time left and a very long list of books I’d love to read — maybe not. 

5) What’s the hardest book you’ve ever finished? 

That would be the one that I’m still working on:  The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe. I’m not sure I was call it “hard” to finish, just taking longer than expected; the writing is beautiful but it’s all narrative, quite lengthy, and is simply one I find myself reading ever so slowly — it’s not gripping like 20^th Century novels. It’s not lively like Dickens, for example. If I’m using the word ‘hard’ as in emotionally difficult, I still recall how upset I was in high school after reading the required book Watership Down. It’s another superbly written, excellent novel — no doubt about that — but because my own sensitivities lie in the abuses of humans upon nature and wild creatures, I’ve no interest in reading it again although I learned a lot from reading it the one time. This is also why I answered the way I did (below) in question #9 — I completely understand sensitivity to certain topics, but I still feel it vital to not pre-judge a book and to read it in the context in which it was written. I had no idea what was going to happen in Watership Down — this relates to one of my big problems with social media’s influence in our current culture. 

6) What’s a book that changed how you read? 

This is perhaps redundant, but that book might be A Tale of Two Cities. It was required reading in high school and showed me that a Classic could be enjoyable. I’ve been reading for more than six decades so definitely hard to pin down.

7) Quality vs. Quantity — would you rather read 100 good books in a year or 10 great books? 

I would choose 100 good books for the simple reason that I’m a constant reader, a daily reader, and retired, so to be limited to only 10 books in a year would feel like torture. I like to experience many, many worlds.

8) Which genre are you embarrassed to say you have not read? 

Not embarrassed. And since I’ve always read broadly, my biggest shortage would be not having read very many books in the Classics, something I’ve recently begun to rectify. I feel I’ve acquired adequate reading experience in the rest of the genres.

9) Which book do you think most people misread? 

These days, for fiction, that would be Gone With the Wind. Seems like many if not most people reading this book ‘can’t see the forest for the trees’ within this absolutely fantastic American novel. I don’t agree with some of the aspects it reveals about human nature and our blindspots, however, like all historical novels, it’s a product of its time and that of its author.

Bonus: What does “seriously well-read” mean to you?

The answer depends on each person and what their intention is. I would first ask whether one wants to be an expert in one genre or one author? Or does one desire to be well-read on a broad spectrum? Does that include both fiction and non-fiction? For me, personally, when I think about this phrase “seriously well-read” I lean into having read broadly enough to glean at least bits of wisdom in all areas. Maybe not an expert in more than one or two topics or genres, but able to access understanding on some level across a broad scope of both fiction and non-fiction. If we want to be able to understand a broad swathe of human personality and culture, of philosophy and history, then I believe reading broadly is a good choice.

I hope you’ve enjoyed reading my answers to these great questions!

The Library of My Life Abbreviated

 Imagine if you will, a child learns to read by the time she is three or four years old. Her mother is later asked to remove her from kindergarten due to apparent boredom by arts and crafts that have little to do with written stories.

The same child is read to at night; not only is she read Bible stories but also mythologies from other cultures, from Greek to Native American (like Little Burnt Face), from Folk Tales to Fairy Tales. Nearly all of her early childhood Golden Books are eventually long gone, passed along by her mother to other children, but elementary school reports reveal that she nearly always placed high in the ‘most read books’ challenges. As she grows older, the girl reads fanciful tales like Wind in the Willows, but she also enjoys flipping through superhero comic books with her brothers. She reads her mom’s copy of Black Beauty along with Heidi. She is encouraged to read the complete 12-volume Audubon Nature Encyclopedia and that starts her passion for learning more about wildlife.

Gaining language proficiency, she reads her father’s science fiction and action/adventure novels, from Red Planet to Doc Savage to Tarzan. She enjoys reading Nancy Drew mysteries in junior high and Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities in high school, while continuing to read broadly in nearly every genre.

Her horizon continues to expand and she envisions her own tales happening within the woods on her grandparents’ farm, the giant redwoods on the West Coast, the majestic trails among the Rocky Mountains, the thick swamps of the southeast USA, the bubbling sulfur pots in Yellowstone, and so many more vacation landscapes that trigger her imagination. 

A romantic soul, she is captivated by novels that are often skewed towards a hero rescuing a damsel in one form or another, such as those written by the prolific Dame Barbara Cartland, as well as the popular Harlequins. A friend throughout her junior high years recalls the long line of books on this girl’s closet shelf, where during visits, the girls would often simply read together, each stretched out on a twin bed in a room decorated with white & gold furniture, pink carpet, and the soft comfort bestowed by many, many plush stuffed animals.

The girl becomes a woman and, eventually, her romantic vision collapses to a great degree due to personal experiences and, while continuing to read romance for ‘hope’, she also begins branching into an obsession for books in the horror and thriller genres, stories that are somehow reassuring to her for they depict, usually, defeat of the Monsters (human or otherwise) ‘out there.’ In her 20s and 30s, during the 1980s/90s, she was reading nearly everything published in those decades by Dean Koontz and Stephen King and others including the Kay Scarpetta thriller series. Another escape was reading in the fantasy genre, from series like The Dragonriders of Pern to the Shannara Chronicles. And, of course, there were a lot of books in the blended sci-fi/fantasy style.

During the crossover from the 1980s into the 1990s, she concurrently finds her saving grace in non-fiction books about dogs and wolves, nature’s wonders, cats, diverse landscapes as sacred, and woodlands. These mirror her own heart-healing experiences among these beings and, as she is called to care for them on a deeper level at the turn of the century, her library expands to include holistic and natural healing books, many of which show the mysteries of working with energy medicines. 

Emerging a bit eventually from the intensity of horror and thriller genres, she dives into the sub-genre of cozy mysteries, generally any of those that contain dogs and cats as prominent characters who support the protagonist, including The Cat Who series, the Mrs. Murphy series, and the Dog Lover’s Mysteries by Susan Conant. Along those same lines, she reads the mystery/adventure Amelia Peabody series and Nevada Barr’s Anna Pigeon series that takes place in National Parks throughout America.

In perfect synchronicity, the 1990s time frame also includes her initiation into Goddess/Women’s Spirituality, so large numbers of books on those topics and the hidden histories of women, often through the lens of psychology as written by women, begin to line the shelves of her library. Reading broadly across world religions, spiritual paths, from structured traditions to informal animism to deeply profound indigenous peoples and their life-ways.

As a Seeker, she senses that information is a stepping stone into knowledge that, hopefully, is transforming into an integrated wisdom within, just as her library mirrors an increasingly vast subject matter externally. Even during her non-fiction expansion into self-education, she continues to read across all fiction genres. An avid bibliophile, books are always nearby and reading occurs every single day, whether during her lunch breaks at work or between dinner and bed at night. Until around 2003, she had usually been a member of a library near where she worked so didn’t always purchase a book.

Books on different healing modalities turn her toward taking courses in those areas. Books on nearly every religion or spiritual path guide her toward a Wholeness of spirituality. Philosophical and ecological books deepen her knowledge of the natural physical world that surrounds us, all pointing to Gaia, our Mother Earth, within whom we all live and upon whom we depend.

The woman is now in mid-life. She begins to not only write (which has been on-going for years) but publish her own books, going beyond the diaries and journals she has maintained as a writing practice since childhood. These self-published volumes reveal where her heart goes, where her mind explores, feeling guided by Divinity to create and express herself through her beloved language of words. She writes poetic prose, poetry, memoir, and fiction, whatever wants to emerge at any given point in time. Always with the intention of healing and soul-growth for herself and readers.

And still her library grows, expands, evolves. She acquires some old books, a bit worn, from her father’s collection after he died; most were published prior to 1950, books he kept from his own reading journey. Surprisingly, she recalls reading some of them when she was a teenager — probably turned to when she couldn’t get to a library — and she’s reminded of this passion for story that she and her father shared.

Books on culture, social commentary, philosophy, history, a particular lineage and heritage accrue, weighing down already full shelves.  Sometimes double-layers are necessary because she refuses to box away her author-teachers.

Embracing her crone years, the library expands again into the Cosmos, into Death, into the Unseen who are part of our world, though most humans deny their existence. Her books now offer deeper more profound ideas on alchemy, the esoteric, magic — from the old masters to more recent ones — astrology, and divination. But newly acquired books also show her the worlds of cryptids, aliens, UFOs (currently referred to as UAPs), the paranormal, parallel universe theory and other dimensions of existence — all of which go in many different theoretical and experiential directions.

The now-elder woman continues to read widely and deeply and to write from her own inner world. Devotion to Sacred Study is a major focus. Her Library still morphing and growing into more than 3,500 volumes as her life dips into the second quarter of the 21^st Century. (See, also, my essay: "reading into a Good Life."

Inspiration From Authors

I don't read nearly as much fiction as I used to before I began writing my own stories. Mostly, I read massive amounts of non-fiction across myriad topics. But that doesn't mean I don't read fiction at all, which is where this post comes in.

A few months back, someone recommended the All Souls Trilogy by Deborah Harkness. I hesitated at first, because I didn't really care to read anymore stories about vampires. Nevertheless, after reading the introduction blurb to the first book in the series - A Discovery of Witches - I gave it a go. And I was hooked! This wasn't your typical "easy" read. In fact, I know readers who won't read it because it is a veritable tome of history and depth (which put them off it), in addition to the fascinating characters and marvelous plot. I quickly ordered the next two books and immersed myself in the world of All Souls.

Why have I been inspired as well as entertained? Not because the author's first attempt at fiction became an overnight bestseller. Not because the trilogy was picked up and made into an online series for streaming. All within seven years from when book one was published, mind you. No, I have no illusions that something similar would happen for me. I'm realistic. No, it was because I felt like Harkness stayed true to herself, to the story she heard within her that wanted to be revealed. Each of the three books is distinctively unique from the others, not just a continuation of the story; the tone and style of each one is quite different. That was inspirational. It returned me to the reasons I was writing my own book series - because they were the stories that wanted to be told through me, in my own way. If an agent and/or publisher picks my books up, great. If not, that's fine, too, I can self-publish. As my younger brother says, "it's all gouda."

My problem? I was getting bogged down by the intimidating rise of multitudes of "book coaches" and related services coming out of the woodwork online and via podcasts who were saying writers have to do this and that and the other thing - including all the media platform complexities - if they ever want to sell their work. Well, you know what? I would love to sell my work, but that's not why I write. I'm lucky in that I don't need to earn a living from what I write; I can write because it's both something I enjoy and feel compelled to do. Anything that happens with the books after the manuscript is complete is simply icing on the cake.

The concrete result of this inspiration? I promptly finished up my own first book in my series, sent it out to solicit agent representation, and began serious work on the second book. I'm enthused again and having loads of fun writing and researching! All thanks to author Deborah Harkness.

Will I Ever Read What I Used To?

When an email popped into my in-box, I was curious about one of the authors being interviewed. Not because I currently read his work, but because, until about seven or eight years ago, I had read everything he had written. Dean Koontz. Yup. There was a time when I couldn't get enough of his stories. But I gave all his books to a friend when we moved to Arizona, figuring I'd never read him again; I felt like his books were far too intense for the older me. In hindsight, there were a few I ought to have kept.

Anyway, he is starting a new series and it sounds intriguing; if he keeps the horror parts to a minimum, I might just find myself pulled into the new stories. With a female protagonist who is a rogue FBI agent, I'm definitely interested.

A bit of trivia I liked in the interview -- available on Goodreads -- was that Dean Koontz says one of his all-time favorite authors is Charles Dickens:

This is one of those odd coincidences because several months ago, I became determined to re-read A Tale of Two Cities, recalling how much I enjoyed it in high school. And, hey, if I could enjoy that book when I was 17 years old, chances are I would enjoy it even more now.

born in fields of uncertainty

"Words have a weight to them. How you choose to present them and to whom is a matter of style and choice."

" … I believe my own voice continues to be found wherever I am being present and responding from my heart, moment by moment. My voice is born repeatedly in the fields of uncertainty."

"Earth. Mother. Goddess. In every culture the voice of the Feminine emerges from the land itself. We clothe her as Eve or Isis or Demeter. In the desert, she appears as Changing Woman." 

~ Terry Tempest Williams, When Women Were Birds: Fifty-Four Variations on Voice

There is so much I'd like to say about this woman, this author. She holds me breathless ... traversing her stories, treasuring the exquisite expressions felt through her words. When Women Were Birds picks up the story of Terry's mother's journals … the journals I first learned of while reading Refuge.

"A story grows from the inside our … if I begin traveling with an awareness of my own ignorance, trusting my instincts, I can look for my own stories embedded in the landscapes I travel through."

"A story allows us to envision the possibility of things. It draws on the powers of memory and imagination. It awakens us to our surroundings."

"Story is a sacred visualization, a way of echoing experience. There are lessons along the way." 

~ Terry Tempest Williams, Pieces of White Shell

In all of the author's books, Terry's voice is strong and clear, and yet each book is a distinct image. I admire her ability to hold her voice, soft or crisp, no matter the topic. And she is able to balance her story within the context of the alternating story of place, something I aspire to do in a few of my WIPs.

I'm grateful to have come across this author; she is inspirational on many levels.

The Highly-Skilled Spinster

"A significant number of the women in the fairy stories are self-employed, independent and skilled. They often have a relationship -- positive or negative -- with spinning. Although most women could and did spin domestically, if she became good at it, it was one of the few ways a woman could become financially self-sufficient. (Midwifery was an alternative career.) At her trial in 1431, Joan of Arc was immediately inflamed by the suggestion that she worked as a shepherdess: on the contrary, she snapped, she was a highly skilled spinster." *

* "The dignity and independence of spinning has left an odd, hidden mark on the English language. A spinster was a woman who could spin; it was as a compliment that the word was extended to all unmarried women, because it implied that they did not need a husband, but chose freely to love or live singly. 'A spinster of this parish' comes to have her banns called not from dire necessity, but from a position of equality and independence."

~ Sara Maitland, From the Forest: A Search for the Hidden Roots of Our Fairy Tales

Spinster is clearly another word that women can reclaim on behalf of empowerment!

This book by Maitland is a gem! I'm grateful that a friend living in the UK had recommended it to me. I will be sharing more from this book in the future -- text that relates to our interconnectedness with forests as well as the uniqueness of Spirit to be encountered within each diverse forestland or woodsy copse -- but couldn't resist posting the above quote on spinsters right away.

# Top Photo: "Margaret (alone at her spinning wheel)" by Frank Cadogan Cowper (English Pre-Raphaelite Painter, 1877-1958)

The Magic of Creativity

I enjoy finding those authors and artists who approach creativity with a sense of joy instead of struggle, with an overall feeling of magic rather than drudgery. Yes, there may be -- and probably are -- moments of frustration and challenge in the writing process, but I have no interest in spending the majority of my creative time caught up in angst and despair (it is enough for me that pivotal points in my life dwelt within that conflicted space and led me into healing through creativity).

Over the past several years, I have been tickled to hear various creative types speak to this joy in creation (Thomas Moore, Julia Cameron). Most recently, Elizabeth Gilbert talks about what she refers to as Mystery and Big Magic in her conversation with Tami Simon (Sounds True):

“ … to think of my creative life as a collaboration between one human’s efforts—and that would be me—and the divine Mystery of inspiration. … I’ve spent my work days in collaboration with that Mystery. I can’t think of a more beautiful way to spend my life—sort of talking to it, asking questions of it, cooperating with it. [I sit] down to work every day with the commitment that I will not wrestle it or fight it or abuse myself against it. But I will ask it every day what it wants from me and try to work with it as respectfully and reverently as I can. It leads to a really joyful kind of creation.” 

I held off reading Gilbert's Eat Pray Love until much of the hype had died down, and was, I confess, a bit disappointed in it. Probably as a direct result of all the hype. So, when I saw that Gilbert had released her new novel The Signature of All Things, I decided to get it sooner rather than later so I could make up my mind about it without the influence of reviews. I'm glad I did. I found it an odd blend of lovely style, strange characters, and unique story; I didn't particularly like the protagonist and yet at the same time, I was compelled to finish the story at a rapid pace. I felt that Gilbert was able to immerse herself in a freedom of creativity and choice in this story, and, to a large extent, I was carried along in that wake. Perhaps because she had already achieved "success" and could write the story exactly the way she felt it coming through her?

Whatever her personal path to writing and publishing Signature, I am inspired by many of Gilbert's comments throughout the interview (which, with Tami, is usually more of a conversation than a traditional Q&A session).

Let's celebrate the joy and magic of creativity!

Coming Up

Tucson is warming up rapidly and, as we head into summer, I just have to say that I am ecstatic to be nearly finished with this semester at UA. Okay, sure, it was only two classes but they've been intense for me. I'd been semi-retired and mostly on my own schedule for about eight years prior to attending college, so trying to organize my life around classes and homework has been challenging. And exhausting. So, yup … ecstatic is the right word!

What's coming up? First, I plan on reconnecting with some of my favorite bloggers, email-pals, and family. I'll be getting back to my WIPs, and I also have a few additional self-created projects I'm looking forward to.

One of the projects is that I'm immersing myself for the next year (or however long it takes) in the complete works of Marion Woodman and Emily Dickinson to see what emerges. Some of the writings from this immersion will be here, but some of the more contemplative pieces will appear on my On The Gaia Path blog.

The other project is a home project. As I continue to struggle with living in the Sonoran Desert, especially during the summer, I've decided to create a haven in one room that will evoke the opposite qualities. As a contrast to the dry, hot, sparse, and muted colors of the Southwest, I'm going to buy a table-top fountain or two and use deep tones of blue, green, and purple. I'm also going to get lots of silk plants (I cannot get real ones until one of my plant-fanatic cats is gone which may be a few more years yet!) for visual effect. Our house is, otherwise, decorated in a style that "fits" the Southwest, but I need one room to hide in that is the opposite. I need it to feel lush, soft, and dark. I'm sure you get the basic idea and I think it will be fun and different.

Down the line, there will probably be some road-trips as well, but not until I've recovered my energy!

So, see you soon as my time frees up to visit your blogs.

Gratus

Language & The Brain

Thank you, Latin, for firing up my neurons! I've often read that learning a new language is one of the best, if not the best, means of boosting memory and brain activity by creating new pathways. It sure seems to have worked for me.

About halfway through the semester, I suddenly began to experience the Latin on a deeper level. Not that it became easy or simple, but rather that what I was learning made sense. Further, everything else I was reading also became clearer.

In fact, during this winter break, while re-organizing my novel manuscript, I pulled out a book I'd purchased as research. The book is "Daughters of Saturn" by Patricia Reis and when I tried to read it a few years ago, the writing felt so complex that I simply could not get through it. I felt like the material was way over my head. Guess what? It now makes sense. How weird

is that?

Why do I attribute this new clarity primarily to learning Latin? It's because over the years I've taken other courses on a myriad of topics, but none of them created this kind of recognition, of clearing, like a film has been pulled away.

This week, I am cracking open my Latin books again. They've been sitting beside my desk this entire break because my intention was to review vocabulary once a day to keep it all fresh. Alas, that fell by the wayside because I was so relieved that all the pressure had been lifted for a while. But now, with classes looming ahead next week, I want to feel prepared, so… Hello again, Latin!

Book Review: Strangers and Pilgrims

I stumbled across this book while reading the blog of an recent acquaintance that led me to the author’s blog. Don't you love how the threads of our lives connect in these mysterious patterns? This subtle, hidden interconnection is also mirrored in “Strangers and Pilgrims” by Vivienne Tuffnell. 

The author brings a unique voice and style to her storytelling, one that caught me by surprise and kept me flipping the pages as fast as I could. I was compelled to pick it up and read it in every spare moment I found, finishing the book in a mere day and a half. 

I could feel the angst of each character and found myself sympathizing, cheering each one on, resonating with the deep pain and grief expressed by the men and women alike as “my heart is broken and I am dying inside.” 

This is a beautifully crafted story!