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This is a repost from a couple of years ago. I chose to repost this, about a book by astronomer Sara Seager, because it has lodged in my brain since I read it. I generally try to avoid reading grief memoirs, for various reasons that mainly boil down to…well, I’ve had enough grief in my life already and I know that more is on the way someday*, and it’s a subject I don’t much enjoy plumbing any more than I have to. But sometimes I find a grief memoir that piques my interest and I read it anyway. Smallest LightsDown the rabbit hole….

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I have just finished reading James Baldwin’s powerful essay-book No Name in the Street, in which Baldwin describes his early life and his encounters later with many figures, some seminal and some less-so, and how he relates all of this to his larger experience as a Black man in 20th century America. It does not come as a surprise to observe how many of his observations can be, and are being by others, advanced as true to this very day. For all that we, for certain definitions of “we”, like to pat ourselves on the back for how far we’ve come,Down the rabbit hole….

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I’m currently reading Ursula K. Le Guin’s classic sci-fi novel The Left Hand of Darkness, and while I rarely quote books while I’m reading them, this one passage hit me between the eyes. The story involves a planet that’s divided into two countries, and our two protagonists–one a planetary native, one an off-world visitor–are on the run in one of the two countries (“Orgoreyn”) and are trying to cross great distance to return to the other. This exchange takes place, with the first line spoken by the off-world visitor who is a stranger to these countries: “You hate Orgoreyn, don’t you?”Down the rabbit hole….

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Subtitled A Voyage Along the Wild Coasts of the British Isles, Adam Nicolson’s book Seamanship relates the story of how Nicolson, in a moment that might be consdiered a mid-life crisis, decided to acquire a yacht and sail from Cornwall to the west coast of Ireland, then back to Scotland and through the Hebrides and ultimately to the Faeroes. The yacht is acquired, a skipper (named George) is hired, and off they go. It is, as you might expect, a voyage fraught with difficulties. Nicolson’s status as a novice sailor is exposed almost immediately as he struggles with seasickness before they’re barely outDown the rabbit hole….

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I woke up early yesterday morning–quite early, in fact, well before sunrise and well well well before I had any intention of getting out of bed–so I reached for my Kindle and looked for something to read. I landed on a short essay by Edgar Allan Poe, about a stream near Philadelphia. Called “Morning on the Wissahiccon”, I found it a fascinating little piece, parts of it appealing to me on a number of levels. Poe: Indeed, in America generally, the traveller who would behold the finest landscapes, must seek them not by the railroad, nor by the steamboat, nor by theDown the rabbit hole….

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One thing I forgot to mention the other day (aside from citing a visit to a specific Barnes&Noble) is that a big part of our Ithaca vacation each year is a book binge. I save up for quite a while and then…well, here’s what happened this year. This is from three different bookstores: the afore-mentioned B&N in Pittsford, and Ithaca’s Odyssey Books and Autumn Leaves (the latter being a wonderful used bookstore). And then what did I do on Monday? Why, I went to the library and checked out five books! Because, well, it’s what you do. Time to do someDown the rabbit hole….

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How can love persist in a world without memory? That’s the question posed by author Sarina Dahlan in her debut novel, Reset. A while back I received an advance copy of a this novel, and I’m happy to report that it’s a very good book indeed, with a premise that is haunting and intriguing. The setting is a human future, set an indeterminate number of years from now, in which humanity has been reduced to living in just four very large cities after a cataclysmic conflict leaves most of the world a scorched wasteland. In order to keep the seeds ofDown the rabbit hole….

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In: Commentary, Life, On Bib Overalls, On Books, On Sport
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Yeah, I’m pretty much back to normal this morning. I’m not planning on testing myself again until tomorrow, but it’s really looking like I’ve weathered my own personal COVID storm pretty well. I’m one of the lucky ones for whom it was “just a cold”. Since the worst of my cold passed on Monday, I’ve basically been enjoying what is turning out to be a lovely August week–albeit, a week when I can’t interact with anyone except my immediate family. It’s like house arrest, but without the ankle monitor. Oh well! Writing is also starting to go passingly well again,Down the rabbit hole….

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I saw a news item the other day that carpenter Norm Abram is retiring from his decades-long job on the teevee show This Old House, which he has been on for over 40 years. I haven’t watched a lot of This Old House, but I have caught it now and then, and it’s always an enjoyable show from which I learn things when I do catch it. Abram is also an author, and one of his books is a favorite of mine: Measure Twice, Cut Once: Lessons from a Master Carpenter. This small, short book is just what the subtitle says: a series of practicalDown the rabbit hole….

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In: On Books, poetry
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So you want to read some poetry! As we have wound up National Poetry Month 2022, as a final summation I earlier reposted an older post about why it’s important for writers specifically to read poetry (besides the simple fact that poetry is art and it should be enjoyed on that basis alone). Now, I offer up some thoughts on how to start building your poetry section of your personal library. (There is an earlier post in the archives along these same lines, but I looked at it and decided it warranted rewriting.) Like any subject, it can be daunting toDown the rabbit hole….