When hubby and I commute together (either to and from work, or for the past seven weeks, to and from the NICU), we always have NPR on.  Hubby’s a fan, and I will tune in now and again when there’s a story that causes my ears to perk up.  Usually, though, I have my nose buried deep in a book and I don’t hear a word of the radio programs, prompting many conversations that go like this:

Hubby makes a joke or comment that’s related to the radio story that’s playing.  Thirty seconds to a minute of silence go by.  I say: “Huh?  What?  I’m sorry; I wasn’t paying attention.”

Thing is, when I’m into a book – I mean, really into it – I actually don’t hear what’s going on around me.  Seriously, World War III could break out right in front of me and I’d be oblivious.  I call it “reading-induced deafness.”  Then on one recent trip to the NICU, a story came on that actually made me put down my book, sit up and take notice: a woman was talking about getting so absorbed in her reading that “I really think the house could possibly burn down around me and I wouldn’t notice.”  Well hello there, soulmate.

The speaker was one Natalie Phillips, a professor of 18th- and 19th-century literature who came up with an idea to study the theme of distractability in Jane Austen’s novels.  This project snowballed into a study of the neurological effects of “close reading” (similar to “deep attention reading” that I’ve talked about before) as opposed to “browsing” (described as the type of reading you’d do while standing and flipping through a selection in a bookstore).  I’ll let you read the details of the story for yourself, but it basically boils down to this: the subjects showed greater activity, over a range of areas of the brain, when doing the “close reading” than they did when “browsing.”  And my favorite part:

“Phillips found that close reading activated unexpected areas: parts of the brain that are involved in movement and touch. It was as though readers were physically placing themselves within the story as they analyzed it.”

How cool!  Do you ever feel like you know the characters in your favorite books?  Or like you’ve been there and experienced the story with them?  Felt the cold winds whipping along the moors in Wuthering Heights or Jane Eyre, for example, or the soft warm sunshine along Lover’s Lane in Anne of Green Gables, for example?  Well, maybe – and the story was careful to stress that the results are preliminary – it’s because you actually have been there, because your mind is even more adept at creating the place and experiencing the sensations of a book than we ever realized.  I love that!  Books are so much more than just words on a page – they’re friends, experiences.  (Man, how I wish I could see a map of the brain all lit up while a reader is deep into a book.  Would that not be the coolest?)

I’ve always thought it was a bit of a personal character flaw quirk of mine that I fail to pay attention to my surroundings when I’m really into something I’m reading.  But apparently I’m not alone (yay) and I’m not checked out of reality or incredibly self-involved (double yay) – I’m in the midst of some hardcore brain calisthenics!  Professor Natalie Phillips, you have made my day.  Now, could you please call my mother and tell her that I’m actually not an airhead?  kthanksbye.

Read the article for yourself, and then tell me – are you one of those people who gets so absorbed in a book that you could sit in a burning house and not notice?

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So, Banned Books Week was last week.  Last year, for Banned Books Week ’11, I had a well-thought-out post ready to share with you all.  I hadn’t read a banned book in celebration, like many book bloggers, because I was staggering under library deadlines (those holds shelves, my blessing and my curse).  I was, however, reading a book that discussed the dangers of censorship to a free society – In the Garden of Beasts, by Erik Larson, which talked about the rise of Hitler’s Nazi Germany as witnessed by the American Ambassador and his family.  It was a chilling read that illustrated the ease with which a totalitarian regime can take power if people turn a blind eye.  The book itself wasn’t a banned or challenged book, but I thought it was an appropriate choice for Banned Books Week.

This year, Banned Books Week snuck up on me and I didn’t really do anything to mark it.  (With a baby in the NICU, I’m lucky if I can remember the days of the week.  Seriously.  Several times, I’ve gone to check the mail and been perplexed to find the box empty, only to realize that it’s Sunday.)  But as it happened, I was reading a book that, while not banned or challenged (yet) is by an author who is no stranger to banned books lists: J.K. Rowling.  Her new book, The Causal Vacancy, is going to make some people uncomfortable, with its discussions of drug addiction, teen sex and depression, among other touchy topics.  Many of the characters are vile… but it’s a realistic portrayal of small town life.  And the very realism of it all is going to upset people.  (As an aside: poor J.K. Rowling.  She writes about wizards and her books get challenged for being pagan – which is ridiculous.  Then she writes about muggles real people and the critics jump all over her for being too mundane.)

But here’s the cool thing: I can read The Casual Vacancy, or anything else that I want, because J.K. Rowling has, and other writers have, the freedom to write and publish these books and I have the freedom to purchase them.  I can choose to support an author or not, to read a book or not.  No one makes the decision about what to read on my behalf.  No one dictates my choices.  I thank our Founding Fathers, and the drafters of our U.S. Constitution, for that.  And I also thank the millions of men and women who have died to protect my freedom (and the freedom of others) over the centuries.  And the booksellers and the librarians who make books available so that people can decide what they want to read.  And my parents and teachers, for encouraging me to seek out books and develop my own literary tastes.

I’ve never understood censorship.  If you don’t like a book, don’t read it.  But don’t take away others’ right to decide for themselves what they’ll read and what they won’t.  The freedom to decide what you want to write or read seems like a small thing.  Minor, even, in comparison to other – flashier – rights we enjoy.  But it’s tied to our Constitutionally protected freedom of speech.  I’ll always be grateful that I can say what I want, write what I want, and read what I want.  To me, that’s what Banned Books Week is about – celebrating our freedom to choose for ourselves what we will read… and write… and say.

It’s going to be a LONG time before baby curls up with any of these (maybe late at night, under the covers with a flashlight, like Mom did).  But I’ll read them aloud from those very beginning days when all the baby wants is to hear my voice.  (In fact, hubby is already reading Winnie the Pooh to my bump, which recently acquired the ability to hear our voices.)  I hope the baby loves these books as much as I do…

Winnie the Pooh and The House at Pooh Corner, by A.A. Milne – These have been favorites of mine since very early days.  The exploits of that lovable, cuddly bear-of-little-brain and his friends (wise Owl, gloomy Eeyore, put-upon Rabbit, anxious Kanga, fun-loving Roo, exuberant Tigger and best friend Christopher Robin) are a childhood staple.

When We Were Very Young and Now We Are Six, by A.A. Milne – See above.  I love all of A.A. Milne’s poems (especially ones that feature Pooh and friends) and I know baby will enjoy them too.

The Wind in the Willows, by Kenneth Grahame – Somehow I missed this as a kid, although I was always aware of the book’s existence.  I first read it as an adult and loved the adventures of Mole, Rat, and their friends.

The Secret Garden, by Frances Hodgson Burnett – I have loved this sweet springtime story of a group of friends who discover a neglected garden and turn it into a place of beauty.  It makes me want to get outside and dig in my yard.  I hope the baby loves this one as much as I do!

The Chronicles of Narnia, by C.S. Lewis – It’s a little hard to catch the Christian messages at first – I certainly missed them on my first few reads through the series; I was too young – but you can’t go wrong with a tale of adventure and talking animals.

Betsy-Tacy (and progeny), by Maud Hart Lovelace – Katie clued me in to this series about three young friends growing up in Minnesota in the early 1900s.  I have no idea how I missed out on these wonderful books when I was young.  Baby girl certainly won’t!

Anne of Green Gables (and progeny), by L.M. Montgomery – Do I even need to explain this one?  Probably not.  Spunky, imaginative Anne, loyal Diana and pesky (but so handsome) Gilbert are favorite childhood friends of mine.  Add the Emily of New Moon trilogy and Jane of Lantern Hill to the bookshelf, and now we’re talking.

The Little Bookroom, by Eleanor Farejon – I used to pull stories from this gorgeous collection to use as bedtime tales during my babysitting days.  The story of the little goldfish who wants to marry the moon is my favorite.

Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott – Well, obviously.  Baby girl is going to love the story of the four March sisters and their strong mother, Marmee.  It’s a longtime favorite of mine and I know my little one will be reading it under the covers with a flashlight, just like her mom.

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What were your favorite children’s classics?  What can’t-miss books do you suggest?

Reading is my oldest and favorite hobby.  I literally can’t remember a time in my life when I didn’t love to curl up with a good book.  Here are my reads for July, 2012…

Elegy for Eddie (Maisie Dobbs #9), by Jacqueline Winspear – Maisie’s final adventure to date (although there will surely be more coming!) weaves a tangled web.  A group of costermongers who knew Maisie as a child approach her to ask that she look into the death of Eddie Pettit, a “slow” man who had a gift with horses and who was a an important figure in Maisie’s childhood.  What Maisie learns is that Eddie was a pawn in the hands of forces he couldn’t understand, and that his death relates to the growing threats coming from Germany.  I was disappointed in Maisie during this novel – she was remarkably short-sighted, which is not something I expect from her, alienating most of her friends and her lover.  While she attained a measure of understanding  towards the end, she still has some personal growth to attend to.  But the mystery was the most fascinating and complex yet.

Betsy in Spite of Herself (Betsy-Tacy #6), by Maud Hart Lovelace – Betsy and Tacy are sophomores in high school and still going through growing pains.  In this installment, our heroine visits old friend Tib in Milwaulkee and decides to reinvent herself as dramatic, mysterious “Betsye,” which helps her to land the most coveted boyfriend in Deep Valley, but causes her to neglect her writing and pushes away her old friends at the same time.  Will “Betsye” ever realize that it’s better to be herself?

A Good American, by Alex George – I LOVED this family saga, which told the history of the twentieth century through the eyes of one immigrant family.  The Meisenheimers’ story begins in 1904 in Germany and ends in present day Beatrice, Missouri.  Along the way Frederick and Jette Meisenheimer and their progeny experience all the growing pains that America itself is experiencing, plus love, laughter, tragedy and every other emotion.  I was torn between wanting to read slowly to make it last and wanting to blaze through so I could find out what happened.  This is my new gold standard for family sagas, fully reviewed here.

I Am Forbidden, by Anouk Markovits – This novel takes the reader deep inside the Satmar, an insular sect of Hasidic Judaism, to focus on the lives of two sisters, Mila and Atara.  Mila is the adopted daughter of Yalman Stern, a leader in the Satmar community, and Atara is Stern’s biological daughter, only a year younger.  Even as the two sisters grow closer, their faith may tear them apart as Mila becomes more devout and Atara questions everything.  Much later in life, Mila is harboring a secret and only Atara may be able to help her.  I liked I Am Forbidden, since peeks inside unfamiliar religions are one of my literary weaknesses, but I wish the book had focused more on Atara, who disappeared halfway through the story and only reappeared briefly.

Village Diary (Fairacre #2), by Miss Read – I finally got back into the Fairacre books, and the second installment is just as charming as the first.  Miss Read receives a diary from a friend and proceeds to fill it in with her observations of village life, reflections on country schoolteaching, and sly, witty, slightly snarky commentary on her neighbors.  Such a fun read.

The Uninvited Guests, by Sadie Jones – I liked, but didn’t love, this country house drama.  Emerald Torrington is about to celebrate her 20th birthday, but the party is interrupted before it even begins with news of a terrible railway accident.  Soon a motley crew of survivors descends upon the Torrington home… and from there, things get really weird.  I wasn’t quite sure what to think about this book.  I had a hard time getting into it, even though it was engaging, because I was swamped at work and not getting home until late hours.  But I also just didn’t quite know how to respond to some of the bizarre twists.  It was well-written though, and probably would have been more engaging had I been less stressed when I opened it.

Truth and Beauty: A Friendship, by Ann Patchett – I really have enjoyed Ann Patchett’s fiction works and I’d been meaning to seek out this non-fiction memoir of her friendship with fellow writer Lucy Grealy for a long time.  It was beautifully written, but I found myself frustrated.  Ann and Lucy’s friendship never seemed to me to be a friendship of equals – it was always Ann taking care of Lucy, and Lucy suctioning all the attention and affection that not only Ann, but any of her other friends, had to give.  I found Lucy interesting at the beginning of the book, but exhausting by the end, and I don’t know how Ann put up with her for so long.  But still, a lovely tribute to a friendship that, however strange it may seem to those on the outside, did last two decades.

The Mommy Diet, by Allison Sweeney – I’ve been gradually reading this throughout pregnancy and have been trying to read along with the stage I’m currently in, but I finally decided to blaze through and finish it, and then just go back and revisit chapters as needed.  Allison is full of practical advice and encouragement for all three trimesters of pregnancy and for the recovery stages afterward, through nine months of mommyhood.  I’ll definitely be putting many of her tips into practice (as I’ve been trying faithfully to do up until now, anyway) for a healthy transition from pregnant lady to mom.  Recommended to any pregnant or mom friends.

What to Expect When You’re Expecting, by Heidi Murkoff (ed.) – I haven’t read every single word in this tome, but I’ve read every single word that applies to me at the moment, so I’m declaring it done.  (That seems to be the way with these gigantic pregnancy books.)  I will certainly revisit chapters that deal with experiences I have yet to have (like the remainder of pregnancy, labor and delivery, and the first few postpartum weeks, all of which are covered in detail).  So many people consider WTE the pregnancy Bible and it does seem to be.  It can be a little scary in parts, but in my opinion it’s better to be prepared, although I did skip the scariest parts since I can always read them later if I really need to.  WTE is full of information and doesn’t shy away from telling the good, the bad and the ugly of pregnancy.  I’d recommend it to pregnant friends with the caveat that it’s better to skip or at least lightly skim information that scares you and isn’t likely to apply to you anyway.

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July was a weird reading month for me.  I started off strong and blazed through a few books, then hit a major snag when a huge work project occupied all of my attention (including a few nights and weekends) in the latter half of the month.  Under normal circumstances, it wouldn’t take me a week to finish a book like The Uninvited Guests (which was under 300 pages), but this month it did.  There are months like that – they happen.  I did have some highlights, though – most notably, A Good American, which I can already tell is going to be one of the best books I read this year.  I’m trying for more relaxation time in August, and hope to have plenty of good reading to report next month.

It should come as no surprise that my kid is going to have a substantial library from the day she is born.  I’ve already talked about my plans to be a Reading Mom, which include keeping up with my own reading as much as I can.  But babies get books too; at least in my house they do!  Here are some of the classic children’s books that will be part of the baby’s library from day one:

Goodnight Moon: This has always been one of my favorites.  I love the sweet, calming “goodnight” message.

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?: I’m sure the baby will end up with this book because my mom just loves it.  Either I, or someone else, will definitely pick it up for her.

Make Way for Ducklings: It’s a classic, and I think every kid should own this one.

Blueberries for Sal: Another book I LOVED as a child.  And it makes me want to eat blueberries.

Tails: This book is too new for me to have read it as a child, but I saw it at a baby shower and was charmed.  It’s going on baby’s shelf for sure.

The Mitten: I’ve always thought this book was just gorgeous, and the story of a forest full of woodland creatures who crowd together into a dropped mitten to stay warm is a classic.

Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type: My college (yes, college) collective bargaining professor read my class this hilarious story of a group of farm animals who band together and form a union and then “negotiate” with their farmer over their working conditions.  I’m clearly not expecting baby to understand collective bargaining, but it’s an important part of what I do for a living and I want to share it with her.  Plus this book is freaking hysterical.

Madeline: In an old house in Paris, that was covered with vines… oh, how I love the Madeline books.  All of them.  You bet these will be in baby’s library.

BabyLit Board Books: These darling books are charming.  I love the fun, bold illustrations, and of course I want to introduce the little miss to Lizzy Bennet and Jane Eyre from an early age.

Diary of a Wombat: I bought this for the three-year-old son of some friends and laughed myself silly in the bookstore as I flipped through it.  Hubby read it too and also found it hilarious.  And then he “demanded carrots.”

Of course, baby is going to have plenty of cloth and board books to start, since I know that when they’re that young books go straight into the mouth.  But I’m looking forward to sharing these gorgeous, cute and funny books with the baby and starting that love of reading early.

(Images from LibraryThing)

What were your favorite books as a child?  Any recommendations for picture books that I should get for the little one?

I’d be hard-pressed to name a favorite author, but Eudora Welty is up there.  I first discovered Welty in ninth grade.  My English teacher told my mother during a parent-teacher night that she simply must buy me a copy of One Writer’s Beginnings, Welty’s memoir-slash-writing-meditation.  My mom dutifully rushed out to Barnes & Noble and brought me back a copy of the slim volume, which I devoured.  The story of Welty’s idyllic southern childhood and how she found her voice as a writer captivated me.  It didn’t take me long to seek out copies of some of Welty’s short stories and novels, and I found them every bit as enthralling as One Writer’s Beginnings.  Welty’s writing style is clean yet folksy, and in her works everyday events seem to be cloaked in golden light.  She is both a master of the short story form and a brilliant novelist, something most writers can’t say for themselves.  Every time I pick up one of Welty’s books or stories, I am thrown back into a simpler yet no less dramatic time, and I’m grateful to that teacher for making sure I knew about this magnificent author.  Here are some of my favorite Welty works:

One Writer’s Beginnings – While many readers find their introduction to Eudora Welty through her short stories, it all starts here for me.  Welty recounts her childhood and how she learned to write in three chapters: Listening, Learning to See, and Finding My Voice.  Welty’s life was not particularly dramatic.  She didn’t go through the “school of hard knocks” the way many people believe a writer must in order to be great.  I think this is her strength; she lived an ordinary life, surrounded by a loving and supportive family, and from that she learned to find great beauty and drama in everyday things.

A Curtain of Green – This was Welty’s first of many collections of short stories.  The book explores race relations in Mississippi, but in a subtle and kind light.  And race isn’t the driving force behind Welty’s writing; rather, she focuses on the people who live in her South and the beauty and challenges they face in their lives.

The Optimist’s Daughter – This novel won Welty the Pulitzer Prize, and it’s probably her masterpiece.  Laurel Hand travels to the bedside of her father, an aging Judge who is about to undergo eye surgery.  As she attends her father, Laurel must also deal with the Judge’s much-younger second wife, Fay.  When the Judge dies, Laurel and Fay travel back to Laurel’s childhood home, where Fay antagonizes the neighbors and Laurel learns that Fay lied about her family.  Laurel must learn to view Fay with compassion, and to confront her own memories as she cleans out the house.  It’s a soft book, gentle, but searing.

Delta Wedding – This is a lesser-known novel, and The Optimist’s Daughter tends to steal all the glory, but Delta Wedding is my favorite Welty novel.  The story is told through the eyes of nine-year-old Laura, who is traveling back to the Mississippi Delta to visit a family plantation on the eve of her cousin Dabney Fairchild’s wedding.  It’s not a plot-driven novel, but one focused on characters and setting, which is right up my alley.  I find myself thinking of the Fairchilds, who loved to linger at the table long after dinner, whenever conversation at my own table stretches on through tea and coffee and beyond.

Eudora Welty was a prolific writer who published many, many short stories and six novels – these few are just my own personal favorites.  Her works are timeless, yet grounded in the particular era in which she wrote.  I’ve read and re-read them, and I’ll be reading them for the rest of my life.

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Reading is my oldest and favorite hobby.  I literally can’t remember a time in my life when I didn’t love to curl up with a good book.  Here are my reads for June, 2012…

An Incomplete Revenge (Maisie Dobbs #5), by Jacqueline Winspear – I really enjoyed the fifth installment of Maisie’s adventures.  James Compton, the son of Maisie’s former employer, Lady Rowan Compton, is back in England and taking a more active role in the running of the family business.  James is looking to acquire some property in a small village in Kent, but the village has been troubled by acts of vandalism during the hop-picking season for some years now.  James asks Maisie to find out what is going on, and Maisie sets up residence in the village along with a tribe of gypsies and droves of hop-pickers, including the Beale family, as she investigates the village’s troubled legacy since the Great War.

The Spellman Files (The Spellmans #1), by Lisa Lutz – The Spellmans put the “fun” in “dysfunctional.”  There’s Mom and Dad, who run the family’s private investigations business; irritatingly perfect lawyer son David; wayward 13-year-old Rae; drunk Uncle Ray; and Isabel, who decides she’s had enough.  Isabel demands an out, but before Mom and Dad will let her quit the business, they demand she take on one last case.  When a family member disappears, Isabel thinks there might be a connection.  This was a fun, silly romp.  Fully reviewed here.

My Name is Memory, by Ann Brashares – This novel about a man who remembers all of his past lives, and his soulmate who remembers none, had great potential.  It was cheesy but held my attention for the one day it took to read.  I’ll probably seek out the sequel, if/when it ever comes out, just to know what happened… but it wasn’t my favorite book ever.

Among the Mad (Maisie Dobbs #6), by Jacqueline Winspear – Maisie and Billy are walking down the street on Christmas Eve, 1931, when they witness a man commit suicide.  Not long after, Scotland Yard contacts Maisie, telling her that a threatening letter has been received from a man who claims he will devastate London if certain demands aren’t met, and mentions Maisie by name.  Maisie jumps into a search for the terrorist, while Billy’s wife Doreen is going off the rails, having never recovered from the death of their youngest child.  This was probably my least favorite Maisie novel – I found it rather creepy and not particularly compelling.  It’s still a Maisie book, though, so it was still good.

Bossypants, by Tina Fey – I love Tina Fey and had been meaning to get to Bossypants for at least a year.  (My copy was given to me by R, with instructions to “pass on the Tina” when I was done, and I had to finish it quickly so she wouldn’t spot it on my shelf during a visit this month.)  Written in a more traditional memoir style, Tina recounts her childhood, her adventures in comedy writing, and her time playing Sarah Palin on SNL (my favorite part of the book, as I loved those sketches in 2008).  Fun and fascinating.  Fully reviewed here.

Elizabeth the Queen: The Life of a Modern Monarch, by Sally Bedell Smith – I had started this fascinating biography a few months ago and had to put it down to pick up other (more urgent, non-returnable library) books.  Finally got around to finishing it this month and I learned SO much about the Royal Family, British history and rituals, and racehorses.  My only complaint was that the book was very anti-Diana and I firmly believe there were two sides to that story; Bedell Smith simply writes Diana off as an unbalanced “problem child” who caused trouble for the Royal Family from Day One.  Otherwise, though, I found it to be a thoroughly researched and really interesting read.

The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights, by John Steinbeck – I’d been wanting to read this book since I visited Monterey as a 12-year-old.  Steinbeck re-writes Sir Thomas Malory’s Le Morte d’Arthur in modern English.  For whatever reason, though, he wandered away from finishing it, and his Acts are a fairly rough draft.  The stories of Gawain, Ewain and Marhalt and The Noble Tale of Sir Lancelot of the Lake were the most complete and polished, and were excellent.  (Especially Gawain, Ewain and Marhalt, which was very, very funny.)  Still a worthwhile read, although it could have been SO much better if Steinbeck had seen the project through to the end.

The Mapping of Love and Death (Maisie Dobbs #7), by Jacqueline Winspear – After the disappointments of Among the Mad, Maisie was back at the top of her form as she searched for the lost love of an American cartographer who was killed in the war.  What seems like a simple case turns out to be much more than Maisie and Billy bargained for, and this is one of the best Maisie novels thus far.  (I can’t decide which I like better: this or An Incomplete Revenge.  Both great.)

Heaven to Betsy (Betsy-Tacy #5), by Maud Hart Lovelace – Library books caused me to stall out on the Betsy-Tacy books for awhile, but I was looking forward to getting back into them.  In this installment, Betsy starts high school and becomes a bit of a twit.  She gets caught up – as do most of us, at some point in our lives – in a whirlwind social life and becomes rather boy-crazy.  I was a bit worried for a time that Tacy would get lost in the shuffle, but I didn’t give Betsy enough credit – no one could ever replace Tacy.  Although I loved seeing Betsy have fun and reading about the exploits of “the Crowd,” I know she has quite a bit of growing up to do in the next few books.

A Lesson in Secrets (Maisie Dobbs #8), by Jacqueline Winspear – Maisie takes on another assignment for Special Services, going undercover to pose as a junior philosophy lecturer at a college in Cambridge and report on activities not in the interests of the crown.  While Special Services is really looking for Bolshevik activities, Maisie finds the growing fasicination with Hitler’s Nazi party more troubling.  But when the college founder is found dead, Maisie can’t help but look into that too.  A good Maisie romp, and interesting to see a few turning points in the series come up, as Maisie has to stand on her own and begins to confront the growing shadows of what will become World War II.

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I guess I could call June my “month of Maisie,” since I read four out of nine of the Maisie adventures this month.  Which made for a fun month, to be sure!  I’m glad the Maisie books aren’t complete fluff, because my June wasn’t the most intellectually taxing month (although The Acts of King Arthur and the Elizabeth II biography were each challenging reads in their own way, so I’m glad they were mixed in there).  I’m not sure how much time I have to read in July, but I’m hoping to add some more substance.