the i in we

In no particular order:

Mother-Daughter Wisdom: Understanding the Crucial Link Between Mothers, Daughters, and Health by Christiane Md Northrup

I worship at the altar of Northrup. She’s the smartest, kindest, wisest writer on woman’s health that I know and have read (and I have read a few). In this book, she looks into how one’s relationship with her mother can effect all aspects of life. Fascinating!

What Now? by Ann Patchett

Patchett’s commencement speech from Sarah Lawrence College in 2006 is funny, poignant, sad, never clichéd, inspirational, and real.

Born Standing Up: A Comic’s Life by Steve Martin

(Audio) Steve Martin is a erudite, depressed, hilarious, absurd man who needs to marry one of my single friends so he can be in my life forever. Until then, this audiobook was the first one I listened to this year, and probably the best.

Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex by Mary Roach

Bonk is not nearly as good as Roach’s Stiff, but that’s like comparing Diet Coke to Diet Coke with Lime for me. It’s still really good. And Bonk is about sex, so that’s always fun. Roach is continuously funny, and her humor makes a wonderful mix with her incessant curiosity and great writing.

A Hidden Wholeness: The Journey Toward an Undivided Life by Parker J. Palmer

Another altar to which I bow: Parker Palmer reminds me of WHO I can truly be, HOW I can be, and WHERE I want to go with my life. Seriously. I found this book really useful for my spiritual direction-using self, but I think that anyone in a leadership position could be inspired by this book.

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

Sherman Alexie is one of America’s few successful Native American writers. He is HILARIOUS. He wrote the movie “Smoke Signals,” many prose books,  books of poetry, and more and more and more. This book is a semi-biographical young adult novel, so it’s a great entrance to his work. I confess that I’m rarely drawn to any entertainment having to do with Native Americans, but this book is not only a good read, it’s very illuminating of N.A. life. It’s a little saucy, so I wouldn’t recommend it to any kids younger than about 15, but for adults I think it’s fantastic. It also won a National Book Award a couple years ago, so there’s that, too. If you end up reading this, please listen to the recording of him at the Talking Volumes series on mpr with Kerry Miller. He is smart, funny, deprecating…almost everything one would want in an author reading.

The Kingdom of Ordinary Time: Poems by Marie Howe

My absolutely favorite book of the year. It was, and is, stunning and breathtaking. I reunited with my friend Jen from St. Ben’s, and she completed an MFA in poetry this year and recommended another book of Howe’s to me. The library didn’t have it, so I got this one instead, and am genuinely grateful to the Hennepin County library system for that. A sample:

——————–

Annunciation by Marie Howe

Even if I don’t see it again – nor ever feel it

I know it is – and that if once it hailed me

it ever does -

And so it is myself I want to turn in that direction

not as towards a place, but it was a tilting

within myself,

as one turns a mirror to flash the light to where

it isn’t – I was blinded like that – and swam

in what shone at me

only able to endure it by being no one and so

specifically myself I thought I’d die

from being loved like that.

———————–

Donkey Gospel: Poems by Tony Hoagland

I read Hoagland after I kept seeing his name in other poetry books and other poet’s laud his work. His poetry is very male, very accessible. It made me want to write – and I did. Also, after David Foster Wallace passed away, someone posted a syllabus from one of his classes and his book is on there prominently.

The Kite Runner/One Thousand Splendid Suns

I won’t link to these because we’ve all heard about them by this point, but I listened to both of them this year and not only are they good stories, I genuinely feel like I understand the political situations in Afghanistan more than I did before partaking. And they both made me cry at points, so that’s something. My friend Katie recommends digesting these two and then watching “Charlie Wilson’s War” for a trifecta on Afghanistan learning.

Smoke by Dorianne Laux

Another recommendation from my friend Jen, who studied with (and is Facebook friends with!) Ms. Laux. This is a sad, sexy, and inspiring book.

The Little Book by Selden Edwards

No, this is not the next “Time Traveler’s Wife” like the blurbs say, but it’s a good filler while we wait for the movie. The protagonist travels to fin de siecle (end of the century) Vienna and meets…members of his family. Hijinks, hilarity, history lessons, sex, coming of age, etc ensue.

Ten Poems to Change Your Life Again and Again by Roger Housden

Rachel Greenhouse recommended this series to me (there’s about 5 or 6 books) after realizing that I was reading a lot of poetry this year. They are each a very good introduction to mostly modern poetry; Housden doesn’t parse each poem’s literary parts, but instead talks about why he likes each one and how they apply to his life. To his credit, as a reader I ended up being really invested and interested in his life. This was my favorite volume in the series (I read them all), but unfortunately I read this one first. As it is the last one in the series, I had some of his personal journeys “spoiled”.  But, I read this book in a rocking chair on a sunny day on an outdoor patio at the College of St. Catherine; it was the perfect setting for taking in this book.

Here If You Need Me: A True Story by Kate Braestrup (Audio)

Braestrup’s memoir contains her husband’s death, her seminary journey, and her employment as a chaplain in the Maine Warden’s service. I listened to this one also, and she reads it herself, and she’s super no-nonsense about her faith development (and lack-of), grief, parenting, and dating again. It’s fantastic.

The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on the American Dream (Audio) by Barack Obama

I listened to Barry in the car all the cold days early in December. The guy is eloquent, has a great vocabulary, thoughtful, and outlines his faith in one particularly great chapter without any Christian-ese. Also, the last chapter talks about his family, and when was the last time we all listened to a political leader talk about how much he loves his wife WITHOUT a scandal being the impetus?

Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill

Stephen King’s son’s first novel. Lots of musical references and one VERY SCARY scene at the end of a ghost emerging from the box in the title gave Joe a spot on my end-of-the-year best list.

The Keep by Jennifer Egan (Audio)

I listened to this in the car after wanting to read it since the year it came out. I don’t want to tell you much about it, but you’ll read the same on Amazon: it begins with a story about a guy traveling to a castle, but then you find out that that story is actually being written by a guy in a prison’s writing class. Yes, it tacks on about 50 extra pages on the end, but was still very, very good.

The Emperor’s Children by Claire Messud

The Emperor’s Children is about three young adults and how they are effected by 9/11. It’s very well-written, but I ashamed to say that I didn’t realize how good of a book it was until I started reading about it online (I do that for almost every book I read). Reviews, reading guides, and even a podcast on Slate enlightened me to all I had missed. Also, it’s the book that saved me from a foul-mouthed guy on an airplane who wanted to tell me all about how his whore wife left him and became the “town bicycle” and he was working on the 35W bridge 20 hours as a salvo, but was very lonely. Um, gross. Thank you, Ms.Messud.