October was a lean reading month for me as I immersed myself in manuscript edits and my first round of query letters (more on that later;). But this month I was able to get into a few good books.
Here are my thoughts on what I read in November…
Middletide by Sarah Crouch
You likely know Sarah Crouch the pro-runner who was the first American female finisher at the Chicago Marathon in 2018. But all along, Sarah was quietly cultivating a path to publication. Her debut, Middletide is captivating with its immersive landscape description, compelling characters, and perfect pacing. This book holds tension in all the right places and will have you turning pages at a clip that might rival Sarah’s speedy marathon pace. Grab a copy from Bookshop or request it at your local library if it’s not already there. Whatever you do add it to your TBR pile!
All the book links take you to Bookshop.org where your book purchase helps support my local indie bookstore, The Country Bookseller in Wolfeboro, NH.
Courting the Wild Twin by Dr. Martin Shaw
I picked up this book (or rather downloaded it on Audible) right after reading an essay by Martin Shaw published in Emergence Magazine two years ago. I listened to Courting the Wild Twin in one sitting (while driving up into the White Mountains, through Franconia Notch, and then back home along the Kancamagus Highway). It was the perfect backdrop to this book, which I can now call “life-changing.” Some books find their way into your life at the right time and change it, this was one of them.
I can see her now. She lives in the north, my wild twin does. The mountains are her home, and from the balsam and the granite, she draws her wisdom. And now I’m courting her.
Smoke Hole: Looking to the Wild in the Time of the Spyglass by Martin Shaw
This book is all about attention. Through two folktales, Martin Shaw shows the reader how bringing our attention to the natural world will help heal and ground us in a time when we are more distracted than ever. I found this book to be similar in theme to books like “Stolen Focus” by Johann Hari and Jonathan Haidt’s “The Anxious Generation,” but instead of giving the reader a protocol to fix the problem, Shaw urges the reader to become “wedded to the wild.” I think that Shaw is onto something. He’s pointing back (to myth, to folklore) as a way forward. His voice should be headed.
Living in Wonder: Finding Mystery and Meaning in a Secular Age
I’ve read a few books on awe and enchantment, namely “Enchantment” by Katherine May and “Awe” by Dacher Keltner, that are calling people back to attentiveness to the wonder of the world around us. It is something we’ve lost in our fast-paced, digital age. This book is in that same vein but takes a decidedly spiritual and religious turn in this conversation. Dreher is a convert to Orthodox Christianity and brings into the discussion his experience both with Catholicism and Orthodox Christianity.
It kicks off with a story about a UFO encounter (which I was not expecting) and gets a little weirder from there, bringing in the discussion of dark energies, demons and angels. It finally arrives at signs, wonders, and mysteries (which I was expecting). Overall, it gave me an appreciation for the mystical and has encouraged me to keep my eyes open to serendipitous events—they mean something.
-Sarah