Books I'm Reading
Books I'm Reading - February 2021
Books I’m Reading
David B Hazelwood
February 2021
Only three books made the list this month. I’ve been busy editing the new cookbook, Cooking Southern. Reading does help me write, but hasn’t improved my ‘rithmatic. This month I was reminded of the power of “like” in writing. I guess today’s teen discovered it too.
The Library Book (2018) by Susan Orlean
The author is a journalist and has definitely chosen the correct field, unless she decides to become a full-time novelist. This book about the burning of the Los Angeles library spoke to me more as a writer than a reader. All writers have the same cache of words to use. Some just choose proper words and arrange them better than most. She has the power to describe mundane subjects with such clarity that they become significant. She shows the power of “like”. It’s almost on every page. “The damaged books were like…” I like this book.
Book of the Month
The Painted Veil (19) by Somerset Maugham
Before I was thirty, I seldom read anything I didn’t have to read and not even all of that. So, I missed most all of the classics. This is the only Maugham I have read. I suspect his trade was using his characters to exemplify the human condition in all of us, especially our frailties. Most of his characters were bold enough to share their non-traditional positions on life situations at the risk of rejection. All the while they echo my driving force that humans have the capacity to grow, to change, and to forgive. His characters come out from behind their painted veils.
The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry (1924)
Harold Fry walked over 600 miles across England from its southern to northern coast to say thank you to a dying friend. Like his walk, this novel wrings out all of the guilt, failures, and hardships that burden him. His wife, who is left at home, is doing the same things. Being dragged through all of these negative emotions wasn’t a pleasant journey for me, even with some joyful resolutions at the end. I’ll stick with reading Peter Jenkins’ “Walk Across America”.
