Category: Reading

Love your solitude

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“Therefore, dear Sir, love your solitude and try to sing out with the pain it causes you. For those who are near you are far away… and this shows that the space around you is beginning to grow vast…. be happy about your growth, in which of course you can’t take anyone with you, and be gentle with those who stay behind; be confident and calm in front of them and don’t torment them with your doubts and don’t frighten them with your faith or joy, which they wouldn’t be able to comprehend. Seek out some simple and true feeling of what you have in common with them, which doesn’t necessarily have to alter when you yourself change again and again; when you see them, love life in a form that is not your own and be indulgent toward those who are growing old, who are afraid of the aloneness that you trust…. and don’t expect any understanding; but believe in a love that is being stored up for you like an inheritance, and have faith that in this love there is a strength and a blessing so large that you can travel as far as you wish without having to step outside it.”

― Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet

I read Rilke’s Letters years ago and felt such a resonance in my young spirit.  I’m feeling a bit off-kilter as many things are in flux at the moment — perhaps it is a good time to return to those encouraging words I found so dear.  Wishing you confidence and calm as the week comes to a close, and happy Friday!

Two great books

~ cdelacuadra ~ 1 Comment

Last week I dove headfirst into a pair of great novels, one after the other.  Both were intimate, searing looks at love, relationships, and life.

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Call Me By Your Name is one of the most achingly beautiful books I have read in a while.  This love story unfolds over a few weeks of summer in Italy, and is poignant in ways I can’t quite find the words for.  We inhabit the head of the protagonist, inhabit the sleepy Italian villa, and at the same time we feel every dull throb of longing from every past desire in our own lives.  I read this in a night and a day, and was gripped from start to finish.  André Aciman’s prose is tender and desperate by turns, fleshing out a love that is somehow both fleeting and transcendent.  An exquisite read that will leave you thinking about love and life and the way each changes the other for years to come.

fates_and_furies_coverFates and Furies gripped me just as much, but in an entirely different way.  Like Call Me, I couldn’t put it down, and finished it in less than two days.  This novel, too, explores a relationship, this time between a husband and wife over the course of their marriage (and beyond).  I’m not even actually sure if I enjoyed it, per se, but it was an intense experience to see their relationship from both sides of the coin.  It was very thought-provoking, and I think I am still digesting it — I haven’t started another book yet for that very reason.  One takeaway from this novel for me is the fact I want to be known.  I want to feel understood and loved for me, not for a construct someone has in their mind.  And I don’t want to be left with an impotent rage over the paths my life has taken (or not).  But then on the other hand, can we ever really know another person, truly?  We inhabit this body in this life, and everyone else is relegated to observer by default.  How much can we know?  How much can we be known?  Lauren Groff’s style is very compelling, and once you wander into this Greek drama, you’ll want to stay and ponder long after the curtain closes.

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Monday amusements

~ cdelacuadra ~ Leave a comment

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Good morning and happy Monday!  I know “happy Monday” can be a bit of an oxymoron, so here are a few fun links to get the week started on a brighter note:

Internet work-spaces are a psychopathic pit of lies.

What?  I always put my pristine caseless iPhone face-down next to three paperclips for maximum productivity.  You know, near my Emotional Support Pineapple.

 

The British Museum of your stuff

My feelings as I walked through the British Museum encapsulated in the most hilarious way.  No, we didn’t steal this!  “Chain of continuous possession being impossible to establish, the ownership of the object has reverted firmly and decisively to the museum.”

 

New erotica for feminists

“He says that he can see I’m smart because I have enormous books… [I] spend all night fantasizing about his insightful commentary around non-linear plot structure.”  Swoon.  Sigh.  Is it hot in here?

 

 

Tea(se)

~ cdelacuadra ~ Leave a comment

For years my ideal refuge has consisted of tea, a blanket, and a good book.  This is the trinity, my ideal, the combination of things I most long for amidst the bustle of each busy week.  This Monday, here is a round up to celebrate that favorite combination of mine.  It may be a bit of a tease, knowing that I have a full work week ahead, but let’s just consider it motivation instead, shall we?

I’d love to curl up in this super-soft alpaca throw from The Citizenry, and I’d be doubly happy knowing it is fair trade from talented artisans.  This mouse creamer makes me smile so much, and it would be a great companion to my ceramic mugs.  They have an angled top edge, all the better to inhale all those lovely aromas from renowned tea merchants Fornum & Mason.  I’ll use my trusty Bonavita kettle, for the optimal brew temperature every time.

Blush throw  Mouse creamer  Ceramic cup  British tea  Electric kettle

Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore is a romp of a read, and a delight for people who love books about books!  Mysterious, amusing, and thought-provoking by turns, I read this in a weekend.

All the Light We Cannot See, “about a blind French girl and a German boy whose paths collide in occupied France as both try to survive the devastation of World War II,” is on my list to read soon, and I can’t wait to dive in.  By all accounts a beautiful novel.

The Builders was described to me by a good friend as “part brutal Wild West and part dark-edged fantasy.”  Reading it was delightfully nostalgic, as though the Redwall novels of my childhood had grown up and gotten some extra bite.  Yes, there are talking animals, but this is not a bedtime story.  A thoroughly engaging read.

To my first love…

~ cdelacuadra ~ 2 Comments

On this day of love, I thought I would post an ode to my first love: reading.  I have been an avid reader for as long as I can remember, and devouring books was one of my great joys as a child.  Here are a few places I’d love to curl up and read, along with the book I’d likely be engrossed in.  Enjoy, and happy Valentine’s Day!

From the green velvet chair to the perfect blush paint up the stairwell, I love every bit of this little study nook.  The warm wood, gold accents, and mix of greens are perfection.  It would be the perfect place to settle in and take notes on The Vanishing Princess.

Jenny Diski explores femininity in quietly subversive ways throughout this collection.  Her stories are luminous, dark, and sexy by turns, and by the time you reach the end, you’ll realize she’s turned convention inside-out without you realizing it.  You’re through the looking glass, and not at all unhappy to be there.  An incredibly thoughtful read.

Room via Style by Emily Henderson.

This moody bedroom is the perfect place to curl up and explore the feminine psyche.  Perfectly rumpled linen bedding?  Check.  Clean white accents? Check.  Plants and pottery?  Double check.  All you need to add is a cup of tea and some poetry by Jeanann Verlee.

Verlee’s work is striking, honest, and beautiful in Said the Manic to the Muse.  Each poem is a slice of womanhood in all its complex, labyrinthine power.  A volume to ponder.

Room via Haarkon.

This eclectic, light-filled room would be the perfect place to linger.  The juxtaposition of the sculpture, ceramics, and modern painting is a delight, and the herringbone flooring paired with that beautiful wood cabinet?  Be still, my heart!  Amidst the slanting sunlight, I’d relax with A Gentleman in Moscow.

Perhaps my favorite book I read last year, Amor Towles’ rich prose delights with every turn of the page, and the cast of characters glows against the backdrop of a Moscow that changes over decades.  While I usually read quickly, this was a book I savored.

Room via Haley Boyd.

Happy reading!