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Friday, January 22, 2021

Reading aloud

 by Rain Trueax

 

We took down the last of Christmas-- the tree-- on Epiphany, which seemed an appropriate time given the story of the Wise Men. At first our home seemed incredibly sparse without all the greens, but I've settled back into it. I love this simple little house and feel grateful many times just walking into a room that is so us. It is full of art and furniture collected over many years with no idea it'd end up here when it was purchased. It's not finished as in changes may come, but that's the beauty of life. We can change.

Earlier this week, I got curious regarding how many books we had together read in 2020, our way to escape into other worlds. My husband and I began reading aloud, taking turns, last January and it has proven a good experience. Previously, Ranch Boss (need a new name for him that relates to the desert since our son is running the ranch) had done very little reading aloud; so it was a new experience for him, which he came to like. We often talk over what we read when we are finished with the snippets. People did this for many centuries, once books were available (before that maybe they related myths), but then other entertainments became more appealing. I think this is one that bears a new look as a way to share. It might seem odd that a romance writer would choose all nonfiction, but I think it's really very typical and the ways we do research.

 

Our choices were all nonfiction, some originally published as articles in literary or nature magazines. Many were kind of memoirs-- sharing a small part of the authors' lives. They are set in the Southwest with a couple of exceptions. Most we had already owned. A few led us to buy a book that carried on a theme. A couple I had to buy that I knew I owned in Oregon, but a used version was cheaper than asking our son to find them and mail them down here. I didn't think to write titles down as we finished them last year but we searched them out. They are not in order. Two of them we mailed to our son for him to read (the first two below).

The Happiness Equation

The Dude and the Zen Master

The Desert Year

The Hidden West

Chulo

Taos Memory

Home is the Desert

One Life at a time, Please

Book of the Hopi

Pumpkin Seed Point

The Desert Smells like Rain

The Dancing Healers

The Theft of the Spirit

Kindling Spirit.

I was surprised to find we had read 14 with one more that we started in December but didn't finish until the new year. I might write more about it-- unless something else comes up for next Saturday.

3 comments:

  1. I too read a lot of nonfiction. I've never kept a list of the books I've read, but you've inspired me to do that.

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  2. Rain: Reading aloud to each other is a lovely idea. I know a local couple who download ebooks and read aloud. They've practically gotten rid of their TV. When my siblings and I were young, Mama gathered us around in a circle and night and read from books such as "Bread From Heaven," a story about a missionary who went to Africa. I still remember parts of that story. But most of all, I remember the warm, cozy feelings that blanketed me when Mama read to us.

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  3. I used to read to our kids and enjoyed it; then they learned to read and wanted to do it themselves :). It has been a really good thing for us especially in such a troubled time. It takes us somewhere else. I had never kept track of the books I read but will at least with the ones we are reading aloud. It's been fun

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