Bits of Books on Friday

Ah, winter, and here in my neighbourhood we're busy but always on the look out for something new to do. Combine this with having a space to fill since leaving my book group, I wondered if anyone would care to share ideas around bits of the books I was reading. The idea sat on a back burner until my friend, Sarah Beck, decided to open her pottery and used book shop, Wildfire, on Friday afternoons. Given permission to invite people to come and chat, I chose a few paragraphs from a Christmas present, Sailing Home: Using the Wisdom of Homer's Odyssey to Navigate Life's Perils and Pitfalls by Norman Fischer. In the book, Fischer states that Odysseus, like all of us, was compelled to leave home and find his way in life, and like Odysseus, after our many adventures, we must eventually find our way home. The section I chose to share was one in which Fischer explores the notion that anger is a "mask for fear." He says," We don't want to feel fear, which is disempowering and uncomfortable, so we get angry instead. But what are we afraid of?" He says that fear is fundamental and deep and anger is a powerful urge to harm.

And to my delight, a lovely group of people joined me for a cup of Sarah's delicious coffee, and we discussed and discussed and discussed. Today we met for the 5th time to look at several passages from The Man Who Loved Books Too Much: The True Story of a Thief, a Detective, and a World of Literary Obsession by Allison Hoover Bartlett. Bartlett has written a compelling real-life story of a book thief, the book collector turned detective who sets out to catch him, and while telling this story, fills the book with wonderful stories of book collectors and their passion for books. What we discussed came from a beautifully written section where Bartlett describes buying her first book, a mail-ordered copy of Charlotte's Web. She describes the book, its cover, how it felt in the hand and how the contents lifted her into another world that she was loathe to leave. Our discussion was of books as objects: all of the gorgeous sensual aspects of books and how we first came to both books and reading. We talked about comics, libraries, being read to, where we liked to read, how a new book is special in every way and much more.

In between session 1 and 5, we read and discussed poems about fathers by various poets, short stories by Raymond Carver and Tillie Olsen, and two poems by Wislava Syzborska. I have an idea for next week where we could look at mechanics in writing, and by that I mean making or unmaking things, like the bomb de-fuser in The English Patient, and the making of a Malvern pudding in Stone Diaries or the setting of wolf traps in The Crossing.

To learn more about Sarah's pottery & book shop, Wildfire, go to: www.wildfirepottery.ca

A bonus, one of the book lovers is also a knitter with an old-fashioned tube sock knitting machine and today I bought a brand new pair of red socks: merino wool, cashmere, and nylon. They are scrumptious! Thanks Rosie.