October Books: Nonfiction

 There was a lot of fascinating nonfiction on various subjects in my October book list.

Be My Guest: Reflections on Food, Community and the Meaning of Generosity by Priya Basil (audiobook read by the author)

I found this book in the e-audiobook section of the library website and decided it was worth a try—it definitely was! I really enjoyed this book a lot. The author did a fine job of reading her work, which made it even better. There was a lot more depth here than I expected and more food for thought (ha ha). It is a hard book to categorise, but it’s part memoir, part food culture, part philosophy, part cultural analysis. I’ll just include the description from the library website.

‘The dinner table, among friends, is where the best conversations take place - talk about the world, religion, politics, culture, love and cooking. In the same way, Be My Guest is a conversation about all these things, mediated through the sharing of food. We live in a world where some have too much and others not enough, where migrants and refugees are both welcomed and vilified, and where most of us spend less and less time cooking and eating together. Priya Basil explores the meaning and limits of hospitality today, and in doing so she invites us to consider that how much we have in common may depend on what we are willing to share.’ 

Semicolon: How a Misunderstood Punctuation Mark Can Improve Your Writing, Enrich Your Reading and Even Change Your Life by Cecilia Watson 9audiobook read by Pam Ward)

This is the blurb for the book on the library website:

‘A biography of a much misunderstood punctuation mark and a call to arms in favour of clear expression and against stifling grammar rules. Cecelia Watson used to be obsessive about grammar rules. But then she began teaching. And that was when she realized that strict rules aren’t always the best way of teaching people how to make words say what they want them to; that they are even, sometimes, best ignored. One punctuation mark encapsulates this thorny issue more clearly than any other. The semicolon. Hated by Stephen King, Hemingway, Vonnegut and Orwell, and loved by Herman Melville, Henry James and Rebecca Solnit, it is the most divisive punctuation mark in the English language, and many are too scared to go near it. But why? When is it effective? Have we been misusing it? Should we even care? In this warm, funny, enlightening and thoroughly original book, Cecelia Watson takes us on a whistle-stop tour of the surprising history of the semicolon and explores the remarkable power it can wield, if only we would stop being afraid of it.Forget the rules; you’re in charge.’

This is a really good book! It’s not at all dry or tedious, but tells many stories in the process of discussing punctuation, the semicolon in particular, the English language, how writers communicate, and the repercussions of how things are written. For example, in one chapter, the author tells the story of how attempts to interpret a jury’s punctuation led to the execution of one man in the US, while his co-defendant got life in prison. The Supreme Courts has actually weighed in on punctuation. I’m glad I borrowed the book, because it’s fascinating and I learned some stuff.

The reader was surprisingly dramatic, given the subject matter. She was the reader of one of the books I listened to last month, The Candy Cane Caper—very different sort of book to this one. Her reading style was the same.

Voices of Cork: The Knitting Map Speaks by Kieran McCarthy

Last month I read a book about The Knitting Map, a community art project in Cork that was undertaken as part of the European Capital of Culture celebration in 2005. It turned out to be a very controversial project. This book is an oral history told by some of the knitters in the project. I loved reading their stories. Bill and I used to do life story work with individuals and groups and one early project we did was with the Fairbanks Quilters Guild. We also did a project with 10 artists when we both worked at a museum. The stories in this book, although not as extensive as the interviews we did, were along the same lines—the role of creativity in the women’s lives. This is my kind of thing!

Inhale, Exhale, Repeat by Emma Mills

This is the description of the book from the library website:

‘Inspired by traditional eastern lessons of meditation and mindfulness, neuroscience and insights from literature, Emma Mills offers fresh and simple tools to keep our minds healthy, from that early morning coffee through to the moment you climb into bed, without having to invest in expensive detox courses or far-flung retreats. She guides the reader through a course of a single day, with easy tips, meditations, recipes, literary recommendations and practical takeaways that can be completed in a matter of minutes.’

This is a book about mindfulness, which is a hot topic in recent years. Because I find secular Buddhist ideas (which is where much of this stuff comes from) to be very helpful, sensible, and spot-on, I was not really expecting to read about ideas that I was not already familiar with and I didn’t. I thought it was an interesting book anyway, because of the approach the author takes to these ideas. She does a good job of providing practical ideas for how people can incorporate awareness in a regular day that might be stressful and hectic. I like the incorporation of literature, music, and visual art into her suggestions. She includes recipes as well. It’s a practical book in many ways. As someone who does not do well with ‘traditional’ meditation, I liked the way she offered alternatives to readers. I can vouch for one of them, which is to put on music and really listen to it. This is something that works very well for me in times of stress, depression, or anxiety. I have certain music that I play and can just sit and listen through my earbuds. I inhabit the music and my mind shifts. Because she offers many different suggestions for different kinds of mindfulness practice, the book can be useful for people. Everyone’s circumstances are unique and what works for one person won’t work for another. People can take what’s useful and leave the rest or use her ideas as a jumping off point for your own.

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