Hello reader…
This past Sunday, a group of book lovers gathered virtually at the Reading Room in Second Life to sip warm beverages and chat about our favorite topic.
Here’s a summary of what folks have been reading, based on our inworld chatlog:
Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times by Katherine May
Our gathering opened with a short passage from Wintering, a non-fiction book about rest, acceptance, and the healing power of nature. The author explores the various ways that humans, animals and plants prepare for, and thrive through, winter.
Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teaching of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer
Braiding Sweetgrass was described as a lyrical yet scientific book that makes nature seem like a wonderful gift. It is non-fiction…but also rich with stories from Native American culture.
The Anthology of Scottish Folk Tales by Donald Smith
This wonderful collection of stories was appreciated by our book lover because it is arranged by the main cultural locations in Scotland. We all agreed upon our love of folktales and a request was made for a list of Hawaiian folktales (Hawai’i is the home state of one of our members). Here are a few to start; a few are linked to free online versions.
- Ka Mo’olelo o La’ieikawai by S.N. Haleole
- Hawaiian Mythology by Martha W. Beckwith and Katharine Luomala
- Hawaiian Folk Tales by Thomas G. Thrum
- The Legends and Myths of Hawai’i: The Fables and Folklore of a Strange People by King David Kalakaua.
The Hawai’i State Public Library offers a browsable and searchable index of Hawaiian legends. A few of the titles are linked to free online copies.
House Made of Dawn by N. Scott Momaday
A Pulitzer Prize-winning novel that was first written as a poem. Set in New Mexico where the pueblo is like a house made of dawn, it is the story of Abel, a soldier in WW2 of indigenous American ancestry who returns to find that he really does not fit in anywhere anymore.
Life Itself by Roger Ebert
On a couple of our group’s TBR stacks, Ebert’s 2011 memoir was described as easy, fast reading due to his newspaper style of writing. Earlier we spoke of Katherine May’s description of seasons – here, Ebert mostly talks about minutes. He tells he often has a tingling feeling when something sinks in, or reveals an emotion he didn’t know was there.
Boomerang: Travels in the New Third World by Michael Lewis
This non-fiction book is a kind of follow-up to ‘The Big Short’ which looked at the housing market bubble in 2008. In this case, ‘Boomerang’ gets into financial debacles in other parts of the world–Iceland, Greece, Ireland.
The Artificial Silk Girl by Irmgard Kuen
Written in 1930s Germany, the heroine’s character – a social-climbing flapper – is revealed through her reaction to everything she sees and feels.
*For those interested, the 1920s Berlin bookclub will discuss this book on October 30th at 12:30pm SLT at the Berliner Stadtbibliothek (Berlin City Library).
Sweet Bean Paste by Durian Sukegawa
Originally written in Japanese and set in contemporary Japan, this novel is about a dora-yaki maker ( dorayaki is a pancake filled with sweet bean paste) who doesn’t really like his job. One day, along comes an elderly woman named Tokue who introduces him to the most amazing artisanal bean paste he’s ever tasted. They begin working at the shop together. As their friendship grows, so does his confidence in his dorayaki making, as well as his mental, emotional, and physical wellness. But Tokue has a dark past, as does he, and as their pasts come to light, they must both grapple with what that means for their friendship as well as their outlook on life.
Sweet Bean Paste was also made into a movie.
The Last Bookshop in London: A Novel of World War II by Madeline Martin
A novel with many wonderful references to books and reading. The female protagonist becomes a book lover and book sharer.
Packing My Library: An Elegy and Ten Digressions by Alberto Manguel
A longish essay…or meditation if you will…on a bibliophile and his library and experience of books.
*Manguel also wrote a book read by a different book lover entitled, ‘A History of Reading’
Metamodernism and Changing Literacy: Emerging Research and Opportunities by Dr. Valerie Hill
A scholarly publication on how reading/writing and literacy are changing. A presentation on this topic by Dr. Hill may be viewed here.
A few titles mentioned at previous gatherings have been making the rounds:
- Tipper Isn’t Going Out by Calvin Trillin
- Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata
- Venice Noir (Akashic Noir), Maxim Jakubowski ed.
Three book sites were shared by our members:
Our next gathering will be on November 14th at 1pm SLT. It will be the last Book Lovers Coffee Hour for 2021. Hope to see you then!
The Reading Room 
Thank you for the Hawaiian folk stories links, Zoe. 🙏🏼💜🌺
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