“We become steeped in the notion that if we can’t excel, there’s little point in pursuit.”

This entry was first published in July 2007.

From Bachelor Brothers’ Bed & Breakfast (Bill Richardson):

p. 28

The purpose of reading is not necessarily to have one’s own world view confirmed or mirrored back. But it is nice when it happens. It is not difficult for either of us to imagine any number of Anne Tyler’s confused and gentle characters turning up at our door. We rather suspect that many of our guests see themselves reflected in her pages and take a certain comfort in being validated through fiction. Who can blame them? It is a benign form of narcissism.

COMMENT: Have you read this 2004 BookPage interview with Anne Tyler?

p. 38

Many people have had this experience, I think, especially where music is concerned. We become steeped in the notion that if we can’t excel, there’s little point in pursuit.

COMMENT: What do you think? Is there little point in pursuing an interest if there’s no chance you will excel?

p. 56

I love the phrase “learning by heart,” especially when it is applied to poetry, because it seems such a perfect description of the process of memorizing words that have been carefully chosen and weighed and handled. The heart, I think, is the home of all things rhythmic, is where learned poems go to live. Over time and repeated use, they are folded into one’s being, are absorbed by the blood, and feed the rest of the mechanism: more subtle than oxygen, but as vital, in their way. Memorized poems become part of the whole, like reflexes. They surface as they’re required.

COMMENT: What poems have you “learned by heart”?

p. 63

This anthology of stories, fables, and drawings (The Thurber Carnival) was published in 1945. It is significant for me on two fronts. It was one of the books sent to us by our father; and it was one of those transitional books that bridge the gap between childhood reading and adult reading. I felt terribly knowing and chuckled appreciatively at the cartoons, although it’s certain I didn’t get them at all. They are, after all, quite sexually sophisticated. This is a perfect bedside book, and a great reminder that there is much virtue to be found in simplicity.

COMMENT: Born in Columbus, Ohio, in 1894, writer and cartoonist James Thurber is widely considered the greatest American humorist since Mark Twain. According to Books and Writers, Thurber’s work “dealt with the frustrations of modern world.” Walter Mitty, his snarling wife, and silently observing animals are among his best known characters. What Thurber have you read? And which books bridged your childhood and adulthood reading?

p. 122

“You subscribe to the Reader’s Digest?” asked Rae.

“Mother did,” I said, with a faint and unnecessary tone of apology. I don’t know why it’s so fashionable to sneer at the Reader’s Digest. I’ve learned a great deal from it over the years about the function of the major organs, and how to keep love alive in a marriage. “We’ve kept up the subscription as a kind of memorial. And anyway, I rather like it. Great toilet-side reading.”

COMMENT: Do you subscribe to Reader’s Digest?