In Praise of Retreat

 Kirsteen MacLeod

ECW Press     2021

320 pages     Spiritual

Here is a synopsis of the book, In Praise of Retreat.

“For readers of Walden, Wild, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, A Book of Silence, A Gift from the Sea and other celebrations of the inner adventure. An utterly engaging dive into our modern ways of retreat ― where we go, why we’re drawn, and how it’s urgent. From pilgrim paths to forest cabins, and from rented hermitages to arts temples and quiet havens for yoga and meditation, In Praise of Retreat explores the pleasures and powers of this ancient practice for modern people. Kirsteen MacLeod draws on the history of retreat and her own personal experiences to reveal the many ways readers can step back from society to reconnect with their deepest selves ― and to their loftiest aspirations in life. In the 21st century, disengaging, even briefly, is seen by many as self-indulgent, unproductive, and antisocial. Yet to retreat is as basic a human need as being social, and everyone can benefit, whether it’s for a weekend, a month, or a lifetime. Retreat is an uncertain adventure with as many peaks and valleys as any mountain expedition, except we head inward, to recharge and find fresh energy and brave new ideas to bring back into our everyday lives.”

Retreat is not the same as sheltering-in-place which we are doing during this pandemic. Retreat is a purposeful separation from the world in order to think, write, regroup, ponder—and a whole bunch of other reflective words. MacLeod defines it thus: “A retreat means removing yourself from society to a quiet place where moments are strung like pearls, and after long days apart in inspiring surroundings, you return home refreshed and with a new sense of what you want to do with your life.” In a variety of ways, MacLeod explains what retreat means to her as well as what it meant to others through the centuries. Of course she describes what retreat meant to Henry David Thoreau, but I was especially taken with her study of the life of Leonard Cohen and what the concept of retreat meant to him.

MacLeod is an excellent writer, and her descriptions of her own retreats, from her cabin in the woods, to the wild places in the Scottish highlands make the reader yearn for some time away. She says, “In the quiet forest, I can begin to see the patterns of reality. To retreat is to stop, gain clarity and make space for change.”

I appreciated this study of retreat so much because of MacLeod's perspective and her honesty. Today, I was in great need of some solitude and quiet. I couldn’t leave home and go to the cottage or to the retreat center that I have been to in the past, so I decided I would make a retreat at my dining room table. I read MacLeod’s enlightening words and stared out my window at the bird feeder and the birds, squirrels, and chipmunks that were visiting nonstop. I took a walk to see the daffodils that are bursting all over the yard. And I practiced my deep breathing to find some clarity. MacLeod says, “Every retreat is a retreat to the self—not necessarily a place, but a state of mind and heart.” By heeding her words, I was able to find a brief respite from a difficult time in my life and find solace and rest. I rose from the table refreshed.

In Praise of Retreat will be released tomorrow. Articulate, well written, and profoundly challenging, I recommend this book to help us all navigate these uncertain times.

Hit Hard

By Patrick McLeod and Tammy McLeod

Tyndale House     2019

268 pages    Spiritual Memoir

We have all experienced great loss in our lives at one time or another, whether through death, divorce, Covid, and on and on. In their book, Hit Hard, Pat and Tammy McLeod explore the type of loss called “ambiguous loss”, a type of loss where there doesn’t seem to be a finality, and the grief is ongoing with no closure and no ultimate validation. Wikipedia defines ambiguous loss as “a loss that occurs without closure or clear understanding. This kind of loss leaves a person searching for answers, and thus complicates and delays the process of grieving, and often results in unresolved grief.” It is a concept developed by Dr. Pauline Boss and seems extremely appropriate as we are currently engulfed in the pandemic with loss ensnaring almost all of us in one form or another.

Several years ago, Zach McLeod, the McLeod’s second child, suffered a severe head injury on the football field, and since that moment his life and the life of his family has never been the same. They tell their family story in the book Hit Hard. The couple alternate in sharing their memories of that moment, the toll it took on their son and their family, and how through very hard emotional and spiritual work, they have been able to move beyond that tragic moment and deal in positive ways with the ambiguous loss it brought to them. They say that the purpose of the book is to relate to other families and individuals as they attempt to move beyond their own loss. The McLeods have just recently told their story in a video they made in February of this year, as a source of hope for families dealing with loss from Covid 19. It can be found here.

I was impressed by the huge supporting community the McLeods had around them as they dealt with this loss as well as the way in which they have channeled their loss over the years.  On the other hand, I think that they acknowledge that you can feel very alone, even when you are in a huge community. Both Pat and Tammy are pastors involved in student ministry in the Boston area; both have advanced degrees in ministry. They also are involved in mission in South Africa.

Hit Hard is extremely well written—thoughtful and insightful as well as devastating in the content. The intended audience, I believe, is anyone who is experiencing ambiguous loss, although it would be appropriate for everyone grieving loss. It is also very inspirational—showing that such great loss can lead to positive outcomes and great satisfaction.

Here are two more sites for those intrigued with their story: an interview with the family and the couple’s website.  However, when I Googled Pat and Tammy McLeod, I was able to find many articles, TV interviews, and pictures of the family over the years.

I appreciated very much the publicist sending me the book to read, and I would recommend it as a source of encouragement and hope.

 

Women Rowing North

 By Mary Pipher

Bloomsbury     2019

262 pages     Self-Help

Sometimes a book comes into your life at just the right moment. My spiritual growth book group read Women Rowing North this month. I had come home from a winter vacation with a really bad case of shingles and was feeling old and in a lot of pain as I began the book. Mary Pipher helped me focus on the good of my life experience, including the early spring, the birds that had returned to the feeder, and the care my family took of me when I was hurting badly.

More than anything, Pipher is encouraging women to accept who they are, where their life experience has brought them, and the will, strength, and grace to face the future. She encourages us to show mercy to ourselves and to others. This is a hard concept for me, because I generally tend to think of others first—such as what my husband would like for dinner, rather than what I might want. I am an accommodator, but the book showed me several ways to take care of myself. 

Pipher had a realization upon looking at a cactus in full bloom. It caused one of my favorite quotes from the book: “I realized that this cactus with its withered arms symbolized what my life would be. It would consist of thorns and fruit, pain and beauty. My body would age; my soul would expand.”

One of my friends really connected with the chapter about women who are caregivers. She is the caregiver for her husband whose health is deteriorating rapidly. She said that she really needed to hear what Pipher had to say on the topic. She is also experiencing a lot of loneliness because her husband is in a care facility. Pipher speaks to that as well in a chapter on loneliness and solitude.

My favorite chapter was about building a good day. Until very recently, I have been working most of my days at my computer editing graduate student work. When I stopped doing that work, I felt such a loss of purpose. Pipher spoke to me when she says, “There is no magical future. Today is our future.” Especially meaningful was this comment: “Life becomes so much simpler when we find we are in no hurry.” A friend’s husband died a week ago after a long illness. He was at home under hospice care. The children and grandchildren  came home to spend time with their parents in the days before his death, and now they are spending the weeks following his death celebrating his life in their childhood home. I appreciated this statement so much when thinking about my friends: “When times are tough, think short-term. Long-term we are all going to die. But short-term, we can plan for happiness, one day at a time. If life is particularly rough, think in terms of the next ten minutes.”

The Washington Post reviewer felt the book was trivial with several words overused such as “bliss”, “transcendence”, and “awe.” Another reviewer was kinder and felt that Pipher upended the myths of female aging. The reviewer felt that Pipher’s primary goal was to instill in women the concept of self-acceptance. The Library Journal reviewer said that “This is bound to become the bible of baby boomer women.” NPR named it one of the best books of the year.

It is my hope, as is Pipher’s, that my friends and I will be able to rise above the inescapable pain that we will inevitably suffer and “experience bliss.”  

 

The Paris Library

 By Janet Skeslien Charles

Atria     2021

368 pages     Historical Fiction

The Paris Library is the librarian’s dream book—a young librarian saves the world with books! With the Dewey Decimal System thrown in. Well, not exactly, but sort of. Honestly, it is much more than that. The book deals with a little-known aspect of World War II in France; its impact on the arts and culture of the city.

Odile Souchet is a young woman who has just gotten a job at the American Library in Paris. The library is one of the centers of American culture in Paris and the gathering spot for American scholars and researchers as well as American families living in the city. After the invasion, Jews are not allowed to enter the library, so Odile and the other librarians send books to the Allied troops stationed around France and sneak books to their Jewish patrons, an obvious act of resistance. When she realizes that her father and other police officers are putting the city’s Jewish population into internment camps, she feels confused and betrayed. Especially by Paul, her fiancé, who is a police officer as well. She does everything she can to continue to serve her patrons and save them from capture. As the war ends, Paul is involved in one final, major act of betrayal which causes Odile to forsake everything and escape Paul, her family, and the library that has given her strength.

Juxtaposed with this story line is the story of Lily, a teenager living in small-town Montana in 1983 and yearning for a bigger life. Odile is her elderly, reclusive neighbor. Lily wonders how this French woman ever got to Montana and sets out to understand her story. The friendship the two form ends up being healing for both of them and moves the story forward in unexpected ways. It, in itself, is a lovely story.

Just recently, I read of some art work that was hidden from the Nazis and recently recovered. So, reading about the hiding of first editions of classic literature and the defiance of librarians was not unexpected. I have always maintained that librarians are among the champions of the rights of the people, and it was affirmative for me to read of these women and men and their fight to protect the library, its books, and its patrons.

The author, Janet Charles, was the program manager at the American Library when she started to hear the stories of the resistance and the brave librarians at the American Library. This caused her to do a great deal of meticulous research into these brave souls, many of whom are portrayed in context, although Odile is the creation of the author. Additionally, the author grew up in small-town Montana so she understands well Lily’s need to move into a bigger world.

The Library Journal has a very astute look at the library and the librarians who appear in the novel. The article talks about Miss Reeder, the director of the library, who appears in the novel, all the books that they delivered, and with Dr. Fuchs, the Nazi “Library Protector” who appeared off and on to inspect the library. Additionally, the author has included on her website some of the research she used in developing the novel. There are pictures, newspaper articles, and reports. It really resonates.

The Kirkus review concludes that The Paris Library is a “novel tailor-made for those who cherish books and libraries.” Although there are a monumental number of World War II books out and about these days, The Paris Library deserves readers’ attention. 

 

 

Braiding Sweetgrass

By Robin Wall Kimmerer

Milkweed Press     2013

384 pages     Essays

Robin Wall Kimmerer is a PhD botanist, a professor, and a member of the Potawatomi Nation. She is the author of two books. Braiding Sweetgrass has become a word-of-mouth sensation. My church spiritual growth book group read it over the course of two months and two meetings. We were completely enthralled and had vibrant discussions both months. I cannot tell you how much this book has meant to me.

Kimmerer “eloquently and beautifully uses the indigenous cultures’ sacred plant, sweetgrass, as a poetic metaphor to explain the origin of plant, animal, and human life on Mother Earth, their intertwined respectful and reciprocal relationships with each other, the loss of this reciprocity, and the hope of ecological restoration to return the gifts of Mother Earth and the balance that once was.”

The book is divided into several parts: planting sweetgrass, tending sweetgrass, picking sweetgrass, braiding sweetgrass, and burning sweetgrass. In each of these sections, Kimmerer poetically relates her experiences with her family, her students, and her heritage—all intended to show our relationship to the world around us. In one poignant section, she tells about teaching a botany class at an small Christian university. Instead of teaching botany as science, she attempted to teach the students the relationship between them and botany—the total interrelationship. They camp for a week; in the beginning the students are resistant to this interrelationship, but by the end of the camp session, they have become new beings. In another chapter, she and her children attempt to save salamanders as they cross the road to breed. The most poignant chapter for me concerned the lake by her house that had become filled with algae because of runoff from factories. In all of the chapters, the science of nature, botany, and ecology becomes personal stories and fill the reader with the same wonder with which Kimmerer faces the world.

This is how I read the book. I read a chapter a day and tried to find ways to relate the chapter to the world around me and what I was seeing and living. One day while reading the book, my grandchildren and I went for a walk. They found hundreds of milkweed pods. They decided that if they took some of those pods to my woods, they might be able to make milkweed grow in our woods. Not sure that it will in that environment, but the children were indeed trying to establish a reciprocal relationship with the plant and nature.

 Today, on our vacation in Orange Beach, AL, we walked in an area that had been greatly impacted by last fall’s hurricane. On that walk, I found several places where plants and trees were trying to rejuvenate themselves. It was quite inspiring. I am sure that I would never have noticed that reciprocity if I had not read Braiding Sweetgrass.

Albert Einstein is quoted as saying, “Look deep into nature and then you will understand everything better.” Truly, reading Kimmerer’s book has helped me look deeper into nature than I have ever looked. I will never be the same.

When Stars Are Scattered

 By Victoria Jamieson and Omar Mohamed

Dial     2020

258 pages     Graphic Novel

When Stars Are Scattered is classified as a children/YA book. I was absolutely captivated by it as was my 9-year-old granddaughter, Adela, who gave it to me to read so we could have a book club discussion. More importantly, the book was a finalist for the National Book Awards in 2020 and is the novelized memoir of the childhood of Omar Mohamed, the author. Victoria Jamieson is an award-winning writer of graphic novels who met Omar and together they told his story in graphic form.

The story itself is riveting. Omar and his disabled brother Hassan had to flee their home in Somalia when their father was killed during an uprising. Omar was 4 and his brother was younger. They ran with others from their village, but along the way they got separated from their mother. They lived for 14 years in the Dadaab Refugee Camp in Kenya in the care of an older woman and the community. This graphic novel is based on their experiences while at the camp, until Omar graduates high school and came to live in the United States. Omar graduated from the University of Arizona, but now lives in Pennsylvania with his wife and young children. He is a social worker at a refugee agency. His brother lives with them, and helps with the family.

Omar was writing a memoir about his experience when he met Victoria Jamieson, the Newbery Honor author of Roller Girl. She had come to volunteer at the refugee agency because she thought she wanted her next book to be about refugees. They joined forces—her illustration skills and his story—to create this compelling novelization about survival and resilience.

I have not had much experience with graphic novels because I read so many books on my Kindle. However, as I read the book, I realized the power that the graphics hold and the way in which difficult topics can be handled through illustration. Jamieson credits the colorist Iman Geddy for the drama produced through the color.

When Stars Are Scattered is much more than a children’s book. The storytelling is perfectly matched with the illustrations, and life in the refugee camp is starkly defined. Hunger is constant, but neighbors help neighbors with finding food and with child care. Everyone is constantly thinking about getting to the United States or Canada, so it is extremely important to learn English and do well in school. Most girls do not get the opportunity to go to school, but two girls are at the top of the class as is Omar. One of the girls is named Maryam, which is the Arabic version of my name, Miriam, and Adela’s middle name, Adela Miriam. Adela loved that one of the characters shared her name. Maryam wrote the poem that ends the book.

Those who are lost

Look to the stars to lead them home.

The flag of Somalia, our home,

Has one star, one background.

But we are not one star.

We are millions

Not one background, but millions.

To the untrained eye, the night sky

Is a scattering of stars,

A chaos of light

And dark across the universe

And yet, the stars are not lost.

They form patterns,

Constellations,

If you know how to look.

There are stories woven into the very essence of stars.

Be like a star.

Shine your light.

Shine your story.

For stories will lead us home.

 

Omar Mohamed has a welfare agency that empowers students living in refugee camps. It is called Refugee Strong. Here is the website.

 

Victoria Jamieson’s website. 

Fatal Intent

 By Tammy Euliano

Oceanview     2021

311 pages     Thriller

I named “thriller” as the genre of Fatal Intent, but a good bit of the book is a medical procedural book and also an exploration of moral intent.  Here is Goodread’s summary.

“Elderly patients are dying at home days after minor surgery. Natural causes? Malpractice? Or a serial killer? And why doesn’t anyone care? Anesthesiologist Dr. Kate Downey wants to know why, but her unorthodox investigation threatens her job, her family, and her very life. The stakes escalate to the breaking point when Kate, under violent duress, is forced to choose which of her loved ones to save—and which must be sacrificed. “

Perhaps the best thing about Fatal Intent is the protagonist. Dr. Kate Downey is an anesthesiologist at a Florida hospital. She has had a really rough life; most recently her husband has been on life support for nearly a year, and she has also had a late-term miscarriage that she continues to grieve over. When two of her patients die mysteriously, she has to discover the truth while also defending her role as the presiding anesthetist in order to save her career. (Of course, her last name is a bit of a connection to my family. Love to see my name in print!)

The first third of the book was clunky with lots of characters being introduced and quite a bit of confusion over what was going on. We do have to remember that Euliano is a practicing physician and a first time author. I would hope that as her skill develops, her introductory passages would improve as well.

As the plot took off, things sorted themselves out, and I continued to read, although I do have to say that I never quite bought into the plot line and the overall theme of the book. And there were a lot of dead people! One thing that made me uncomfortable was instead of emphasizing humanitarian choices regarding the right to die and assisted death, Euliano seemed to be suggesting that sometimes family members get tired of caring for their dying relative and seek to speed up the process. That most likely was not the author’s goal, but with some of the deaths, that certainly is what seemed to be happening.

After saying that, however, the last third of the book moved very quickly and the ending, although violent, is complete. Dr. Downey’s journey leads to much more grief and many more questions about end-of-life care. The author suggests in her epilogue that she wants to encourage discussion on ways to answer this question: “When is life no longer worth living and who should decide?” Did she succeed? I’m not sure, and readers will have to decide for themselves.

 Fatal Intent will be published on March 2. Here is Tammy Euliano’s website.