What I’m into (July 2013)

The wonderful Leigh Kramer does a monthly ‘what I’m into’ post, and I thought that was a fab idea! So I’m linking up with her, and do take a while to look round her blog– she’s one of the nicest people in the blogosphere.

Living life in an ME relapse
July was characterised by a nice holiday, and ongoing poor health. For me, being in ‘remission’ means that my health is stable, or slightly improving, and though I am still housebound and limited in my energy, we at least know how to plan. We know that I can write or have a friend round for a visit in a day; we know that three afternoons a week I can watch my gorgeous boy play while I recline; we know that I can sit up at meal times, as long as I’m in bed the rest of the time. Then, in the middle of May, I had a relapse. I woke up and I was in agonising pain; my legs would not walk and I couldn’t concentrate on anything. Three days later, the worst of it was over, but my energy levels had been badly depleted.
Being in an ME relapse is like being on ’emergency rations’, and we never quite know how long it’s going to last. We make our emergency plans for a week; I cancel friends, eat my meals in bed. Then at the end of the week I am no better, so we make our plans for the next week. It has been like that for three months.
I am still trying to write my book on how it feels to have ME, (which seems to be turning into memoir). This may mean that over the next few months my writing (and reading of other blogs) is a little more sporadic while I try to get my head around what I can do and not do. (I’m way behind on email – and thank you cards, and all sorts). Bear with me?
Tennis
Murray won Wimbledon!! I am a terrible tennis player, but have always loved watching Wimbledon, and this was a very special game to watch. I really thought this was his time to win, and I’m delighted that he did. My little one knows Andy Murray’s name and that he “WON THE WHOLE THING!”, and he can play an excellent game of invisible tennis.
Books
I have been reading fewer blogs, and more books. Here is a sample of what I have read recently. (Be not alarmed: many of these I started ages ago and just happened to finish this month. I don’t usually read this much!)
Books on writing

P2PEdCA path to publishingEd Cyzewski. I always enjoy Ed’s writing, and this book is an excellent guide on how to get published. It has insightful tips (for example, how to find an agent and publisher, particularly in the Christian world). What I most appreciated was his tone: he is humble and gently encouraging. So many books of this type can make you feel that you have failed before you have even started. If you are writing a non-fiction book, this is my number one recommendation as a guide to the industry. See it on Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com.
WWWBWhen women were birds – Terry Tempest Williams. This is not, strictly speaking, a book on writing, but a memoir of writing and grief and ecology and gentle feminism, all intertwined. The book starts with this premise: the author’s mother is dying, and is leaving all her private journals to her daughter, on the condition that she doesn’t read them until after her death. After her mother dies, the author opens the first journal. It is blank. All the journals are blank. The book explores the different possibilities for the mystery of the blank journals, and more generally, why women are silent. I found the writing beautiful, and the exploration of silence, and the power of writing or withholding our story was fascinating. This is probably a book that I will return to and re-read and give to other writer-friends.
Here are some quotes:

“We all have our secrets. I hold mine. To withhold words is power. But to share our words with others, openly and honestly, is also power.”
“These handwritten words in the pages of my journal confirm that from an early age I have experience each encounter in my life twice: once in the world, and one again on the page.”
“Earth receives ten tons of dust from outer space. Not only do we take in the world with each breath, we are inhaling the universe. We are made of stardust.”
“Mother died on January 16, 1987. We buried her beneath blankets of snow and the burn of frostbite. There is a melancholia to white that accompanies the blinding white of winter. Sorrow has a voice. It is the cold scream of silence turned inward.”

I’d love recommendations on similarly beautifully-written memoirs. See it on Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com.
Fiction

FttwFalling through the world – Rachel Clarke. This is a short, young-adult-style novel about a girl who falls ill with ME. I don’t really like Young Adult novels, so I skimmed quickly past the introduction chapters which build up an impression of a happy school girl who suddenly falls ill and doesn’t recover. Paradoxically, the parts of the book where there is no action and the girl is bedbound and unable to talk were the most compelling and engaging for me. This book has stuck in my head as a useful book to explain how parents and doctors fail to understand the illness, and treat it instead as ‘school phobia’ or a somatisation disorder. See it on Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com.
Mountains echoedAnd the mountains echoed – Khaled Housseini. This was good, but not as emotionally engaging (or heart-wrenching) as his previous two. The narrative follows a loose story told through the eyes of different characters, and explores themes of disability and dependence, as well as loss of identity and parenting. There were some really thought-provoking passages. I’m not sure I’d re-read it, but it’s still worth getting for some good-quality summer reading. See it on Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com.
Anna Karenina Anna Karenina – Leo Tolstoy. Okay – I started this two years ago, and have been reading it on my Kindle. I confess, this is the first Russian literature I have read, despite my literary credentials. And I must further confess: it did not make me want to read any more Russian literature. There were moments of brilliance, such as the description of Levin working in the fields as though he were a peasant, and a gripping horse race. But it was about 500 pages too long, it had ponderous and pointless ramblings about Russian politics, none of which seemed to have any bearing on the characters’ lives, and it seemed to run out of steam about half way through. Tell me that War and Peace is better?? See it on Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com.

Non-fiction
Levels of lifeLevels of Life – Julian Barnes. I love Julian Barnes’ novels: The Sense of an Ending (which won the Booker Prize) was so cleanly and exquisitely written, I think it may remain as a classic in decades to come, and History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters is one of my favourite books of all time. This was the first non-fiction (memoir) I had read by him. It is in three parts, and the first two were a little dull. I am telling you this to emphasise how extraordinarily good the third part is, and that if you were only to read his third part, it would be worth every penny. The first two parts are on the history of hot air ballooning, which is then taken as a metaphor for love; falling from a height is grief. The third part is a meditation on grief, and how it feels to fall from that height and lose someone you love. It is as all good memoir should be: intensely personal, and as a result, universally true. Here are some quotes:

“So how do you feel? As if you have dropped from a height of several hundred feet, conscious all the time, have landed feet first in a rose bed with an impact that has driven you in up to the knees, and whose shock has cause your internal organs to rupture and burst forth from your body. That is what it feels like, and why should it look any different? No wonder some want to swerve away to a safer topic of conversation. And perhaps they are not avoiding death, and her; they are avoiding you.”
“The question of suicide arrives early, and quite logically.”
On the saying, ‘what doesn’t kill us makes us stronger’: “I have long considered this epigram particularly specious. There are many things that fail to kill us but weaken us for ever. Ask anyone who deals with victims of torture.”
“Grief reconfigures time, its length, its texture, its function: one day means no more than the next, so why have they been picked out and given separate names? It also reconfigures space. You have entered a new geography, mapped by a new cartography.”

I ended up highlighting almost the entire third section. I think it an outstanding book on grief, perhaps the equivalent of CS Lewis’ ‘A Grief Observed’ for atheists. See it on Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com.

The cloister walkThe Cloister Walk – Kathleen Norris. This is a beautifully-written memoir of the experience of becoming a Benedictine oblate. Some of the chapters are better than others (which made me wish it could have been shorter), but the ones that are excellent are so good that it is well worth reading. I think I may have held my breath the whole way through her chapter on Jeremiah as prophet and poet. I loved her thoughts on celibacy and how she reclaimed some of the lives of female saints back from merely the ‘pure virgin’. It felt like a gentle meditative walk through a monastery. I love her writing and will be getting more of her books. See it on Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com.

Wild goslingsWild Goslings – ed. Brandy Walker. Some of my favourite writers: Alice Buckley, Abby Norman, Elora Nicole, Beth Morey – and more contributed to this book, and I was delighted to get a free review copy. It poses the question: How do you teach your children to relate to God in an authentic way, without turning it into rules and regulations? What I love about this book is that it is not so much a ‘how to’ but a collection of beautifully-written personal accounts and suggestions around this whole theme. It encourages a kind of ‘wild spirituality’ that is full of risk and reward, rather than the ‘safe’ moralising that it is so easy to fall into as a Christian parent. There are a variety of topics and authors, and they come from different points of the Christian spectrum, so you are bound to find things you really relate to (as well as things you disagree with!) I read it in one sitting, and it was a really easy read. It is short, despite its high page count – this is because it is beautifully designed, with each graphic complementing the different chapters. It is the most beautifully designed ebook I have ever seen. See it on Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com.
Music

Inspired by Kathleen Norris, I have been venturing ever-so-gently into New Monasticism (though I am not sure if I really know what that means; I am just making it up). Anyway, I thought I would revisit the Taize chants that we used to listen to as a family. The recordings of the original Taize chants were just a bit old and fuzzy for me, so I was on the hunt for more recently recorded ones. I found two.
Taize chant
Taize Chant – Margaret Rizza et al. This one is more faithful to the original; it has a repetitious melodic chant, with instruments providing the variation. Musicians may find the tuning is just a little out in places, but it feels worshipful, so that is to be forgiven. See it on Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com.
Bless The Lord Bless the Lord – Reading choir. (for some unfathomable reason, it is marked as on Amazon as having explicit lyrics – it doesn’t!) This one is more choral than the previous one, and has more soloists singing over the base chant, so has more variety in it. I like them both. See it on Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com.
And here are some more choral works on the psalms. Basically, I am loving hearing scripture sung over me in a meditative way at the moment. Anyone else got recommendations of this ilk?
Chelsea moonHymn Project Volume 2 – Chelsea Moon with the Franz Brothers. Oh my! This album is totally saving me at the moment. I am always on the hunt for worship music that doesn’t sound ‘Christian-y’. Recommended by the lovely Alice Buckley, who has impeccable taste, this is traditional hymns with a contemporary, Bluegrass twist. It’s Nashville does hymns. I listened to their version of ‘I stand amazed’ – they’d put the verse into the minor key, and it had a haunting, Nancy Sinatra vibe to it. I was utterly sold. It’s fab. I may have to buy Volume 1 as well. See it on Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com.
Phew! That’s it! I have been really grateful for the stunningly talented writers who have helped me think through this whole Christianity and Creativity series this July.
Over to you:

  • What were you into last month?

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16 Responses to What I’m into (July 2013)

  1. Donna 22nd September, 2013 at 4:14 am #

    I know I’m a month late, but had to add my recommendation to your list of hymns. I love the Jars of Clay CD called Redemption Songs – a touch bluegrass, a bit bluesy, lots of lovely harmonies, and beautiful old hymns. Great combination in my book!

    • Tanya 23rd September, 2013 at 10:20 am #

      Oo – I love Jars of Clay, but I hadn’t heard of that. I will have to check it out! Thank you!

  2. Holly 14th August, 2013 at 11:23 pm #

    I really enjoyed this! I am listening to a sample of music now and have had a sample of a book sent to my kindle. 🙂 Relapses with ME are unnerving times. I hope you are feeling better soon.

    • Tanya 15th August, 2013 at 7:38 pm #

      Thank you so much! I am glad you’re enjoying my recommendations. 🙂

  3. Lucy Mills 13th August, 2013 at 4:03 pm #

    ME relapses are yukky. Praying yours shifts soon.

    • Tanya 14th August, 2013 at 12:30 pm #

      Thanks, Lucy – I know you know how it is!

  4. James 11th August, 2013 at 9:29 pm #

    Sorry about the relapse Tanya, I know the feeling 🙁 I’m having an ‘interesting’ time at the moment with (as my GP put it) a ‘very overactive’ thyroid! I’m seeing a specialist next week. As well as all the normal hyperthyroid symptoms (although thankfully not being hyper or too grumpy) I’ve got one of the much less common ones, extreme jaw pain! PTL for ibuprofen!

    Must say, I’ve never read any Russian novels! I’m currently getting my way through ‘Unlocking the Bible’ by David Pawson, it’s very interesting and a surprisingly easy read.

    Just had a listen to the tracks from Chelsea Moon with the Franz Brothers and oh dear, that’s some more music I need! In the same type of style, you might like: http://noisetrade.com/truegrass/he-hideth-my-soul and this is an brilliant early bluegrass style album: http://noisetrade.com/chancemccoy/debut

    I can’t wait for the new album from the wonderful Over The Rhine. You can hear some samples here: http://noisetrade.com/overtherhine/five-good-reasons-to-meet-me (I’ve got the full double album on pre order!)

    Noisetrade is a great music site where artists put music on for free, in exchange for a tweet!

    My Dad loves Taize and Margaret Rizza! (Margaret writes some of her stuff at Burrswood, a Christian Hospital outside Tunbridge Wells, where I had some ME treatment!)

    Happy twanging 😉

    • Tanya 14th August, 2013 at 12:28 pm #

      So sorry to hear that your health has gone a bit crazy of late… Hope they get you fixed up properly.

      Thanks so much for your recommendations – I always enjoy the old twanging…!
      And how interesting that Margaret Rizza is connected with Burrswood – small world!

      thanks for stopping by, James – always nice to see your cartoon face 🙂

  5. Janice 11th August, 2013 at 3:59 pm #

    Tanya, it’s SO good to read words from you and feel like I’m catching up with you a bit. I’m so very sorry that you have had so much poor health. I was sort of hoping that you’ve just been enjoying summertime by getting a little space from the computer.

    I do love hearing what other people are reading. I got The Cloister Walk from the library but wasn’t able to finish it before it was due back. I found it like you did, some slow, some great.

    Personally I’ve done nothing but try to figure out where we’ll be living in a month when my husband is supposed to start a new job in another state. The house deal we’d been working on for MONTHS fell through last Friday and we’re supposed to move by September 1st! So the whole family took a long trip last week to the gorgeous mountains of Montana to go househunting. After days of uncertainty and huge stress we found a house and we do have a place to live! Yay! 🙂

    Hope you’re feeling better soon!

    • Tanya 14th August, 2013 at 12:25 pm #

      I’m SO glad you have a place to live! That all sounds really stressful. I really hope this next season for you will be one of blessing. Sending you SO much love x

  6. HopefulLeigh 11th August, 2013 at 2:53 pm #

    I’m so sorry the relapse continues on, Tanya. Praying you’ll feel better soon! The only Russian lit I’ve read is Crime and Punishment, which I didn’t like in the least. So maybe don’t read that one next either. I do want to give the genre another try some day! I’m listening to the Chelsea Moon album right now per your recommendation and enjoying it. You should check out Aaron Niequist’s A New Liturgy: http://anewliturgy.com/ You can listen to 1-5 right on the site and looks like you can download #5.

    • Tanya 14th August, 2013 at 12:23 pm #

      Thanks, so much Leigh! I’m glad I’m not the only one who doesn’t get Russian Lit…! I so love the concept of A New Liturgy – it’s genius. Thanks – I hadn’t heard of it before!

  7. Ruth Hunt 11th August, 2013 at 2:10 pm #

    Thanks for these Tanya!
    I’ve had a listen to the Hymn Project Vol2 – what beautiful music! As for Russian novels, I’m with you on the length, War and Peace is vast, but not (for me) in a good way!!

    • Tanya 14th August, 2013 at 12:19 pm #

      Thanks so much for stopping to comment, lovely Ruth! I’m glad i’m not the only one who thinks Russian novels are a little verbose… and I’m really glad you like Chelsea Moon – it’s amazing!

  8. Mark Allman 11th August, 2013 at 1:38 pm #

    Tanya,

    I am so sorry to hear about your health. I continue to pray for you in that regard. You have been missed. I hope it turns soon for you. Wow … all those books. I’ve been reading a few fiction thrillers and that’s about all. We did see The Wolverine and enjoyed that movie. Building a fence around our back yard for a place the dogs can run without supervision. Cheering the Braves on. Doing a lot of building projects all summer.

    Please take care.

    • Tanya 14th August, 2013 at 12:18 pm #

      Thank you, Mark – I really value your prayers. And thank you so much for remembering my wedding dress post, over on Addie’s blog! I was really touched. Sounds like you’ve been working hard in your summer! I hope you get some good weather and get to enjoy relaxing in the sun.

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