Ode to a Mother and the Gift of Good Reading

"Vonneugt's guru status was helped by a puckish public persona. But he had moral authority as well, derived from his suffering. His work was funny without being facetious, sad without being bitter, resigned without admitting defeat. He thought that the quality of life, for most people, was worse than it needed to be but that it could be improved: by enjoying what you had, by only kidding yourself for fun. He was a therapist for many sore hearts besides his own. For all his love of Kilgore Trout's sci-fi banalities, his own work was always original. ~Tom Shippey

"When I spoke with Kamkwamba, now 22--the subject of the best-selling book The Boy Who Harnessed the Win--I was impressed with his ingenuity. But I also felt a pang of concern. That same day, I'd read about the advent of 3-D television. I worried about our kids, sitting on the couch, wearing funny glasses, all the imagination done for them. I worrried they are losing what Kamkwamba found: the joy of creation, of dirty fingernails. It's mostly done for us now. We download. We boot up. We plug and play. We call tech support. And it starts younger and younger. The world of Wii and PlayStation has rendered building blocks laughable. Who needs blocks when you have a joystick?" ~Mitch Albom

"Time slows down in the summer, and the pleasures of reading are intensified by the rhythms of a rising surf or the pebbled antics of a mountain stream. It is my firm belief that the music of water helps connect me to the rhythms of a writer's voice." ~Pat Conroy

"We could constantly judge the quality of life in any town by how many books you could check out of the library at time. One library had a limit of two, and we thought that was disgraceful." ~John Grisham


Growing up, my family was that bunch of weirdos that didn't have a television. My siblings and I hated that fact then; I think most of us appreciate it now. It developed in us was a love for creating and creativity, for competition and sports, and for the world of books and words and writing. I suppose it is not an accident that I write and that a brother of mine edits a sports page. Another brother of mine teaches. This appreciation for reading and education and thought life was a great gift from my parents.

To this day, when we get together, my mother often offers me several articles she has seen that she thinks might interest me. It often takes me too long to actually read them, but this past Friday was one of those glorious slow times when I pulled them out. I was not disappointed, as my mother's offerings displayed a sense of knowing me that only a mother can. Of particular interest were the writings, interviews, and reflections of various writers, including Mitch Albom, Kurt Vonnegut, Pat Conroy, and Josh Grisham. I have read them all some, although none of them to excess. I am fascinated by the life and thoughts of a writer, probably because I am so interested in the craft of writing itself.

The article about Vonnegut was a reflection on the man's life, a late hoosier whose work is not actually all that revered by yours truly, but whose influence on many readers (and writers) cannot be denied. A bit of a cynic, his themes make more sense when considered in the context of a war prisoner whose own mother committed suicide.

I am no expert on pop fiction, but I have picked up John Grisham from time to time, although I did not fall in love with his work either. I do find his life fascinating, though: a Southerner who went from high school quarterback to law school to best-selling writer. Not a bad life, really.

Mitch Albom's literature and career, on the other hand, has always intrigued me. He writes from the perspective of one whose faith is deeply integrated into his life and work, which is a good start. Tuesdays with Morrie was probably his landmark work, and there is good reason for it. (Put it on your 100 books to read in a lifetime list.) Albom's interest in sports is also another connection point for me, and even in that context, he has always seemed deeply thoughtful.

Only recently have I heard of Pat Conroy's work, as an English professor at Ball State suggested up his memoir (The Water is Wide) about teaching on an island in the Atlantic off of South Carolina. I was not disappointed, and it only made me want to pick up some of his other memoirs, particularly his reflections on playing college basketball and on reading. In the article he wrote that my mother gave me, he looked backward at his own development of summer reading habits, which started at his family's Lake Lure cottage in North Carolina. The article reminded me of my family's summer cottage on Little Silver Lake in Wisconsin. I have vivid memories there of my family and I wading our way through our own summer reading. Two of the books I know I read there are C.S. Lewis's Mere Christianity and Brennan Manning's Rich Mullins: An Arrow Pointing to Heaven. I am sure there are others. I also remember developing quite the poetic streak there, which is is funny now because I really don't write all that much poetry.

Reading and writing really are good gifts, aren't they? It is through those two venues as much as any that I find myself constructing meaning, that is to say, of trying to make sense of this life. Takes some work, but I would venture to say those habits of the heart and mind also bring us great pleasure.