What We're Reading Wednesday: the beauty of simple family life

1. Right now, my CD player alarm clock plays this every morning:


I also listen to it while I fold laundry. I also bribed persuaded my 7-year-old to help me fold laundry by letting her listen to the fun parts at the beginning before everything gets all "Help, I need a tissue now before I get tears and snot over everything because I'm crying so hard."

There are not many books that can make me do that and still be counted among my very favorites. Wilson Rawls is an absolute master at description, at characterization and believable dialogue, at setting and at boosting Kleenex's annual sales.

But what strikes me most during this read/listen (I have read it at least three times before...maybe more) is the very real and very beautiful family relationships Rawls creates. Billy has what we now see as an old-fashioned respect for his parents and grandfather, a deep love for his three little sisters, excitement and joy to learn that yet another sibling is expected. All this without limiting the tension of the story one iota.

I want so badly to write a book like this one, that I could almost cry just from that.

2. I found this gem at a used book store this past weekend:


It's the only Deep Valley book (Deep Valley, of Betsy-Tacy fame) that I haven't read. I did one of those, "Oh, I'll just crack it open to see how it starts..." only to find myself an hour later 50 pages in and completely caught up in the character's life.

While this one takes the easier tension-creating path of an orphaned main character, family life is still the star of the show. Emily lives with her 80-something grandfather, a veteran of the Civil War, and while she struggles with disappointment at missing out on the fun college experience that her high school classmates take for granted, she doesn't hesitate to choose the simple life of daily meal preparation, housekeeping, and listening to her grandfather's stories over and over--because he needs her, and family members take care of each other. That kind of selflessness and maturity isn't even believed if it crops up in contemporary YA manuscripts. (I'm speaking partly from the experience of a critique partner who had a beautiful manuscript rejected because it ends in a similar selfless decision.)

3. On the picture book side of things:



I had to laugh at certain Goodreads reviews that rate this poorly because "it's too old-fashioned and kids today just won't be interested in that old-timey stuff." Of course, nothing could so highly recommend a book to me. My girls think it's lovely and totally normal, but then they also use phrases like, "Do my ears deceive me?" and "I'm very fond of pumpkins." So maybe I can't judge accurately. (For the record, "pumpkin moonshine" is an old New England term for a jack-o-lantern. It has nothing to do with alcohol made from pumpkins. Sorry to disappoint.)

4. Finally, in the non-fiction corner:



After reading Emily Freeman's A Million Little Ways, I had to read her sister's book, The Nesting Place: It Doesn't Have to Be Perfect to Be Beautiful. Speaking of the beauty of simple family life...

This book provides plenty of good advice on decorating your home, but I'd argue that its deeper purpose is to remind us of what home should be in the first place. Some of us have become so caught up in the idea of a perfect house that we're hesitant to let our homes be the havens and sanctuaries and beacons of joy that they're meant to be. I needed the verbal smack on the cheek to remind me that my home can offer guests comfort and happiness and hospitality even if every floor isn't vacuumed--or maybe, in my case, even if every floor isn't even finished. I am so prideful and I have got to. Get. Over. It.

On that happy, honest note....I'll close. What are you reading this week? What are your favorite literary beacons of simple, joyful family life?

Comments

  1. Oh man, I don't know if I can take another tear-jerker animal story after The Yearling! :)

    I love your girls' diction. Lucia makes me proud when she sprinkles "quite" and "perhaps" into her statements :)

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  2. I love Where the Red Fern Grows, but I don't know if my son would forgive me for subjecting him to such a sad story. I do love reading together as a family, though. Or listening to books on CD, especially on road trips.

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  3. I'm so glad someone else loves Emily of Deep Valley! I read all the Betsy-Tacy-Tib books as a kid, and I just discovered Emily a few years ago. I think it's my new favorite by Lovelace. You're right; it'd probably never be published today. But its theme of "blooming where you are planted" really spoke to me.

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  4. I love your reading list. I'm in a reading (and writing, as you know) slump but wondering what will pick me up and out of it. Perhaps one of these beautiful books. Thanks for sharing your list and thoughts.

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  5. Michael read Fern to the kids and stopped well before the great tragedy ... but we caught Max finishing it when he was 7 yrs old. Oh, how he wept. He still remembers that. Then he proceeded to tell Dagny. Next time we got a dog book, the first things she made sure was that the dog does not die. But it is interesting to note how the children have managed to make peace with suffering and loss.

    I do not know of Emily. Must pick it up ... the thing is we see many selfless acts even today, even in teens. Too bad they are considered antiquated. Of course, I thought Pumpkin Moonshine had a Kentucky flavor!

    I've read a slew of good books ... and in the thick of others, so will have to post a quickie review.
    Thanks for all the great reviews and your thoughts on the joys of simple family life.

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  6. Emily is new to me. I'll have to look for her. I'm not reading much right now. It's been a busy couple of months. For joys of simple family life, I used to read Victoria magazine before they modernized it. At one point, it disturbed me that the things being celebrated were only for the rich few during actual Victorian times. It was still lovely, though, and taught me a bit of creative decorating.

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  7. Oh how I love this post. "it's too old-fashioned and kids today just won't be interested in that old-timey stuff." That would definitely make me want to pick up that book as well! I love the Penderwicks for good family fun and I adore the father-son relationship in Roald Dahl's Danny, The Champion of the World. The love in that book, both son for father and father for son, is simply delicious comfort food reading.

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  8. I love what you said here: "Some of us have become so caught up in the idea of a perfect house that we're hesitant to let our homes be the havens and sanctuaries and beacons of joy that they're meant to be." I am one of those people who's necessarily had to let go of the "perfectly clean house" because of my health. I just cannot keep up and do everything else I want/need to do. Plus, my home is most definitely my sanctuary and where I love to be the most. I cannot fathom not wanting to go home or not having it as my "safe place."

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