Twenty Books That Might Help
If there’s anything I’ve learnt from this lockdown experience, it’s how much I need order and routine to survive. The days where I follow a strict schedule are almost manageable whilst the weekends, when I try to ‘freestyle’ have proven to be somewhat Hellish. It turns out, I’m far too Protestant to go with the flow. Thus, it will come as no surprise to hear that I enjoy a good list. Lists are ordered. Lists are contained. Lists are infinitely comforting. So, in the spirit of my recently-admitted love of lists, here is another list for all of you who are looking for good books to read during the lockdown.
Essentially this is a list of great non-fiction reads. I prefer to call it a list of books that help because when I sat down to compile it -I say sit down, though I actually mentally compile these things during my two daily laps of Victoria Park pond. There’s only so many ducks you can contemplate when you’ve been walking the same route every day for a month. (Remember how much I like routine). Anyway, when I began to put it together, it quickly became clear that most of my favourite non-fiction books are either about brave people conquering adversity in creative, inspiring ways, (and who doesn’t need a reminder that we can all conquer our own personal dose of adversity these days?), or they were essay collections which seek to find tiny pockets of calm, hope and meaning in the midst of adversity, (and who doesn’t need a tiny pocket of calm in the midst of adversity these days?) So, I’ve called this list Twenty Books That Might Help.
Now, these books might not help you personally. They’re my books. They help me. I don’t know what sort of books will help you. I am personally interested in writers, old people, some theology, not that much nature and no animals. I shall admit here that I tried to read Walden, hoping it would be a good fit for this list and it contained a little too much pond and smug Thoreau for me. However, if you do like nature, it probably will help you as there is a lot of nature in it. I also tried to read Lonely City by Olivia Laing because the title suggested it might be a very pertinent book. And it was. And it was also a great read. But it did not really help that much as it is pretty harrowing in places so I haven’t added it to this list but you should definitely read it when you’re feeling capable of coping with a slightly harrowing book. Also, you should read the Rebecca Solnit book where she talks so honestly and profoundly about her mother’s Dementia. Ironically, I have forgotten the name of it and therefore can’t find it in the muddle of my bookshelves but i wanted to include it here because it is such a helpful book.
I hope there’s something here that helps you right now. Or, at the very least, I hope these books remind you of your own books that help and that you can turn to them like wise old friends and find, between their pages, whatever you need to get through. I don’t read non-fiction books searching for the kind of escapism I find in novels and short stories. I read to learn. I read to be challenged. And increasingly, during these very difficult and lonely times, I read to be reminded that I am not alone in my loneliness, that other brave individuals have navigated similar, though uniquely rocky, paths and lived to tell the tale. I am increasingly thankful that they have also been generous enough to pass their maps on.
I don’t need to remind you all how much our independent bookstores need your business right now. Buy local. Buy often. And, as always please do share your own thoughts on books that help. Stay well and stay well read and maybe I’ll be back with another list in a few week’s time. (There are a lot of books in this house and I fear I may be stuck inside looking at them for some time to come).
Wendy Mitchell - Somebody I Used to Know. The most seeringly honest, brave and uplifting first person account of what it’s like to live really well with a Dementia diagnosis. Wendy continues to be one of my living heroes.
Ed. Sally Fitzgerald - The Habit of Being; The Letters of Flannery O’Connor. Read the fiction, also read O’Connors essays and letters where she doggedly pursues excellence in her writing and holds her fellow writers to accout even as she becomes increasingly ill. There is no book on my bookshelves more underlined or oftener read than this thick beast.
Anne Lamott - Bird by Bird. If you’re an artist of any ilk you will appreciate the honesty, gentless and humour with which Lamott writes. She encourages creativity yet never preaches at the reader. I come back to this wee book every time I feel battered by my writing. It reminds me that I am not alone in this pursuit.
Martin Luthe King Jr - A Call to Conscience - The Landmark Speeches of Dr Martin Luther King Jr. I challenge you not to have fire in your belly after you read one of MLK speeches. If you need a kick up the backside this is the book for you.
Anna Pavord - Landskipping. I’m not much of a one for nature but I love this book. It explores the relationship between art and the pastoral landscape. It is the closest thing you’ll get to taking a contemplative walk in the country if you can’t leave your front room.
Cathy Rentzenbrink - A Manual for Heartache. Cathy speaks from hard learnt experience about how to pick yourself up and keep going when the absolute worst happens. This book is gentle, honest and never patronising. It’s full of really simple advice and encouragement for hurting people.
Amy Liptrot - The Outrun. Half of this book is about coming to terms with alcohol addiction. The other half is about the Orkneys and the wildlife that flourishes on the islands. The beautiful thing about The Outrun is that the two elements merge so seemlessly you won’t be able to spot the joins. You’ll just be enthralled from start to finish.
Madeliene L’Engle - The Summer of the Great Grandmother. This is one of my all time favourite books about aging and watching the people we love grow older and die. It’s full of warmth and dignity and captivating little stories. It’s the sort of book which feels like it was made for reading on the porch at sundown if such a thing were possible in East Belfast.
Marilynne Robinson - When I Was A Child I Read Books. The great Marilynne Robinson writes incredible essays and these are perhaps her best and certainly her most accessible. Here, she explores literature, faith and human nature with her signature grace and wit.
Virginia Cary Hudson - O Ye Jigs and Juleps! Bit of a wild card here. This is a short satirical take on Southern etiquette, written from the perspective of a ten year old girl. It never fails to cheer me up as the narrator exposes all sorts of subtle hypocrisies in the gentile Southern culture she’s exposed to.
Jeanette Winterson - Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? If you enjoyed Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, this is a kind of non-fiction telling of the same story. It’s brave and hilarious and really inspiring. Read both books if you can manage it. You won’t regret time spent with Jeanette Winterson.
Albert Camus - Create Dangerously. A tiny little Penguin Modern. You can buy these three Camus essays for a pound. Then you can spend an hour listening to him speak incredibly eloquently about the absolute importance of creating boldly and bravely during turbulent times. Then you can put the book down and follow his lead.
Kurt Vonnegut - Armageddon in Retrospect. Everything Kurt Vonnegut wrote helps in its own crazy way but these essays on war and Vonnegut’s insistence upon pursuing peace are moving, brilliant and always heartening.
Joan Didion - The Year of Magical Thinking. This book literally jumped off a bookstore shelf at me. Written just after Didion lost both her husband and daughter in a very short period of time, it is not a book about coping with loss, it is a book about living with and through and shaped by loss. It is probably the best writing about loss out there. At some point in your life you will need this book.
Ian Maleney - Minor Monuments. I found these beautiful essays about landscape, family, sound and Dementia incredibly stilling. Reading them felt less like reading and more like stepping into a short film and feeling as if I was temporarily, but wholeheartedly, part of someone else’s experience.
Ed. Norman Wirzba - The Art of the Commonplace; The Agrarian Essays of Wendell Berry. If I had my way Wendell Berry would be in charge of the world. The man just speaks sense. In these essays he speaks a lot of sense about land, wildlife, community and all sorts of other things that have started to fall apart. We really need Wendell Berry right now.
Sara Maitland - A Book of Silence. Sara Maitland explores all sorts of silent experiences in this short book. For those of you learning to be by yourself at the minute this is a book which can help you appreciate and enjoy living with silence. It’s also an incredibly beautifully written book.
Ed. Catherine Wolff - Not Less Than Everything. I loved reading this book. It contains a selection of essays written by Catholic writers such as Tobias Wolff and Colm Toibin, each one focused on an individual who they believe deserves sainthood because of their contribution to humanity. Punchy, interesting and uplifting, you’ll learn about some secular saints you’ve never even heard of in this book.
Apricot Irving - The Gospel of Trees. Apricot Irving spent most of her childhood growing up in Haiti as part of a missionary family. This is a painfully honest and exquisitely beautiful exploration of her childhood which interrogates narratives around religion, family and America’s attitude to the developing world. It’s one of the bravest books I’ve read in a long time.
Anne Frank - The Diary of a Young Girl. This book will never not be relevant or inspiring. Every time I read it I disover something I haven’t noticed before and find it speaks to exactly the part of me which most needs speaking to.