Sometimes books are hard to read...

Reading occupies two places in my life.  Professionally, I read to enlarge my world... to get new ideas... to be challenged... to gain information to pass on to others.  But I also read for fun - an escape or vacation of sorts.  Some of my favorite books are novels.  The Mitford series by Jan Karon, anything by Debbie Macomber and even Les Miserables by Victor Hugo have transported me into another world, another time, or another reality (think Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L'Engle).

But this week's book did not transport me to a time or place where I wanted to be.  This week's novel, One Second After by William R Forstchen, took me to a time and events that I hope I never have to experience.  Perhaps it was so chilling because the story takes place just an hour from where I grew up.  Perhaps it is because in the beginning, the characters are so much like me, and end up in a place so very different.  Perhaps it is because it's a disaster novel with no real happy ending, although it probably plays out in a realistic way.

Did you ever see the cancelled television series, "Jericho" on CBS?  It ran several years ago for one season and seven episodes.  It actually got cancelled at the end of the first season, but the public outcry for the story lines to come to some conclusion was so great CBS approved a short season to take the viewers to a place where they could say goodbye.  "Jericho" was about multiple nuclear attacks on the United States and how a small farm community in rural Kansas sought to survive in the aftermath of the unthinkable.  One Second After tells the story of a retired Army colonel teaching in a small North Carolina college near Asheville. NC and what happened after all of their access to electricity and technology was cut off.  I don't want to share any more of the plot because some surprising things happen, but I do want to share some of the questions that I was asking after I finished the book.  Just as an aside... I started at 2:30pm on Sunday afternoon and finished before I went to bed at midnight, taking only about 40 minutes out of that time to prepare dinner.  I could not put it down without knowing what happened to the characters... it was that compelling.

So here are my questions:

How dependent am I on technology?  Could I cook, clean and get the things I need to survive for a long period of time?  This question has sort of been answered a couple of times, through a June "almost tornado" and January ice storm in Oklahoma.  Ironically, both times my spouse was away, and so while I wanted to be self sufficient and able to get along on my own, I really had to depend on my friends to help me get through 5 and 8 days respectively without power.  As much as anything, I needed to know that I was not alone.  Isolation was my biggest hurdle.

How dependent is our society on technology?  While I am happy to turn off the television to keep from hearing repetitive or irrelevant news, what would I do if I couldn't know what was going on?  How would our community or society function if we were cut off from all information (and direction) for even a little while?  Would we really revert back to the society of the Middle Ages, or have we come farther than that?

What does it mean to be a moral person?  This was the question that I most struggled with in this book, as I read about the choices people made as they felt their circumstances dictated.  There are many things that I have said I would never do, but if push comes to shove, can I keep those promises?  And along those same lines, what does it mean to be a moral community if we live in a society where it sometimes seems that anything goes?

These are hard questions which often generate other hard questions.  But that's how a society grows stronger... when we think and talk about the hard questions, not always having to agree, but laying out cards on the table and figuring out how to go from where we are to a better place.  That is how we grow... isn't it?

I had a hard time picking a quote, but here's just a paragraph from the first chapter:

But there was "something else" now.  A gut instinct that ran deeper.  Something had gone wrong, what, he still wasn't sure, but there were too many anomalies, with the power off, the cars stalled, except for the Edsel, no planes... Something was wrong.  And at this moment, for the first time in a long while, his "city survival senses" were kicking in.  One Second After, page 42.

Peace, Deb

I'm starting Book #3 today - something much lighter - Committed: A Skeptic Makes Peace With Marriage by Elizabeth Gilbert.  This continues her story after Eat, Pray, Love.

Reading is Fun-damental

I posted earlier that I had joined a group of people on Facebook in the quest to read 52 books in a year.  This task seems a little daunting - I gave up reading books to work on sewing and crocheting projects and watch my favorite recorded shows on TV about two years ago.  Not that I quit buying books, mind you... there is a whole stack in my bookcase whose covers have never been opened.  They looked so inviting, but I never made the time commitment to sit down and read them.  But all of that is changed.  And I can happily say at the end of the first week of 2012 that I have completed reading book # 1 - The Time of Our Lives by Tom Brokaw.

I chose this book because I got it as a Christmas present from Shawn's dad.  I've always loved watching Tom on TV, and whether on a news program or as a guest of David Letterman, he's humorous and thoughtful.  He has good Midwest sensibilities, which I never really appreciated until I married someone from Michigan, and then lived in Illinois and North Dakota.  And while I will keep it on the shelf and refer to it from time to time, I'm glad that I read it through in 5 evenings, so that I could get a sense of what he had to share and what it had to do with me.

I think one of the reasons why I liked it was because I really felt that each of the areas he covered he asked questions that I have thought of, even if I have never said them out loud.  He addresses the major issues that people are living with every day.  He gives brief statistics about each subject and then asks two or three questions for the reader to place him or herself in the conversation.  Then he looks at how the topic would have been addressed in the past, how is it seen in the present, and what it looks like in the future.

The author shares liberally from his own personal story - in some ways this allows him to honor the stories of his parents and their families, his wife, his children and grandchildren and his friends.  I was really struck by how the Tom Brokaw we see on TV is the sum of all of his experiences.  And how he has changed his mind about things over the years.  And how there are difficult questions that need to be asked by someone we trust.

I loved some of the questions he raised and I'll be thinking about them a lot this year, in the light of the upcoming elections, and as I look forward to a summer Air Force move and choices I can make in a new place and position.  And while I'm not sure I agree with all of his conclusions, I give him lots of credit for thinking through difficult subjects that many of us have avoided by saying, "Let someone else worry about that."

The lesson I take away from this read is that I have a contribution to make - it is not only my responsibility, but also my honor to try to be part of the solution and not part of the problem.

"For an emerging generation of Americans, now is an opportunity to renew and strengthen that tradition of rising to meet the challenges an unpredictable world places in its path."  Tom Brokaw, The Time of Our Lives, page 149.


Peace, Deb

Book #2 - One Second After - a novel by William R Forstchen
recommended by my non-reader spouse who is dying to talk about it with someone....

Becoming a reader again...

I have not been a person to make New Year's resolutions... I'm not that much into setting myself up for disappointment or failure. So I haven't made a commitment to go to the gym or join Weight Watchers.  I did get a new FitBit for Christmas, which helps me track my steps and my movement.  Hopefully it will continue to be an encouragement for me as I strive toward a healthier lifestyle again this year.

I know what my strengths and limitations are.  I am good at the big picture... grabbing a vision of what should be happening and thinking of steps along the way.  I'm not as enchanted with the small details, although when I'm committed to the process it usually turns out well.  I also like making things with my hands, like pies and shawls, but not scrapbooking or painting.  I've loved making scarves and hat and the occasional purse or afghan for my friends and family, and have like quilting for my nieces and nephews.  It gives me a special feeling to make something useful for someone (although I have been told by several family members that they don't need any more scarves...)

All of this is a change for me.  Until the last couple of years I would have classified myself as a reader.  I have a whole bookcase full of books that I love so much I can't get rid of them... I want to make sure they are available to read again and again and again.  But lately I haven't been reading too many books.  Instead, I have been lured into the short read.  Articles, sermons and blogs have taken up most of my reading time, and mostly on my computer or IPod or phone.  I'll admit it, I've been lured away from books by the act of multitasking.  Often I can digest something small and still fit in a project or TV program or two.

Well, those days are over, my friends, or at least curtailed for a little while each week.  For today I committed to join with a group of friends to read one book a week for the next year... that's right... I am going to reclaim my place as a "reader" and read 52 books in the next year.  This task seems a little daunting, except that I already have a whole house full of books from which to choose.  So I am going to add to this feat by attempting to not purchase any book for reading.  If I'm not excited by what I have in the house, I'll go to the library or borrow from a friend.  I'll let you know how I'm doing.

And I'll let you know what I'm reading and what I'm thinking about what I read.  Don't worry - I won't stop reading articles and sermons and blogs for fun, but I'm excited that this has the potential to help me grow a little more this year.

This week's book is The Time of Our Lives by Tom Brokaw, a Christmas gift from my father-in-law, Tim.  I'll let you know what I think when I'm done.

Until then, have a wonderful week and Happy New Year!

Peace, Deb

" Not all readers are leaders, but all leaders are readers."  - Harry S Truman