Under the influence

Vertigo, two books, and reading by ear

Before we begin…

How do you feel about Westerns — the books or the movies?

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Since I last wrote to you, I have read two books. I read them between attacks of vertigo and while under the influence of drugs intended to slow the spinning and stop the throwing up that ensued. I am grateful to both of these books even if they produced a mashup in my brain that has me sliding back and forth between now and the mid-1800’s, old arguments about the roles of men and women, and how different it is to read a printed book than it is to listen to it.

The vertigo came out of nowhere. I am told it will pass. I am encouraged. A little over a week ago, the walls of my bedroom whirled around me, I could not stand unassisted. Now the walls only bend a bit and I can do most of what I need to do even if I wobble and lurch like Frankstein’s grandmother. I’m grateful for the concentration it takes to accomplish basic tasks. I have less energy to reflect on how far away my regular life has felt lately. I don’t want to look too deeply at all of that right now which is probably why I dove into Larry McMurtry’s Lonesome Dove and then, unexpectedly, into the audio version of Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke.

When times were hard and men were harder -- or not...

I know why I had a copy of Lonesome Dove around – there seems to be a small swell of readers reaching for this book this summer. Among them: Mike of Books on GIF and Kolina Cicero. I’d never read McMurtry. I resist stories about the American West. I know exactly why and that is something I will attempt to explore in a future post. Overcoming this resistance is often worth it, so I bought a paperback copy which arrived the week before the vertigo hit. It is a testament to McMurtry’s storytelling that I kept on reading it in the snatches of time when the lines across the page stayed still. I’m waiting for Kolina to finish it so we can talk about this. I would like to talk about it with anyone who has read LD. If you have, let me know your thoughts.

Yesteryear was pure impulse. I heard Burke speak on NPR a day or so after finishing Lonesome Dove. I had a credit I could use for Audible. I bought it. Started listening. Carried it around with me while Natalie, the protagonist and a very unreliable narrator, spilled her story. The concept is strong: an Instagram Tradwife whose stake to fame is her “back to the old ways” farm life she leads with her husband and steadily growing family, wakes up in 1855 to experience living the life for real. Of course that is only the surface. There is a twist and it is not pretty.

If there is a throughline that connects these two novels, it might be the idea that the harder life is, the more we deserve if we survive it. I’m still thinking about this. I’m looking forward to talking about these books more completely and coherently in my next post. By then, I hope to be back to normal, whatever that means.

Reading these two novels back-to-back also left me with a sense that I could eventually be a more regular reader of audiobooks but it will not be my go-to. I was grateful for the break it gave my eyes to listen to Yesteryear. I am still trying to process, however, whether it was the book itself or listening to it that aroused my impatience. When the book dragged, I couldn’t skip ahead so easily. I didn’t realize there is a way to bookmark passages I liked. The narrator was excellent but she had a tic when it came to reading the male voices that drove me crazy. The whole experience got me thinking about the discussion prompted nearly three years ago when I wrote a post about reading by ear.

I took a poll back then. I thought it would be interesting to see what, if anything has changed, so I am running it again here.

And here is the post, which includes an interview with Spark subscriber and actor Bernadette Quigley who has narrated audiobooks.

Reading While Walking

Every now and then I see my neighbor Cyndi walking about a million miles an hour or at least it seems that way to me since I’m usually slowed considerably by my dogs Frida and Lily who don’t walk so much as charge, stop, meander, sniff, or squat. Turns out, Cyndi is not just walking, she’s reading. Each loping stride takes her further from home and deeper into a novel, memoir or a book of nonfiction piped from a device through the white plastic tubes in her ears.

It was months before I knew this, of course. I thought she was ignoring me when I waved or called out a hello. Now I just enjoy the sight of a friend lost in a book while she gets her daily miles in, and wonder why I have struggled so much with the idea of audiobooks. MORE

ICYMI - Laurie Stone Right Book Right Time

“I didn’t exactly like it, the way you don’t exactly like falling in love, because everything about your life is going to change.” - Laurie Stone in her recent interview for our new feature, The Right Book at the Right Time.

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Ciao for now!

Gratefully yours,

Betsy

P.S. And now, your moment of Zen…the rushing stops

The video is a Zen-ish moment for me. The rushing in my ears stopped, for a moment anyway. A “Transportation to Clarity,” not my line, but stolen without malice. - Randy G.

Calling for Your Contribution to “Moment of Zen”:

What is YOUR moment of Zen? Send me your photos, a video, a drawing, a song, a poem, or anything with a visual that moved you, thrilled you, calmed you. Or just cracked you up. This feature is wide open for your own personal interpretation.

Come on, go through your photos, your memories or just keep your eyes and ears to the ground and then share. Send your photos/links, etc. to me by replying to this email or simply by sending to: elizabethmarro@substack.com. The main guidelines are probably already obvious: don’t hurt anyone -- don’t send anything that violates the privacy of someone you love or even someone you hate, don’t send anything divisive, or aimed at disparaging others. Our Zen moments are to help us connect, to bond, to learn, to wonder, to share -- to escape the world for a little bit and return refreshed.

I can’t wait to see what you send!

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