Lasting gifts
Since it is coming up on gift-giving season, I wanted to talk about a few books that are among the most memorable books I have been given. These aren’t necessarily bests or favorites (though some fit in those categories), but ones that have strong memories associated with them, ones that I’ve thought about long after the initial gift or reading.
A Wrinkle in Time – Madeleine L’Engle. One of my mom’s good friends gave me this book when I was six or seven. I don’t remember the exact occasion – I don’t think it was a birthday. But the why isn’t really important. What mattered what I loved this book intensely. (I was deeply confused, well into adulthood, as to why people thought “It was a dark and stormy night” was a bad beginning for a book, when for me, it was the opening sentence of one of the best possible books.) I can’t tell you how many times I read this book, and it gave me a love of L’Engle’s writing, and of speculative fiction. My dissertation is dedicated to L’Engle, as this book’s discussion of tessering helped me talk about Julian of Norwich. Truly, one of the books that has had the largest and most lasting effect on me.
Lonesome Dove – Larry McMurtry. I didn’t know the boy who gave this to me very well. We went to high school together, but he was a star athlete and very popular and that wasn’t my crowd. But we had gotten to know each other a bit when he had done something very kind for my youngest brother. I invited him to my graduation party, not imagining he’d actually come, but he did, and he brought me a gift of some of his favorite books. (A gift idea I love, by the way.) This was one of them. It’s nothing I ever would have picked for myself – I don’t tend to gravitate towards Westerns – but I thought it was wonderful, and it made me wish I had known that boy better.
Negotiating With the Dead – Margaret Atwood. This was a birthday gift from a favorite law school professor who became a friend. It is memorable partly because it sat on my shelf unread for years. It’s a book on writing, you see, and at the time it was given, I had no thoughts of being a writer. And then one day I did, and this book was waiting for me.
Hammer Head: The Making of a Carpenter – Nina MacLaughlin. For a while, I had a sort of personal book of the month subscription at WORD Bookstore. One of the booksellers would choose a surprise book for me, and sometimes would also add in an ARC of something else. One month, this was the ARC. (Maybe that’s not technically a gift, but I’m counting it.) This is another book that I would never have picked up on my own, but I would up reading it in one sitting. I’ve since read it multiple times, and given it as a gift myself. I love it completely. It’s beautifully written, and moving, and honestly one of the best books about making things I’ve ever read.
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