Retired or not, summer seems to bring out the desire to spend more time reading.
As part of several writers’ groups, I have discovered a whole new library of authors, expanding my reading choices from best-selling American and British authors to talented Canadian authors.
Jennifer Mariani, author of All Forgotten Now, is a ballet dancer and poet who grew up white in post-independence Zimbabwe. At age 17, the family moved to England and later to Calgary, Alberta. She portrays beautiful pictures in her poetry of that African country. But there is more than just beauty, there is heartbreak.
“We took the pieces of home that we could not carry with us and stuffed them into our souls,”writes Jennifer.
I had a similar experience. The land of my childhood dissolved with the death of my father, becoming a place I could only return to as a tourist. The pain of disconnection was so real and yet unexplainable – until I read Jennifer’s poems of leaving Zimbabwe.
For all those who have ever left one location for another, whether it be from one continent to another or simply one island to another, this book of poetry will remind you that you are not alone. And somehow that may bring you solace.
When Life has Other Plans by Dorothea L. Gordon is about how life tested her with endless tribulations but she noticed there were always angels around to help take the edge off the pain and move her forward.
After each chapter, she sums up the gift she received from that adventure.
In one chapter, her Graphoanalysis expertise leads her to participate in a documentary about reincarnation where she analyzes the handwritings of volunteers who have been regressed into a previous lifetime and compares them to their present-day handwriting.
Her findings and observations make her aware that there is an invisible world which looks after her when the going gets tough.
She also discovers her healing abilities and intuitive gifts.
Regardless of whether you are a believer of such an idea or not, it will give you something to ponder.
In my younger years, I read biographies of successful people to give me clues on how to steer my life.
Now, memoires show me we’ve all done some travelling.
Some adventures were successful, some not so much! But they brought us to where we are now. I don’t think we are ever too old to learn something new.
Dorothea gives us a good roadmap on how to take stock of our lives, the gifts we received, the successes we achieved and the lessons we’ve learned, not to mention a good read for your deck chair this summer.
If all this is too serious for you, pick up a copy of Ian & Will Ferguson’s comic whodunit I Only Read Murder, where a washed-up has-been actress receives a note from her estranged husband which she misinterprets to mean, “Let’s get back together.”
With money that isn’t hers, she takes a bus ride to a small Pacific coast town to re-unite with the husband who now runs his own bookstore. Misadventures abound with lots of laughter for the reader.
Not a cozy, not a thriller, just a light murder mystery written by two Canadians, one a resident of Victoria, the other of Calgary.
Happy summer reading!
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Laurie Mueller, M.Ed is retired and living in Victoria with her husband, Helmuth. She recently published The Ultimate Guide on What to Do When Someone You Love Dies, available on Amazon. More about Laurie can be found at www.lauriemconsulting.com or on Facebook.