Years ago, when my mother was completing her doctoral work through the University of Wales, she would travel to Oxford for six weeks to study. Some years she stayed in her school’s residence, but for one special summer she lived above a sweets shop in the heart of the city. Even today the too-sweet smell of burnt sugar conjurs up a powerful place-based memory for me. One whiff as I walk passed Delight Chocolates in The Junction and I am transported right back to the high street of Oxford!
The sweet shop summer was one of my first solo trips post-divorce. My sister had arrived a few days earlier and had already scouted out the health food stores and book shops we could meander to and through while Mom was studying. I remember arriving and being promptly directed to all the things that would make me happy even as I was navigating a season of great sadness. In Oxford I found joy in time spent with the women in my life, and a variety of salads and books!
In Blackwell’s Bookshop I discovered Life Mask by Jackie Kay and fell in love with Jeanette Winterson’s Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit. I drank Americanos and flipped through too many texts to buy, sitting across from my sister who did much the same (though I like to imagine she was happier…I’ll probe that memory with her in next week’s Reframeables).
Though I have made a career out of teaching novels and short stories filled with poetic language, steeped in metaphors, my last few years have been filled with less fiction and more philosophy. From Derrida I learned about hostipitality — and who I don’t want to be. From Berlant and Sharpe I have learned who I need to be more of.
Yet, a return to fiction through the eyes of my eight-year-old has reminded me of the philosophical power of the genre in the form of the children’s novel. On the last leg of our recent family trip to England, we stopped by two independant bookstores on our drive through the North. We were on a mission to find a graphic novel inspired by a London Tube ad and found it in Marple of all places! In Stockport we found another fantastic YA novel. And in it some inspiration for my own lifelong learning journey. Who I want and need to be more of is found in superhero characters like Portico from Jason Reynolds’ Stuntboy, a kid who navigates through feelings of anxiety, or “the frets,” by doing good for others.
Philosophy prompts me to ask “Who am I?” while fiction connects my questions of self to the stories of others. So, from Blackwell’s to my son’s bedroom, I’ll keep reading in an ongoing effort to work through both. Who are you reading in your ongoing efforts to be Good Enough?
A trip to a book store with you sounds really fun and inspiring! Without planning to... this summer I've been reading a ton of fiction about the Jewish experience of the holocaust. I'm finishing Cilka's journey now which is one of three in a semi biography/ fiction story telling with beautiful characters and hard to put down stories of resilience and strength despite the horror they were cast into. I also picked up a book called the Paris Dressmaker which I'm hoping to start this weekend and in between its been beach reads to lighten the depth that comes with a series of trying to better understand how people survive terrible things and maintain their humanity to still love and care for others. I've found myself craving substance this summer in my pleasure reading where in previous summers I've devoured thrillers or mystery novels by Jo Nesbo. I'm not sure if you are still in England but there is an author I love named Andrew Taylor's Lydmouth series which was so great as there are 8 of them and while the story telling is intense, there's also a lot of beauty.
How amazing about the sweet shop and your travel to see your mom while she studied! I can just picture Becca scouting out some great spots to show you. That's wonderful!
Love these suggestions! Reading as a way to (attempt to) understand others is an ongoing goal for sure. Thanks for sharing 💛