Shirley Shane was generous enough to share one of her recent reads that she enjoyed! Shirley started working at the library this year and is our programs director. I'm sure you've seen her at the front desk, and putting on the awesome events during our Summer Reading Program! I love hearing  about what everyone is reading. 

 

A Month in the Country by J.L. Carr

 

Being a part of the Bellaire Public Library staff means I get to see many different book titles within a day. I was intrigued to see A Month in the Country come along, so I brought it home with me. This is not your typical mystery, romance, adventure, history, or information book. After having read the back cover description of the book, I decided I would forgo reading the Introduction and Foreword and let the author speak to me in his own words. I am glad I did that; I could decide for myself what he had to say and how it would affect me as his reader. Maybe this approach does not suit every reader, but I found it provided a certain freedom that I enjoyed. 

Since it was written to showcase a certain time in recent-ish history and locale, I found some of the descriptors were beyond my intimate knowledge of them, but rather than Google these things, I read through them and ended knowing the whole picture of what he related without having to know exactly what or where a thing or place was. The author’s descriptive skill revealed a world apart for the hero and brought out the reality of differing life situations. His insight into the human condition is really quite remarkable and many times gave me good pause to think through something as it related to me.

 

This is all I will tell you of the story: a man performs a recovery of certain artistry in a church. He befriends several people in his own way and also in their own ways. It’s a first-person narrative and you get to enjoy his private thoughts. Indeed, you can add your own private thoughts and find you’ve had a meaningful experience in reflection. Let go and let it flow.