In Which I Take a Look at the Books That Guided Me Through 2014

This is the time of year when book bloggers and magazines and newspapers are touting their Best Of lists. I, however, am going to take a different slant on my reading for the year 2014.  

Here you have Belle's Book Guide, a look at a few books that especially entertained and guided me through the year.

To begin with, for a total education I could have just read and re-read two books: Alain de Botton's The Art of Travel which covers everything from literature to history to art, and, yes, a few travel destinations along the way, and The Library at Night by Alberto Manguel which offers shelves full of architecture, histories of private and public libraries and their patrons, lost books, burned books, and a community of international authors.

Here are other BOOKS that made up my reading list this year and what they brought to my life:

Beauty: The Southerner's Handbook celebrates the beauty of what makes Southerners Southern and gave me insights into my own below-the-Mason-Dixon line heritage. These were well-written essays collected by the editors of Garden and Gun magazine on everything from sweet tea and barbecue to the Great Southern Novel and the Art of Wearing Pearls.

Anytime I read one of Peter Mayle's novels set in France - this year it was Chasing Cezanne - I know I am in for a sensory extravaganza. He not only paints for me the landscape and architecture of the region but also the glories of food and drink and the pleasures of the table. Delicious.

Observation: Reading books such as Delight by J.B. Priestly and A Book of One's Own: People and Their Diaries by Thomas Mallon remind me to slow down and take a good look at everyday pleasures and to be mindful of recording them in my own journal. Also, dipping into the wacky worlds of  Dave Barry (You Can Date When You're Forty) and Bill Bryson (A Walk in the Woods) and reading their close observations and experiments with life keep me from taking things too seriously.

In Still Writing by Dani Shapiro, I observed a writer at work and also felt as if I had spent time with and gotten to know a new friend. Her look at her own writing practice with its perils and pleasures is a must-read for anyone looking to jump start her creative life. 

Obfuscation: Of the over one hundred books I read this year more than 40 of them were mysteries/suspense/thriller novels. I do love a puzzle. These were books ranging from the old school Agatha Christie's The Body in the Library to the new school world of Tim Hallinan's witty burglar Junior Bender. It takes a clever author to hide clues in plain sight and yet keep me guessing.

Kindness: Unlike the murder and mayhem found in the books above, kindness and good spirits abound in The All-Girls' Filling Station Last Reunion by Fannie Flagg; the ever delightful 84,
Charing Cross Road and The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street by Helene Hanff; and, my favorite of the year, The Pink Motel by Carol Ryrie Brink. In each of these books the kindnesses of strangers and the affection of the characters for each other (including dogs and blue jays) encourage one to just Be Kind.

Simplicity, Solitude, Silence: There are a dearth of books telling me how to pack more into and organize every nanosecond of my days. I, however, prefer to live a life with broad margins. I aim to leave time between activities - whether chores and errands or the more contemplative ones of painting and writing. Here are the books that inspired me this past year: Shelter for the Spirit by Victoria Moran; two by Elaine St. James, Simplify Your Life and Living the Simple Life; and the first two 'shells' (her chapters on solitude and simplicity) in Anne Morrow Lindbergh's Gift from the Sea.

For the complete list (to date) of my shelf full of books for 2014, browse here.

Now, what books guided you through the year?

The All-Girl Filling Station's Last Reunion by Fannie Flagg

As yesterday March 3 was National Read Across America Day, I did a bit of reading myself and finished up two books that were very, very different.

Although the action in both tales takes place in the South, has at their center an historical event, and are both mysteries - one concerning the mystery of life and the other the mystery of murder - one would not find them cuddled next to each other on the library shelf.

I'll write about one today and feature the other at another time.

The All-Girl Filling Station's Last Reunion by Fannie Flagg is a sweet book. I don't usually read sweet books but I fell in love right away with Sarah Jane "Sookie" Simmons Poole, citizen of Point Clear, Alabama, who has finally gotten through the weddings of her three daughters and is looking for a little deserved down time. 

But, she has a lot to contend with.

There is her overbearing mother, the still beautiful, 88-year-old Lenora, known in the family as Winged Victory for her propensity to enter a room with scarves and flowing skirts trailing after her to the accompaniment of the clanging of her bangle bracelets. Lenora considers herself a true Southern Belle and is committed to her real pearls and set of Francis the First silver.

Lenora has bossed about the gentle Sookie all her life - pushing her through ballet lessons, the debutante ball, sorority rush at college, and a hundred home permanents trying to put some curl into her daughter's straight red hair. 

Despite her domineering mother's pushing and prodding, Sookie, now 59, has turned out to be a gentle woman who is well-loved by her children, her dentist husband, Earle, and her friends.

When she is not dealing with Lenora's nosy, opinionated ways, Sookie is fighting with the blue jays in her yard that keep eating all the birdseed and not letting the little birds - the wrens and sparrows and chickadees - get their fair share of the goodies. Tenderhearted Sookie spends her mornings trying to outfox the aggressive jays - to no avail.

But Lenora and the blue jays are the least of her problems for one day she finds out that she is not who she thinks she is. Turns out Lenora is not her real mother. The truth is that Sookie was adopted as a baby from an orphanage in Texas, that her real mother was one of four Polish sisters, with a last name containing far too many consonants and not enough vowels to be pronounceable, from Pulaski, Wisconsin, and that her actual birth date isn't really the one she has celebrated all her life. All of a sudden she learns she is not 59 but 60! 

Needless to say, Sookie has a hard time absorbing all this new information and it sends her on a journey to find out about her birth mother. She takes to meeting the town's psychiatrist at the Waffle House out on the highway for sessions to help her deal with her discovery.

This story, in Ms. Flagg's hands, is engaging and funny and heart-warming and, well, sweet. Ms. Flagg certainly loves her characters and gives them funny little quirks without making them seem grotesque. Their idiosyncrasies are always grounded in the real world. 

Through chapters that take the reader to Pulaski in the 1930s and '40s,  we learn that the sisters' father owned a filling station and not only did the girls work at the station they all ended up taking flying lessons from a barnstorming pilot who came through town. When World War II began they joined the WASPs - the Women's Airforce Service Pilots - and ferried planes from factory to bases from which they would be flown oversees. 

Through the eyes of the sisters, Ms. Flagg enlightens the reader about the WASPs, the first women in history trained to fly military aircraft. Their story is filled with the discriminatory treatment by their male counterparts. To add insult to injury, the women were never officially recognized as being part of the military and therefore were not entitled to any service benefits when the war was over.

In the end, Dear Sookie finds not only her real mother but her real self as well. And there are many other happy endings along the way. Fannie Flagg gets my vote as someone I would most like to sit with on the veranda, drink sweet tea, and chat.

The Grits (Girls Raised in the South) Guide to Life by Deborah Ford

While on the Grand Southern Literary Tour 2013 book buying spree, I came across The Grits (Girls Raised in the South) Guide to Life (2003). Now, I ask you, how could I resist buying this book on the ways and means of Southern Belles by Deborah Ford?

Having been raised south of the Mason-Dixon Line I already knew that Pearls were considered the Crown Jewels down here and that when you offered a guest a 'coke' that could include any drink from Coca-Cola to 7-Up to ginger ale. I was raised on hand-written thank you notes and perfect table manners. And although I didn't inherit my mama's cast iron skillet, I can stir up a pan of cornbread with the best of them.

This is a book that doesn't take itself too seriously - even though sports fans in the South do! If you have a hankerin' to find out what makes a Steel Magnolia bloom, you have to look no further than this guide that covers how we feel about Southern Style and Manners, Hospitality, Music, Religion, Family and Friends. There is a section on The Southern Wedding and one (a little more serious) on Successful Southern Women who have made a difference outside the South. (Think Diane Sawyer, Oprah Winfrey, and Maya Angelou.)

Best of all, there are tried-and-true Southern recipes for Fannie Flagg's Fried Green Tomatoes, Sister Schubert's Special Rolls, the Mint Julep, and the always welcome staple, Cheesy Grits Casserole.

Sprinkled through the book are entries such as:
Grits Glossary -  newcomer, n: any neighbor who has lived there less than ten years, unless her mother is from the area, of course. 

Grits Pearl of Wisdom  - If you are going to flavor a Southern tea the only options are mint and lemon. Anything else would simply be uncivilized.

And here is a grammar lesson:
Y'all is singular.
All y'all is plural.
All y'all's is plural possessive.

Clear?

If you have ever wondered what a Moon Pie is or where on earth branch water (as in bourbon and branch) comes from or how to make a perfect pitcher of sweet tea, the answers are all here.

This book would make the perfect housewarming gift for your new neighbor from the North (i.e., a Yankee) who needs a bit of help in making the transition to living in the South. Or, perhaps your niece is getting married and needs a subtle refresher course in manners. Or, maybe just a present for yourself if you want an amusing look at what makes a Southern Belle so, well, Southern. Y'all.