Tolstoy and the Purple Chair: My Year of Magical Reading
by Nina Sankovitch
HarperCollins, 2011
I admire Nina Sankovitch, although I've never met her. Every day for an entire year, she sat down and read a book, and blogged about it all. She even wrote her own book, afterward. I just finished the resulting Tolstoy and the Purple Chair: My Year of Magical Reading, a lovely collection of personal-and-literary essays. The author began her year as an antidote to the overwhelming sadness she was still feeling three years after the death of a beloved sister, and her conclusions about the value of memory and the backward glance inform every chapter.
Books like Sankovitch's always give me additions to my wish list. I wrote down these titles: The Open Door, by Elizabeth Maguire; The Crying of Lot 49, by Thomas Pynchon; A Lesson Before Dying, by Ernest J. Gaines; Hannah Coulter, by Wendell Berry; Little Bee, by Chris Cleve; Indignation, by Philip Roth; The Sunday Philosophy Club, by Alexander McCall Smith; and Pastoralia, by George Saunders.
Not surprisingly, Sankovitch was an avid reader as a child—Harriet the Spy was especially beloved—and she does include some children's and YA books on her list of 365. Among the titles are American Born Chinese, by Gene Luen Yang; Ender's Game, by Orson Scott Card; Inkheart, by Cornelia Funke; The Picts and the Martyrs, by Arthur Ransome; Silverwing, by Kenneth Oppel; Twenty Boy Summer, by Sarah Ockler; Wizard's Hall, by Jane Yolen; and The Wright 3, by Blue Balliett.
If you need some lit-blogging inspiration, or just like to read about reading, don't miss Tolstoy and the Purple Chair.
Sounds good, Susan. Adding it to my TBR pile :)!
Posted by: jama | June 22, 2011 at 05:11 PM
Jama, I enjoyed it! Good inspiration for us book bloggers.
Posted by: Susan T. | June 22, 2011 at 05:34 PM
Oh, Sue, what a lovely post. Didn't know about Sankovitch, but anyone who loves Harriet the Spy is okay by me.
Posted by: Michelle | June 22, 2011 at 11:06 PM
Thank you for your kind words, Meechelle! Was Harriet the Spy one of your favorite books, too? I LOVED it, and took notes on people for a while after reading it. Between that book, the TV show Family Affair, and the movie The World of Henry Orient, I got interested in seeing NYC! Finally got there (with Sarah and Bob) for a visit when I was 16. Every time I smell pretzels in NY, I think of that first stay in the city.
Posted by: Susan T. | June 23, 2011 at 10:25 AM
Have been enjoying this blog for some time---thank you for Tolstoy and the Purple Chair rec---excellent and fun!
Posted by: dkm | June 24, 2011 at 12:13 PM
I'm glad you liked Tolstoy & the Purple Chair. It made me want to read all day long!
Posted by: Susan T. | June 24, 2011 at 04:48 PM