Read any good books lately?
I just finished reading A Tale for the Time Being, a novel by Ruth Ozeki. In it, a character named Ruth, who lives on a remote island off the coast of British Columbia, finds a diary washed up on the beach. It turns out to be the diary of a young schoolgirl from Japan named Nao (pronounced now). Ruth becomes obsessed with the diary and with Nao's story, and the book alternates between Ruth's story and Nao's.
In the diary, Nao describes being cruelly bullied at her school. For her summer vacation, she visits her 104 year old great grandmother Jiko, a Zen Buddhist nun. Jiko teaches Nao to be strong, telling her: you must find your superpower. The way her old Japanese grandmother says the word, it sounds like "supapawa," and Nao sets out to find hers. After many challenges, she finally realizes that her superpower is writing, as that is how she understands and makes her mark on the world.
All my life I've longed to have a "supapawa," a gift to which I could devote myself, like the Olympic figure skaters I so admire. Reading Nao's story, I at last realized that I do have one great talent, albeit a quiet one that is easy to overlook: I am a reader. I have a nose for good books, and I read with discernment. Two English degrees and many years of working in the publishing industry have honed my natural ability to recognize good writing and worthwhile books. And now my mission, through my writing as well as my work as a teacher and a bookseller, is to help other people discover these books.
And that is what I will be doing here, in this new Book Blog, where I will share with you news and noteworthy events related to books, authors, and publishing in the Philadelphia area.
NOTE: Is reading your superpower? The first ten readers to e-mail me at lynn@openbookphilly.com will receive a free slap bracelet for the new Little Brown children's book Peter Powers that says, "Reading is My Superpower!"