Deborah Parks 6/26/22 Deborah Parks 6/26/22

Sense and Sensible Pacing

Sense and Sensibility
by Jane Austen
Sourced: Ravenswood Used Books, Chicago, IL

Purchase this book HERE!

Disclosure: I am an affiliate of Bookshop.org and I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.

I have started reading a new Jane Austen novel. New to me, anyway. I didn’t read Austen in school despite Pride and Prejudice being assigned. This was not a slight to Austen. I didn’t read most of the books assigned in school. I’ve always loved reading but was completely turned off by the classroom environment. My natural inclination is to get lost in books. I want to fall into the story completely, leaving myself behind. An English teacher’s insistence on not reading ahead meant that I had no opportunity to do so. One cannot take leave of their physical world in two-chapter increments.

So it was that in early March of 2020 I purchased a very nice publication of Emma to finally dive into the A-list author’s works. In that first year of lockdown, I read Emma, Mansfield Park, and Northanger Abbey in quick succession. I couldn’t get enough. What a world to be lost into. My problem, of course, was that Jane Austen is dead. Not the worst thing for a beloved author to be. She cannot ruin her legacy (or my admiration) by ignorantly commenting on social politics of the day. It does mean, however, that her works are finite, and that I had blasted through half of Austen’s major works in the span of one year. So, I pulled back. I continued to purchase her books whenever I happened upon one in a used bookstore and borrowed the audiobooks of the three I had read from the library.

Now, it is time to treat myself.

Sense and Sensibility (1811) was Austen’s first novel to be published. I have linked to the Canterbury Classics version, although my own is an Oxford World’s Classics I purchased from Ravenswood Used Books in Chicago, IL. Three chapters deep and our main cast of characters have revealed the complexities of their relationships. All of Austen’s works highlight the complete and total dependence of women in her own class, the landed gentry, and Sense and Sensibility is no different. As women are unable to hold property (anything they have belongs to her father and then, ideally, her husband), Mrs. Dashwood and her three daughters are at the mercy of men with no legal obligation to them after the death of her husband. The four women will be left to survive on an income that only belongs to their mother until her death. Beyond that, they must rely on the goodwill of their half-brother (or, ideally, their future husbands). Unfortunately, it is only the second chapter when his goodwill is revealed to be fictional.

I’m so pumped to read this book. All those years ago my teenage self could never have predicted this. Her determined apathy would have seen my anticipation as performative. She might have rolled her eyes at my excitement and said something devastating about the reasons why I’m single. Luckily, that bitch is no longer in charge.

Let’s read.

Read along by purchasing the book HERE!

Deborah Parks 4/20/22 Deborah Parks 4/20/22

Read-a-Thon 2022!

Chicago Public Library Foundation Fundraiser April 18-May31

DONATE HERE

My memories of Read-a-Thons are more than fond. Read-a-Thons were a biannual occurrence at my elementary school, an entire day (or afternoon) spent neglecting one’s studies to wear pajamas, settle under a blanket with friends, and dig into as many books as I could. The freedom to cuddle up on the floor of my classroom and devour one of my favorite hobbies was intoxicating and the melancholy of the next morning returned to business as usual was potent.

Last year, the Chicago Public Library Foundation launched the first annual Read-a-Thon in an inspired move to fund raise during the pandemic and I signed up immediately. Even though I fell short of my lofty goal to read 20 books, landing at just over 50% completed with 11 books, I had a blast pushing myself through new volumes (such as No Time Like The Future by Michael J Fox, which you can read about HERE) while taking the time to revisit books I loved when I was younger (Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot). This year, I am aiming to read 15 books and match last year’s fundraising at $250. With generous donations from friends and family, I was able to meet that goal in 2021.

Most exciting this year is my newly formed reading team, The Bodacious Bookworms! My joy in 2021 was clear to many of my book loving friends and this year I’ve brought some of those friends along to form a four person team. I usually thrive as a loner, but the experience is already better with others. One friend, with whom I enjoy friendly, one-sided rivalry, joined the team and immediately raked in donations I doubt I’ll catch up with. Hard to be lovingly disgruntled when it’s all for such a good cause. Another team mate texted me upon completion of her first book within just two days so we could gush over our shared love of a good novel.

You can help me triumph against my blissfully unaware friend The Chicago Public Library Foundation by donating to my official Read-a-Thon Page found HERE. The Chicago Public Library Foundation helps support library programs available to all Chicagoans. You can learn more about their impact HERE.

Recommended Reading: No Time Like the Future: An Optimist Considers Mortality by Michael J. Fox

Deborah Parks 12/26/21 Deborah Parks 12/26/21

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

I decided to make it extra special by waiting until the night of Christmas Eve. After showering and slipping on my pajamas, I created an atmosphere. I opened my bedroom window to let the chill in and turned off all my lights, save the Christmas tree and my reading lamp.

A Christmas Carol
by Charles Dickens
Sourced: Barnes and Noble, downtown Chicago

Purchase this book HERE

Disclosure: I am an affiliate of Bookshop.org and I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.

It was December of 2020 and I was doing my best to have holiday cheer. This would be only the second Christmas of my life not spent with my family, and the last one did not go so great (drunk and lonely with a Gilmore sized portion of Chinese takeout). I wanted to go home and my family was blessed with good health but I didn’t want to tempt fate by getting on an airplane before we all got vaccinated. Instead, I was staying in Chicago to have my very first Christmas with my cat, Rowena. I bought her a collar with jingle bells (which she did not enjoy) and she repeatedly threatened the Christmas tree (which brought her incomprehensible levels of joy). We watched all my favorite Christmas movies and Rowena watched me dance around to all my favorite carols.

I usually buy my novels from used bookstores, but I wanted something beautiful and well made to crack open for many Christmases to come. The employee who helped me track it down first suggested a larger volume that contained several other short stories. I considered it closely before telling him “I was hoping to find something….fancy.” The sentence sounded dumb as soon as I heard it but the man nodded, guided me to a different section of the store and handed me a beautiful red book with gold coating on the page edges.

“The other one is cheaper. And contains other stories.”

“Thank you. I’ll take the fancy one.”

Though I had seen multiple interpretations of the story (“We’re Marly and Marly WOAoAOaOAoAOaOA!!!”), I had never read A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens. I decided to make it extra special by waiting until the night of Christmas Eve. After showering and slipping on my pajamas, I created an atmosphere. I opened my bedroom window to let the chill in and turned off all my lights, save the Christmas tree and my reading lamp. I jumped in bed and buried myself under blankets and Rowena to stay warm. I read my ghost story and enjoyed the novelty of the dark and cold. The story was grimmer than I had remembered. When I found a part I particularly liked, I would re-read it aloud, doing the character voices for Rowena (who was asleep and did not care).

Thankfully, the story ended about 15 minutes before midnight. Rowena and I had just enough time to turn out the light and fall asleep so Santa wouldn’t pass us by.

If you would like to read A Christmas Carol, please check your local public library.
If you would prefer to have your own copy, you can support this blog and independent bookstores across the country by purchasing it HERE.

Recommended Reading: Quit Like A Woman by Holly Whitaker

Deborah Parks 12/12/21 Deborah Parks 12/12/21

October In Chicago: Pass Me Another Blankie

Disclosure: I am an affiliate of Bookshop.org and I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.

I love Chicago in the fall. My neighborhood is filled with mature trees that mark the season’s arrival with brilliant colors. Homes decorated for the season flood my evening walks; pumpkins, spiderwebs, witches and ghosts, expertly placed to create maximum spook. The summer’s oppressive humidity fades away and I leave my windows open to invite the freshly chilled wind into my home. Finally, it is snuggle season.

All my favorite hobbies are best enjoyed under the influence of a soft blanket. Reading, video games, journaling, watching movies and TV, and listening to music and podcasts can all be accomplished during the summer. But it’s NOT the same. Warm weather always comes with internal pressure to spend time outside. For this healthy mindset, I blame my mother and former First Lady Michelle Obama, both of whom have spent a considerable amount of time encouraging me to “Go outside and play”. On summer days, I do my best to comply with the wishes of these women who have always been much more invested in my health than I have been.

Once the temperature begins to fall and the days grow short, however, this pressure to leave the house slips away and my deep love of comfort swiftly takes control. I pull my sweaters, sweat pants, and fluffy socks out of storage and bury myself inside them. There is no need to retrieve my blankets, which have spent the summer on standby in my living and bedroom.

This weekend, the first of October, sent me the chill I needed to really dive into my bed and spend the whole day reading. Snuggled in with me was 6 fluffy pillows, a fuzzy blanket, a weighted blanket, my cat, Rowena (who is fluffy, fuzzy, AND weighted) and my current reads. Once a reader who couldn’t fathom starting a new book before finishing the last, I now thrive on reading 3-10 books simultaneously, providing me with options on any given day. I spent Sunday shuffling between my nonfiction read, The Soul of an Octopus by Sy Montgomery, a romance novel assigned for my book club titled The Heart Principal by Helen Hoang, and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling, a comfort driven reread.

In January of 2021, I set an ambitious goal to read 50 books in this calendar year. With only three months left, I have only just passed the halfway mark. Luckily for me, Autumn in Chicago is here and, soon behind it, winter. The cold, rain, and especially snow will be here to incentivize my time tucked into a blanket. 20 books in three months might not be possible in the heat of summer, but snuggle weather is here. And there is nothing I would rather snuggle up with than a book. And, of course, Rowena.

Deborah Parks 9/12/21 Deborah Parks 9/12/21

Recycling Pens: Making My Money Say More

Nothing is quite as satisfying to me as writing a pen down to the last of its ink. About a page before I run dry, the letters become thin and large gaps appear within the words. As I near the end, I think about the work that the pen and I accomplished together. Hours of journaling, songwriting, first drafts, and procrastination doodles. Once my words are long past legible, I call in an alternate and brace myself for emotional impact. Finally, after hesitation and grieving, I throw my pen away.

But…why? I spend hours lovingly utilizing my favorite tool only to consider it trash after a matter of seconds, discarded plastic destined to exist in a landfill long past my lifetime. And that makes absolutely no sense. Why do I throw away a device that works so very well just because it has run empty? I wouldn’t toss an empty nail gun into the trash. I would reload it. So why throw away this tool? The answer is both obvious and slightly depressing; I don’t think twice about one time use plastic.

I use exactly one type of pen; the Pilot G-2 07 in black writes dark and smooth with no interruption in ink distribution. I love this pen. I buy them in bulk and leave them scattered throughout my apartment with the hope that I’ll never be more than an arm’s reach away from starting to write. My cat, Rowena, also benefits from this system. Pens inevitably fall to the ground and quickly become her prey. On countless occasions I’ve enjoyed watching her hunt down my recently dropped pen while I simply reach for another and continue to write.

The first time I saw a classmate deconstruct and reconstruct a ballpoint click pen I considered it a feat of master engineering. I might as well have been watching Nicola Tesla in his workshop. Taking apart a perfectly good pen would have never occurred to me. Despite my naïve first impression, most ballpoint click pens have very simple construction. They easily unscrew to reveal a spring, a tube of ink, and potentially other small odds and ends that fit easily back into place. When the ink has run dry, I only need to replace the empty tube with a full one. The pen is not broken, it is empty.

Diving into this topic, I was excited to argue that the tubes of ink should be sold separately. My cynical view of for-profit companies made the assumption that the reason I had never seen the tubes sold separately was because the manufacturer wasn’t interested in selling a cheaper product. Why sell a tank of gas when you can convince your consumers to throw their car away and buy a brand-new one (complete with a full tank)? After a quick google search, I discovered that, although they are not available on the shelves of my local Target, ink refills are available for purchase. I am not being forced to throw away my beloved pens. I am making the choice to dispose of them.

Now, I will choose to refill my pens. Although the refills are not as convenient to purchase, I will go out of my way to spend my hard-earned dollars letting the market know that I have an interest in the sustainable practice of recycling pens. I cannot force Target, or any other store, to stock the ink refills. All I can do is spend wisely, slightly increasing consumer demand for sustainable products. If money talks, no one hears what it has to say louder than a for-profit company.

What are your dollars telling them?