海角大神

Last week, while casting about for a stack of books to place on the nightstand of our guest room, my wife randomly reached for titles on our shelves and landed on 鈥淔ictions,鈥� an anthology of short stories she鈥檇 acquired for a college lit class nearly 30 years ago.

The book had probably sat unopened in our bookcase for decades while we tended to life鈥檚 usual urgencies 鈥� parenthood, careers, feeding the dog or doing the laundry.

My wife鈥檚 eyes widened and her face brightened as she casually opened 鈥淔ictions鈥� and discovered so much treasure inside 鈥� stories by Sherwood Anderson and Franz Kafka, Joyce Carol Oates and D.H. Lawrence, Willa Cather, John Cheever, dozens of others.

She couldn鈥檛 believe her good fortune, and the book now rests on听丑别谤听nightstand, a windfall of autumn reading now rediscovered, like a $20 bill in last winter鈥檚 coat.

It was a moment of gratitude for a book long owned, a form of appreciation that we bibliophiles too seldom express. We are, after all, always focused on the Next Big Thing 鈥� the newest novel, memoir or massive work of history from our favorite authors.

That鈥檚 the kind of expectation that keeps literary culture alive and growing, but it comes with a cost. Too often, we neglect the books we already have.

And so, as another Thanksgiving arrives, try this simple exercise. On Thanksgiving Day, after the dishes are cleared, scan your own home library and remind yourself how lucky you are to have so much great writing at your fingertips. Here at the start of a holiday shopping season that will be nudging us to buy even more books, take a moment to notice what the world鈥檚 scribes have already given you. Pull a few favorites from the shelf, and give thanks for all those wonderful sentences, those lines of verse, those stories only a writer could craft.

I did my own home library survey recently, and here are five gems I found. You, no doubt, will find your own.聽

1)聽聽聽鈥淏ut Enough About You: Essays鈥� by Christopher Buckley. This 2014 collection shows Buckley at his best, musing on everything from 鈥淭he Origin and Development of the Lobster Bib鈥� to 鈥淗ow to Write Witty Email.鈥� Charming, funny stuff 鈥� a great diversion for a holiday afternoon.

2)聽聽聽鈥淪ightlines: A Conversation with the Natural World鈥� by Kathleen Jamie. Closely observed, poetical essays on land and sea from Scotland鈥檚 premier naturalist. She combines Virginia Woolf鈥檚 acute vision with Annie Dillard鈥檚 offbeat sensibility.

3)聽聽聽鈥淭he Art of Stilness鈥� by Pico Iyer. In a tiny book that can be read in a single sitting, journalist Iyer reflects on how we can find peace and quiet in an increasingly hurried world. What better antidote to the rush of the holidays?

4)聽聽聽鈥淥ne Summer: America, 1927鈥� by Bill Bryson. A master humorist and memoirist, Bryson also proves himself a masterful popular historian in this colorful survey of a pivotal season in the life of America. It鈥檚 worth reading 鈥� and, as I鈥檓 reminded now聽 -- rereading.

5)聽聽聽鈥淥n Elizabeth Bishop鈥� by Colm Toibin. In a brief book, also easily tackled on a holiday weekend, novelist Toibin describes how Bishop鈥檚 magical poetry shaped his own way of seeing and writing. It鈥檚 sent me back to Bishop鈥檚 poems, also on my shelf. How lucky am I to have all these books?