Dear Avid Reader,
A section of The Birch Chronicle that delights me repeatedly is Diane’s Book Reviews. This offering is important to me because I believe reading is one of the best activities we can inhabit for our own well-being as well as the well-being of humanity. It can also be one of the hardest activities to sustain for several personal human reasons. There is an ebb and flow to reading. Sometimes the flow continues like a river. And when it ebbs, it awaits us when we’re ready to restart slow and calm or fast and furious.
Diane, a professional book reviewer, is the most profound reader I know. She reads wide. She reads in whatever location she finds herself in. She reads fast. She reads high which is to say she reads, a lot. Her 2025 Goodreads Challenge resulted in the lucky number of one hundred and seventy-seven books. Yes. One hundred and seventy-seven. How does she do this? Reading, for her, is a choice. I mention this not to promote a competition. I mention it as a wholesome dare for us all. For the eight years I’ve participated in the Goodreads Challenge, I have yet to reach my goal of reading fifty-two books in a year.
When I receive a book review from Diane, I feel giddy with enthusiasm. It is the same sensation I have when I peruse the aisles of my local branch of the public library and gather an armful of books I won’t be able to read before they are due; or when I purchase a book or two, or three or four at Sandmeyer’s Bookstore in Printers Row or Exile in Bookville in the Fine Arts Building or Madison Street Books in the West Loop or Pilsen Community Books in Pilsen or Brainlair Books in South Bend or Brilliant Books in Traverse City or Ballyhoo Books in Alma or Books & Mortar in Grand Rapids or Lowry’s Books in Three Rivers or The Book Loft of German Village in Columbus or Barnes & Noble on Hilton Head Island or Righton Books on St. Simon’s Island or Barbara’s Bookstore at O’Hare or Barnes and Noble in Aliso Viejo or Talk Story Bookstore on Kauai or Rizzoli Bookstore in New York or Hudson Booksellers at Newark or Almost Corner Bookshop in Rome or Libreria Toletta and Libreria Acqua Alta in Venice or Love Story of Berlin in you guessed it, Berlin.
Within a review, Diane prompts us to read an unfamiliar story, a new story even if its old, a different genre than we may be used to choosing, a new author or simply allow ourselves to unravel on the wheel of human emotions and beneficial practices such as empathy, compassion, recognition of different lifestyles, cultures and traditions, appreciation, understanding, self-reflection, and the desire to keep learning. Diane’s Book Reviews page is a mindful scroll. Each review is the ideal length in that none are longer than a two-minute read. They encourage me to halt any dilly-dallying over whatever I’m dilly-dallying around. The reviews entice me to pick up a book and escape into someone else’s life, travel to a new location, connect with and lear from a character and regardless of my reading speed, row with the current. Whether brand new from an independent bookstore or read a thousand times over from the library, books steady me.
But I don’t have time, you may say. The act of reading books is a choice just like anything else we do with our down time. Reading betters the life of the reader which betters the world around them. This is why writers write. Their goal is to lighten the pains, support the dreams, comfort the voids, challenge the thought patterns, entertain the boredoms, accompany the heartaches, soothe the broken souls, and keep hope alive. And book reviewers such as Diane want to spread the word about stories that add beauty to the world.
The tangibleness of a book: the elegance of an embossed title—the lightness of a page and the smooth scratch as we turn one over—the accidental rip in a cover—the burgundy and golden threads of the case binding—the crystals of summer sand wedged in the gutter—the smokey aroma of printed ink when we fan the pages—the vision of our mother through someone else’s—the silence of a moving story that captures our breath so we can exhale, cry, even turn our lips upward to the point we laugh out loud. Books can rejuvenate something that is lost to us. Books can affirm our truth when our own words escape us. From holding a physical book to the convenience of an e-book to listening to an audio book in the car or while we clean the house, books in all their forms are our past, present and future.
I set a goal to read fifty-two books a year as a guide to check in with myself each Sunday to make sure I’m in the flow of reading. Sometimes I am and sometimes I’m not. But setting this goal results in me reading more than I would without it. I’m a slow reader. A few years back I read thirty-five books. Last year, I read twenty-three. So far this year, I’m right on track. I hope I can surpass my goal. I’ll keep you posted.
Until then, I invite you to have a look at Diane’s Book Reviews page here in The Birch Chronicle. Below, I’ve written the book titles of her reviews thus far. Consider making a game out of it. Which three titles pop out at you? That is their invitation. Now go. Read the reviews. Visit an independent bookstore. Find a comfortable chair at the library. Read the books. For the love of books and yourself, just read.
James. Tom Lake. Here One Moment. The Queen of Dirt Island. The Cemetery of Untold Stories. Songs for the Brokenhearted. Sandwich. The Women. You Like It Darker. Real Americans. The Frozen River. The Last Ranger. Roman Stories. So Late in the Day: Stories of Women and Men. The Fury. Greek Lessons. My Friends. A Prayer for the Crown-Shy. A Violin Conspiracy. Day. A Psalm for the Wild-Built. Looking Glass Sound. The Puzzle Master. The Bird Hotel. Happiness Falls.
Each day is a beginning. Rush slowly and be surprised.
Until,
Marie
The Birch Chronicle 
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