by Virginia Esposito
One of the best reasons to look forward to some August down time is the prospect of picking up the books from the shelf near my bed that I’ve earmarked as “summer reading.” I’m not sure what qualifies books as summer reading or that related category: beach books (although I suspect the latter are those I assume have no redeeming social value). Summer books often require the time and ability that ordinary stress levels do not allow. Maybe they are what’s left in the pile after I sort the “things I should have read last month.” I am ashamed to admit they are probably the books I intend to read for pure pleasure but don’t consider that urgent. They are often books that friends have told me they enjoyed so I want to enjoy them as well.
It was in that spirit of enjoyment that I asked several people what they were reading this summer. Finding their selections fascinating and stimulating, I decided to share them with you. I hope one of them tempts you to get in the hammock and read. (And, in the spirit of my new back-to-school resolution, they might even tempt you to read summer books all year long!)
Some people enjoy sticking close to philanthropy. Joel Fleishman’s book, The Foundation: A Great American Secret; How Private Wealth is Changing the World continues to be popular and James E. Hughes’ book, Family: The Compact among Generations, is newly released and of interest to those who work with wealthy families.
Other friends are reading books that add to their understanding of philanthropic work. Mary Mountcastle, who just returned from a trip to Mexico with other North Carolina foundation leaders, is reading Crossing Over: A Mexican Family on the Migrant Trail by Ruben Martinez. Written in a journalistic, storytelling style, Mary notes that this book illustrates how important it is to put a human face on complex social issues – in this case, Mexican immigration.
From Montana, Bruce Sievers reminded me of classics with philanthropic elements and recommended Charles Dickens’ Bleak House and Kurt Vonnegut’s God Bless You Mr. Rosewater. Having just finished re-reading Mr. Rosewater, I can echo the value of reaching back in time for a great read. (I hope Bruce will forgive me if my look back at Bleak House is via Masterpiece Theatre.) It must be Bruce’s work on his own book on philanthropy and civil society that influenced his choice of a vacation read: Paul Starr’s Freedom’s Power: The True Force of Liberalism.
Charles Collier, author of the newly revised Wealth in Families, works regularly with donors and donor families and that must influence his choice of The Redemptive Self: Stories Americans Live By by Dan McAdams. McAdams’ believes that redemption distinguishes the life stories of especially caring and productive Americans.
Jack Murrah writes from Tennessee that he doesn’t often make time for the “how to live your life” books but he has found two of particular interest (he doesn’t guarantee what will happen to that interest at summer’s end!). Eric Booth’s The Everyday Work of Art: Awakening the Extraordinary in your Daily Life has been winning Broadway Theatre Institute and Benjamin Franklin awards for its ability to help readers discover that everyone is an artist every day and probably several times a day. He is also reading The Exquisite Risk: Daring to Live an Authentic Life by Fetzer Institute program officer and poet-in-residence, Mark Nepo. (Fetzer Institute is a private, operating foundation in Kalamazoo, Michigan.)
I thought I was on to something when I read Judy Healey’s response from Minneapolis: “Nothing I want to admit in public.” But Judy is my Renaissance woman and she didn’t disappoint. She reports she is reading about art fraud, the Second World War, detective stories, and 14th Century ceramics. A published author herself, Judy must keep her agent and her publishing house guessing!
And my Renaissance man, National Center program coordinator, Kevin Laskowski, has four going at one time. In the true Laskowski spirit of “question everything,” he is reading Alan Weisman’s The World Without Us and Susanna Clark’s Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell. Will Schmid and Greg Koch’s Hal Leonard Guitar Method must be helping him advance his hobby, and he tells me he is reading Umberto Eco’s The Name of the Rose just because he wants to know what the fuss was all about. Ah, to be young.
And I found two people in philanthropy (among the 12 million) who read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the final book in that series. That is, two people other than me. That was my beach book this summer. I have to keep up my place in the book group with my young nieces and nephews. My summer pile is yet to be sorted out but I have to get busy – Julie Cummings called from Michigan and added Eat, Pray, Love to my summer list. I’m putting my copy of that Elizabeth Gilbert book right next to The Road, The Maytrees, The House the Rockefellers Built, The Kite Runner … maybe I should get that book about the four-hour work week!
I hope your summer (and for that matter, your fall, winter and spring) includes inspiring, aggravating, funny, touching, provocative, wonderful books.
Ginny
Virginia M. Esposito
President, National Center for Family Philanthropy
Family Giving News is published monthly by the
national center for family philanthropy
1818 N Street NW, Suite 300, Washington, DC 20036
http://www.ncfp.org
please be advised that the content of family giving news is for informational
purposes only, and is not intended to constitute legal advice.
If you find any broken links or have difficulty loading any of the content of family giving news, Please click here.