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On Lighthouses
On Lighthouses | Jazmina Barrera
15 posts | 6 read | 14 to read
"After spending sufficient time inside a lighthouse, who wouldn't begin to hear a song in the sound of the machinery, a voice in the wind or the waves?" Far from home, in the confines of a dim New York apartment where the oppressive skyscrapers further isolate her, Jazmina Barrera takes the reader on a tour of her lighthouses--those structures whose message is "first and foremost, that human beings are here." Starting with Robert Louis Stevenson's grandfather, an engineer charged with illuminating the Scottish coastline, On Lighthouses takes readers on an artful tour of lighthouses from the Spanish to the Oregon coasts and those in the works of Virginia Woolf, Edgar Allan Poe, Ingmar Bergman, and many others. In trying to "collect" lighthouses by obsessively describing them, Barrera begins to question the nature of writing, collecting, and how, by staring so intently at one thing we are only trying to avoid others. Equal parts personal memoir and literary history, On Lighthouses takes the reader on a desperate flight from raging sea to cold stone--from a hopeless isolation to a meaningful one--concluding at last in a place of peace: the home of a selfless, guiding light.
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ImperfectCJ
On Lighthouses | Jazmina Barrera
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My #gettbr selections arrived while I was at work today, way earlier than I'm used to getting them. Excited to get started on these! Any suggestions for where to begin?

Ruthiella I‘m definitely interested to hear what you think about 3y
53 likes1 comment
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Susanita
On Lighthouses | Jazmina Barrera
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From the Annapolis Book Festival a couple months ago. #lighthouse #JulyJourneys

DivineDiana Was this Annapolis, Maryland? I did not know about this? 3y
Susanita @DivineDiana Yes. I found out about it very much by chance. 3y
DivineDiana Thank you. I will keep a lookout in the future! 3y
Eggs Great choice!! 3y
36 likes4 comments
review
BestDogDad
On Lighthouses | Jazmina Barrera
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Pickpick

What a neat little book this is. In six chapters, all centered around a particular lighthouse, the author expresses her love, or "collection", of lighthouses though personal anecdotes, lighthouse history, and quotes from other books featuring lighthouses. The bibliography is a virtual history of lighthouse in literature.

Highly recommended, even if you don't like lighthouses.

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NotoriousMBG
On Lighthouses | Jazmina Barrera
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Pickpick

This one is a bit of a slow burn, but I enjoyed it. Mix of personal stories and stories/history of lighthouses. It‘s a lovely read.

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Lindy
On Lighthouses | Jazmina Barrera
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Pickpick

A microhistory of lighthouses, mixed with memoir, travel, science and literature: this little book is a gem. Mexican author Jazmina Barrera‘s introspection on why she is so passionate about lighthouses adds to the appeal. #Translation by Christina MacSweeney.

Leftcoastzen I used to work at a maritime museum bookstore, by far most people were looking for books on lighthouses followed by ocean liners. 4y
Lindy @Leftcoastzen Interesting! 4y
arubabookwoman You made this seem so interesting, I checked my library and they didn‘t have it. So I went to Amazon to see how expensive it was. And Yikes! I had already bought it for Kindle in October. My mind is going, but glad that at least they still let you know what you already own (usually). Now to read it. 4y
Lindy @arubabookwoman My sweetie came home with tortilla wraps two days in a row, having forgotten that she bought some the previous day. Stress plays tricks with our memory. Hope you enjoy the book! 4y
41 likes2 stack adds4 comments
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Lindy
On Lighthouses | Jazmina Barrera
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The Fresnel lens brought about the greatest revolution in lighthouse history. The stepped surface allows for a large aperture and short focal length; the lens occupies less space and uses fewer raw materials. It is, in addition, beautiful, like those monstrous animals that glow in the depths of the ocean.

(Photo: Longtime Littens might remember that @KathyR and I visited the lighthouse at Cabo de Sao Vicente, Portugal, in 2016.)

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Lindy
On Lighthouses | Jazmina Barrera
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Bruce Chatwin stopped collecting art because the pieces anchored him to one place and he wanted to travel, but he discovered that travel was another form of tyranny since “as you go along, you literally collect places.”

(Photo: That's me, adding Wellington, NZ and a tuatara sculpture to my travel collection.)

readordierachel Great picture 😊 4y
49 likes2 comments
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Lindy
On Lighthouses | Jazmina Barrera
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When I was taking art classes, I learned that my mind often follows the lead of my eyes, and if I restrict my gaze for too long, my thoughts become myopic.

Bibliogeekery Beautiful picture! 4y
Lindy @Bibliogeekery Thanks! Banff, June, 2019 4y
38 likes2 comments
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Lindy
On Lighthouses | Jazmina Barrera
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I have the feeling that I‘m nearly there. Since I came here I‘ve been watching myself slowly transforming into a sealed tower. I move around in the calm of indistinguishable days. My routine is so precise, I feel so sane, that I must be losing my sanity.

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Lindy
On Lighthouses | Jazmina Barrera
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The tagged book has led me down several pleasant internet rabbit holes, including a search for more about Bessie Millie, “an old woman who lived in Stromness and earned a living selling favourable winds to sailors.”
(Internet screen capture: http://frontiersmagazine.org/bessie-millie-stromnesss-first-renewables-entrepren... )

32 likes1 stack add
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Lindy
On Lighthouses | Jazmina Barrera
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When authorities decided to sell the lighthouse, many of the children who had read The Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Gray Bridge protested. […] to the point where the auction was canceled. The property was transferred to the Parks Department in 1951 and the lighthouse fell into disuse.

32 likes1 stack add
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Moll
On Lighthouses | Jazmina Barrera
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#integrateyourshelf @ChasingOm @Emilymdxn

I thought On Lighthouses looked really intriguing - not like much else on my tbr rn!

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RebeccaH
On Lighthouses | Jazmina Barrera
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Pickpick

I really liked this genre-bending book on lighthouses. It‘s part memoir, part cultural history, part travel book. I found it meditative and calming.

15 likes2 stack adds
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RebeccaH
On Lighthouses | Jazmina Barrera
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Up next!

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ReadingEnvy
On Lighthouses | Jazmina Barrera
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Pickpick

Non-fiction has been more accessible to me lately so I was happy to pick this from my eARC list from Two Lines Press - Jazmina Barrera writes about lighthouses (the first one is one I've visited many times, Yaquina Head) and she also writes about life - isolation, risk, friendship. It was exactly what I was in the mood to read. I learned a little (lightboats and dry lighthouses) and reflected a little.

It is translated by Christina McSweeney.

46 likes4 stack adds