On Lighthouses | 
pickWhat 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.
pickThis 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.
pickA 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.
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.)
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.)
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.
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.
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... )
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.
#integrateyourshelf @ChasingOm @Emilymdxn
I thought On Lighthouses looked really intriguing - not like much else on my tbr rn!
pickI really liked this genre-bending book on lighthouses. It‘s part memoir, part cultural history, part travel book. I found it meditative and calming.
pickNon-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.
