Early warning during this busy election/Thanksgiving month that the discussion for The Habit of Being Letters of Flannery O'Connor begins on December 1.

In the spirit of today's NYC marathon, pace yourself as it's 624 pages.

I'm on page 36! Only 500 plus to go.

Thanks for this post - I think it may be just the push I need to realize my optimistic reading plans for this month are unrealistic. I am reading and enjoying American Pastoralbut Roth's language is so wonderful, it is not the kind of book you can speed read.

Then I have 8 library books I was hoping to squeeze in before turning to The Habit of Being: Letters of Flannery O'Connor. And one of those 8 is the 562 page The Story of Edgar Sawtelle: A Novel.

Yep, Happyreader you have convinced me - my reading goals are not reachable this month - I will feel much better after I return the 8 library books and request The Habit of Being: Letters of Flannery O'Connor - consider your good deed for the day accomplished!

I'm really enjoying this - it is like stepping into another world and it is full of great future reading suggestions too. I'm glad I started early though.

I just started it too and I am enjoying it so far. It is not a book I would have picked up if it were not for CR, and I am glad I am trying something out of my comfort zone.

Sigh. I'm still number 1 on the library holds list.

R, wondering what the bottleneck is

It's LONG.

it is HUGE, but I am trying to take it a letter at a time and get carried away - rather than focus on the length :)

It is heavy too - taking up valuable space in my carry-on while i am traveling today

Does anyone know what ACTH is? I know Flannery O'Connor receives (and gives herself) injections of it, and I am pretty sure the C stands for Cortisone? I am a medication nut, so it's driving me crazy not knowing.

Thanks!

OK i just Googled it, and the description on Wiki is very scientific. So if anyone knows a layman's definition, I'd appreciate it.

Just asked the doctor in the house. It's a pituitary hormone that works on the adrenal gland in the production of adrenalin.

It could be used in the treatment of Addison's disease, which is an adrenal insufficiency.

Let's see, I'm trying to piece it together. ACTH is a naturally produced chemical that helps form cortisol, which is a kind of steroid that helps return the body to its baseline after stress, thus enabling homeostasis. So my layperson's hunch is that those with lupus (which O'Connor had) have to protect their body's checks and balances, hence their need for injecting ACTH to return to a healthier baseline? But I may be very wrong on this: this is just my piecing together of various Wikipedia articles. A little information can be a dangerous thing.

Steroids are also used to reduce inflammation in the body, and lupus seems to be an inflammatory condition where the legs, joints, kidneys, lungs, and blood vessels swell to a dangerous extent, hence the need for an anti-inflammatory, though I'm not sure if ACTH itself acts to combat this swelling.

I had to come here and share this. Do you know how when a book or author comes into your awareness and suddenly you see references of it everywhere? Well, I am currently reading Acedia & Me by Kathleen Norris, and on page 54 she tells about when she first felt compelled to search Christianity, a monk suggested a certain book, which did not appeal to her, but on an annexed note he said:

“If this doesn’t work, try Flannery O’Connor’s letters.”

Norris goes on to say: “It was an inspired suggestion: O’Connor was exactly what I needed, a woman whose vocation was to both Christian faith and writing.”

I have been side tracked from The Habit of Being by Acedia because of what I read up to now from the letters are mainly business missives, and I this moment I am craving something more spiritual. But serendipity seems to be pointing me back to it.

Then, further on page 116, Norris makes a reference to Marilynne Robinson, the author of the other December selection.

Do you believe in literary providence? Right now it seems more than coincidental to me…

Capitu:

I know exactly what you mean - literary providence happens more than you'd think. of course now that I am writing this, the million of examples from my own reading experiences I identified when I read your post are suddenly escaping me - or as i have come to refer to it - and i am sure I read this expression somewhere else - I am experiencing brain freeze.

I find I have to keep a pen and paper with me whenever i am reading this book as she refers to so many books and authors that I want to research and read.

It is a long read - I am really enjoying it, but especially at night before bed i think I have read so much and then I realize it's only been a few pages :)

Capitu,
I just finished Kathleen Norris' Acedia and Me. I have also read two others by her, Dakota and The Cloister Walk. Norris writes honestly and thoughtfully of what is involved in trying to live a spiritually centered life in the post modern world. She uses the writings of early Christian monks to question the assumptions of the current zeitgeist. While serious about her work she doesn't take herself too seriously.
Although I have not read The Habit of Being, I find Flannery O'Connor's short stories haunting. I trust absolutely in literary serendipity.
Katy Higgins

Al and Katy, I am glad I am not the only one then. What a relief to know I am not alone.

Katy, I have not yet finished Acedia. I am finding it quite interesting, and often Norris speaks to my heart, yet I am somewhat frustrated with it. Maybe I was mislead by the article that prompt me to read it, as it gave the impression that her book was about “non-clinical” (my word here) depression. While, truly the scope of the book is much broader. Maybe my bias approaching it is getting in the way of my appreciation of it. I should finish it and gather my thoughts.

Don't forget - the discussion of this is due to start today under the book icon.

So glad to see that others are victimized...er, I mean, others are rewarded by literary serendipity; one book leading to another, and another, and another...hard on the pocketbook; wonderful for the mind.

We didn't have a very long discussion about this. I still haven't finished it--other books have come up--but I'm still hoping to read more.

I know everyone is caught up in Edgar Sawtelle, and trying to wind their way to the end of Anna Karinina - but I do so like this book! I hope everyone will keep dipping and finding the amuzing though sometimes bigoted and infuriating way she talks about people.

She has an easy and humorous way of portraying her world of her mother and the help that come and goes with the calandar months and with the raising of her peacocks.

I lived around people like she tdiscusses in her letters, and understand trying to fit writing and life around a chronic illness - though mine is diabetes and not lupus.

So when you need a break, just stick your thumb in anywhere , and enjoy one of the letters like a bit of gossip. She is a great gossip.And you can tell who is about to become a character in her books?

I also recommend a book of her talks and articles called Mystery and Manners. Changes the whole way you read her stories. (With the surprise of 'Ohhhhhhh".)

Oh I totally missed this discussion. I would have tracked this down. sometimes I have a hard time keeping up with the nominations. It wasn't until the last couple weeks that I found it easy to navigate Goodreads...didn't even see this category.

I see that this discussion is mostly over (I've just recently joined CR) but wanted to recommend to anyone who is interested in more O'Connor reading and/or spiritual biographies (since Kathleen Norris was mentioned) a book called "The Life You Save May Be Your Own" by Paul Elie, which is a "quadrogaphy" of 4 Catholic writers--O'Connor, Dorothy Day, Thomas Merton, and Walker Percy. It's quite engaging, especially if you are interested in the bi-vocational calling to art and religion. (Note: the first 1/4 of it is slow, but it's worth continuing.)

That sounds very interesting, Sonya.

I'm putting a link to the book here:The Life You Save May Be Your Own An American Pilgrimage

I had that book and sold it on Amazon. You would think as many books as I have I would't miss it, but then I get to reading one book and it reminds me of five others I've read that I want to go back and dip into. sometimes I feel like copying pages on my scanner to store in my computer as a ready reference. Has anyone dealt with this type of problem before?

And it is hard for me to talk about this book without talking about the books she is writing at the time of the letters, and also the bokk Mystery and Manners - which is a series of talks she gave at various universities. I have that book so underlined I think it is more colored in than black ink.

Ah, to be so in love with someone who was often a very unloveable person. Y