Greenburgh Public Library Blog

Tragic Optimism: Books to Inspire & Motivate

If you asked me last New Year's Eve what I thought this year (2020) was going to be like, never in my wildest dreams would I have guessed we'd be here. Now that we are going on over a month of widespread, mandated, self-quarantine, the novel coronavirus has now become a prominent plot device in most of our lives, whether we like it or not....

I have to tell you, I don't really like it. Like most people, my personal and professional lives are now colliding in impossibly challenging ways. Everything takes longer: cleaning, laundry, unpacking groceries..... Not to mention trying to figure out how, when and where I am going to get the groceries and all of the other necessities that we require (when many are sold out, and leaving the house feels like a harrowing quest). I am concerned about the well being of my friends, family, colleagues, and community. Not just their physical health, but the toll this ordeal is taking on their emotional well-being and vitality. I would also be remiss if I didn't mention the fear of what comes next.... The questions "What comes next?" and "Where do we go from here?" that I am anxiously grasping for answers to.

A few weeks ago I came across an opinion piece in the New York Times, by the author Emily Esfahani Smith: On Coronavirus Lockdown? Look for Meaning, Not Happiness. At the end of the day you could say the premise is to "look for the silver lining" but it's more complicated than that. Esfahani Smith posits that to become more resilient we shouldn't try to deny our feelings or the tragedy of the grim circumstances we are staring down (to try to "be happy"), we should acknowledge them in all of their pain and challenge. Acknowledging the tragedy allows us to begin the process of growing from that tragedy, to become stronger, and to build a better world because of what we know now.

Emily Esfahani Smith's ideas aren't new. Viktor E. Frankl famously said in his worldwide bestseller Man's Search for Meaning, "I speak of a tragic optimism, that is, an optimism in the face of tragedy and in view of the human potential which at its best always allows for: (1) turning suffering into a human achievement and accomplishment; (2) deriving from guilt the opportunity to change oneself for the better; and (3) deriving from life’s transitoriness an incentive to take responsible action.”

What is turning suffering into human achievement going to look like for you? For all of us? In what ways can you change for the better? How are you going to take responsible action after all that has happened? The answer to that is going to look different for everyone, but I have been thinking and meditating on those questions deeply.

One way I have chosen to meditate on these questions, and to find some comfort (and inspiration) in dealing with these difficult emotions is to allow myself to be immersed in fiction that celebrates human ingenuity, resilience, resourcefulness, human connection and abiding love. The reading suggestions below are by no means exhaustive, but they are stories I've felt called to share right now, and stories that I have been inspired and comforted by.

What stories inspire you right now? I'd love to hear from you and share with the rest of the community. If you'd like to share a story on human resilience, ingenuity, resourcefulness, connection, or abiding love please email the title and author to me at mfenton@greenburhlibrary.org or share with us on Instagram by tagging #GreenburghReads #inspiringreads #coronavirus

The Martian by Andy Weir

"Stranded on Mars by a duststorm that compromised his space suit and forced his crew to leave him behind, astronaut Mark Watney struggles to survive in spite of minimal supplies and harsh environmental challenges that test his ingenuity in unique ways."

 

 

 

The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes

"Volunteering for Eleanor Roosevelt's new traveling library in small-town Kentucky, an English bride joins a group of independent women whose commitment to their job transforms the community and their relationships."

 

 

 

 

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

"A blind French girl on the run from the German occupation and a German orphan-turned-Resistance tracker struggle with their respective beliefs after meeting on the Brittany coast."

 

 

 

 

Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse

"In a series of poems, fourteen-year-old Billie Jo relates the hardships of living on her family's wheat farm in Oklahoma during the dust bowl years of the Depression."

 

 

 

 

A Long Petal of the Sea by Isabel Allende; Nick Caistor (Translator); Amanda Hopkinson (Translator)

"Sponsored by the poet Pablo Neruda to flee the violence of the Spanish Civil War, a pregnant widow and an army doctor unite in an arranged marriage, only to be swept up by the early days of World War II."

 

 

 

 

The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah

"When her volatile, former POW father impulsively moves the family to mid-1970s Alaska to live off the land, young Leni and her mother are forced to confront the dangers of their lack of preparedness in the wake of a dangerous winter season."

 

 

 

 

With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo

"Navigating the challenges of finishing high school while caring for a daughter, talented cook Emoni Santiago struggles with a lack of time and money that complicate her dream of working in a professional kitchen."

 

 

 

 

Piece of Mind by Michelle Adelman

"Unable to relate to people or hold a job after suffering a head injury in early childhood, talented artist Lucy is forced out of her protective Jewish home and into a New York City studio apartment with her college-age brother, where she struggles to adapt to life without a safety net."

 

 

 

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer

"In 1946, writer Juliet Ashton finds inspiration for her next book in her correspondence with a native of Guernsey, who tells her about the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, a book club born as an alibi during German occupation."