by Michael Raymond Astle
Have you ever wondered how Signum’s staff came to know so much? Well, you might not believe this, but a little fawn told me it might have something to do with all the excellent books they read. So, I set myself out on a quest to discover the wellsprings of their knowledge.
My top secret method for unearthing such mysteries was to… ask them! (Don’t tell anyone or it might not work next time.) Having solicited a few book recommendations, I compiled them into this handy little article, with their own comments on why they endorse them, for you to drink from.
Signum Advisor, Host of WriterSpace & Community Hearth Sparrow Alden recommends everyone read or reread Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White. “It’s in my top five for American Lit of the twentieth century, possibly my number one, and I think we all need the encouragement to right action modeled in this book right about now.”
SPACE Preceptor Jack Schabert recommends The Singing Wilderness by Sigurd Olson. “Olson introduces the reader to the music that can be heard resonating through our natural world, through stories of his adventures and experiences in the Superior-Quetico lake country on the Minnesota-Canada border. This book changed my life, inspiring me to take solo trips into the north woods and paddling on the same lakes and routes as he did. I was eventually composer-in-residence at his home, now a national historic site, in Ely, MN.”
His fellow SPACE Preceptor, and Curator of the Signum Collaboratory‘s Fiction Hall, Christopher Bartlett recommends The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern. “I’ve been recommending this book to everyone I can make listen to me (poor hapless SPACE students) as something I discovered this summer. It’s a dreamlike spiral of a story about the interface between the ‘real’ world and a legendary place, a civilization surrounding the titular Starless Sea, a realm under the earth filled with wonder, stories and time that isn’t quite linear. It’s beautifully written, intricately crafted and filled with wonderful characters who tell a slow burn of a story that builds to a very satisfying and terrifying climax. There’s room at the end for more stories, but I haven’t investigated to see if Morgenstern has written others in this universe.”
Laurel Stevens, another SPACE Preceptor and also the Mythmoot Coordinator, seconds Bartlett’s recommendation and would add Morgenstern’s prior novel, The Night Circus. “It’s a different kind of dreamlike story, but it remains one of my favorite novels of all time.”
If you’ve made it this far, have you read any of these? If so, which did you most enjoy? If not, which would you be most likely to pick up? If you’re a staff member at Signum and would like your book recommendations featured in a future article, please feel free to contact the author of this one.
Whatever your goal at Signum, we wish you much happy reading. So, enjoy as many as youwish, drink deeply their words, and don’t forget to breathe.