Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Private Lives

Photograph by Christopher Parsons, 2011

"Crossing to Safety is a love story, not in the sense of titillating dialogue and actions, but in the sense that it explores private lives.  No outsider ever knows the interior landscape of a marriage.  It is one of the great secrets kept between couples."

-From the Introduction by Terry Tempest Williams to Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner

Miss you, CJP.

24 comments:

  1. 'No outsider ever knows the interior landscape of a marriage' - so beautiful and so true.

    ReplyDelete
  2. can't wait to tackle it. I am thankful for the way we have tended to our marriage landscape (even through a few frosts), as it produces better and more mature fruits year after year...

    ReplyDelete
  3. i LOVE that book, d. something i picked up - without knowledge of its wonderful content - because it had a gorgeous cover...seems one can, from time to time, stand by that judgement.

    lovely sunny autumn light you have.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi, Lucy. Fair or not, I often judge books by their covers, and size. That beautiful light was what we saw during my birthday trip last year. Great memories.

      Delete
  4. In my limited experience, I think that is Stegner's specialty. And ah...the beautiful writing of Terry Tempest Williams...

    Such a warm, beautiful photograph.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I don't know that book but I want to. Beautiful image.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I'm happy to see so many of you like this image. I do too. I just posted it without crediting Chris. Oops. It was such a clear representation of my memory it felt like it was mine. Now it is updated.

    For those of you who plan to read the book, enjoy! I certainly did.

    ReplyDelete
  7. So true and sweet! Terry Tempest Williams is one of my favorite authors. Her prose from When Women Were Birds made me cry, it was so beautiful.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I,too,love Chris' photo.I'll have to check out the book. Thanks.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I think this was my favourite of his books.... such grace and truth in his prose.

    ReplyDelete
  10. an excellent book.
    I appreciate your sharing of Chris' photograph, which captures a similar interior intimacy.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Going on my list right now. The list is ever growing - I have read more this year than last... but, still it is paltry. It is definitely something I want to do more of next year.

    Do you ever read YA?
    Have you read the fault in our stars by john green? It is quite something.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I don't often read YA, but I do recall liking Francine Prose's Goldengrove several years back. I'll look up John Green.

      Delete
  12. How utterly and completely true...and perhaps that is one of the best parts of marriage...the togetherness that remains through ups and downs...a life of experiences good and bad, yet together...

    ReplyDelete
  13. Sounds like a read looking forward to

    ReplyDelete
  14. I truly love that book - my introduction to Stegner, and it did not disappoint. Hope you are well.

    ReplyDelete
  15. My favorite part of Crossing to Safety (one of my favorite books) was the dinner party. I thought it was such a moving articulation of how humans connect as friends and how parties, especially dinner parties, can be incubators and launching pads for relationships. "A pretty table was part of it, too - flowers, wine in fragile glasses, silver whose weight was a satifaction in the hand. But the heart of it was the two people who had prepared the occasion, apparently just to show their enthusiasm for Sally and me." This line echoes in my head every time I prepare for guests. Thanks for reminding me of it.

    ReplyDelete