 Welcome to coronavirus in our mental health. Today is August 31st, 2022, the last day of August, and it's still hot. My name is Ken Burtness and I'm coming to you from Haleiva on the North Shore. And I wanted to welcome you to this program of the joy of books. And I think you're gonna enjoy it. But first a word about coronavirus. This is a big update because it's hot off the presses. I got this about five hours ago from Associated Press. The FDC has okayed a new vaccine and boosters. So this is major. The stuff we've been doing up until now has been focused on the beginning strains of coronavirus and they're getting old because coronavirus keeps changing and changing fast. I think I mentioned last show, we're on defense, they're on offense and we are behind. Well, today we caught up a little bit because what happens with this approval by the FDA is that we're gonna get a dose, if you will, that's half old and half new. And the half new is gonna include new stuff against VA4 and VA5, which are the recent variants of Omicron that are causing the great number of cases, new cases to come up. We're way behind in those new cases. So half of it will be devoted to dealing with that and half will be devoted to dealing to the beginning strains of coronavirus. So we'll get both. It's like a recipe for a split recipe. We'll get the best of both sides, the best of the old and the best of the new. And it's coming out of Pfizer, both Pfizer and Moderna. And they say they're ready with a lot of doses. The only thing that we've got to do left is to get together with the CDC because the CDC is the one who determines which group of people would be getting these new doses first. But other than that, we're pretty much ready to go on this. So that's gonna be very interesting. And when I see you all in two weeks, I hope to give you a further update on how we're doing with these new vaccines and boosters. So, but the takeaway from all of this and what we've been doing the first number of shows here is in addition to talking about coronavirus, we've been talking about the main way to battle it via mental health. And that is to turn to a more positive environment. We are faced, as I've mentioned before, with lots of negativity. Every way we turn, there's negativity. So one of the things that makes us more effective, less liable to things like depression and anxiety is to be more positive. And today I'm gonna welcome my cousin who's coming to us from Fairbanks, Alaska a long way away and approximately over 30 degrees cooler than it is here, which I'm jealous of. And we're gonna talk about the joy of books because my cousin, Mary and I have been into books for a long time. And she is the person that I'd love to go to to find out what's happening with new books coming out and share stuff that I've enjoyed and that she's enjoyed. So welcome to the show, Mary. Hi, thank you. This is a new experience for me. I'm looking forward to it. I always love to talk about books. Mary's being modest because when we zoom, when my family zooms, Mary is the one who sort of runs the whole thing and knows a lot more about zooming than I do. So I'm just very happy that you're here, Mary. Let's go ahead and let's see, where's a good place to start? Let's talk about how we find joy in books. What really makes you feel wonderful that takes you away from the negativity in the world. Let's start there. Okay, let's see. I just love being placed in a whole new situation. I love finding out about life experiences from different perspectives. I like being stimulated to think about other lives, nonfiction, I love to learn information. I'm just a curious person all the way around. And one of the joys in my life is to walk into a library and be surrounded by print and be surrounded by other people who love to read and to share books, share ideas, I think. Well, you're talking right at my alley because I love libraries and if there's a book that has library in it, I'm gonna read it and watch it. And I volunteer over at our Wailewa Library on the North Shore. We volunteer both for their writing groups and reading groups. You've really pressed my button on that. One of the things that I wanted to share with the audience was that one of the real joys I had when I was visiting Mary was she allowed me to come with her to her book club and that was quite a treat. I'm used to book clubs in Hawaii, of course, but being in a book club in Fairbanks, Alaska was a treat and it was different and very enjoyable. So maybe we could talk about the joy that being in a book club is and also a joy that you get when you're not in book clubs because I know that you've been in book clubs and then out of book clubs periodically and that you find joy in both ways. So maybe we could talk about that. Yeah, when I was living in King Salmon, which is a rural area, I started a group which really doesn't mean anything more than finding a bunch of friends and say, hey, let's read the same book and discuss it and set the ground rules. And that took about nine years and then I moved to Fairbanks and started another one. Again, just finding a bunch of people and it has evolved and it's been like 20 years old now. And I think there's like three things that I love about book groups is, A, you get introduced to a lot of titles, authors, genres that I would not pick up otherwise. I had a tendency to just go for historical fiction, but now my horizons have been opened up exponentially. And the other part is I love to hear other people talk about books because they always seem to find something that I missed. And also I always talk about how when you read a book, it's through your lens, it's through your perspective. And when you get to talk to other people, you see their perspective and their lens and you get to get to know that person better and you get to know the book better. And I think the group grows because you're being so honest because you get to know each other so well by their comments about books. So that's the reason I really love book groups. When COVID hit and more importantly, when George Floyd was murdered, I decided I needed to go off on a different vent. So I have not been back to my book group recently because I've been on a different focus in my reading but also book groups on Zoom are really difficult. So they weren't that attracted to me. Yeah, I know exactly what you mean. As soon as COVID hit here, of course we had to stop going to the library and meeting in person. And the Zooming just didn't work for us. So we were basically in limbo for that time without a book group, like the position you find yourself now. And that doesn't mean that you can't enjoy books. Like you say, it puts you on a different track and gives you different pluses and different joys. But certainly in a book group, you get to know people because you're not talking about the usual, gee, we're getting together and how's the weather and how's your kids doing? And all of a sudden you're talking about subjects and that you don't usually talk about. Maybe you could share some of the experiences like that that really opened you up to some new ideas in the book club. Totally agree. Ha ha ha ha. Ha ha ha ha. And some even picked topics that we wanted to get into deeper. We'd pick a title that topic like say abortion or immigration, we'd find a book that was related to that. Well, you'd certainly get a lot of different ideas and opinions on that, I'm guessing. And that's one of the things, we've very diverse a society right now, but that doesn't mean that we're not diverse in our reading. And so people may seem to be on one side or the other nowadays, but they also seem to be up to reading about something different. And that puts it in a whole different perspective so that they can hear things from the author that they may have a little difficult time hearing from you. Then that opens up the conversation, which I think is a terrific type of way to find joy in books. I agree. Can we go back to your family and King Salmon? I doubt if most people know about King Salmon, but like Mary says, it's way out far away from the urban centers in Alaska. And I lived in Alaska for a year and I've got a little idea about the state and the geography and that. And that was quite a small community. So a lot of the stuff that you passed on to your daughters, for instance, were stuff that you helped them with, well, helped them with finding the joys in books. And maybe you could talk about how we can do that with our family, how we can, especially a lot of people in the audience may be either parenting young children or grandparenting young children and wanna know how to turn them on to reading. Well, first of all, read, read, read, read to them. You know, even when they're really little and when they're real young, be attuned to their level of understanding and show your joy while you're reading the books, I guess. So we read all the time. And another aspect that we really included was listening to books. We had a commute every day. So we were always listening to audio books. In fact, we listened to the entire Harry Potter series together, you know, on those commutes. And whenever we went traveling, we always had the tapes with us. And it was so fun to listen because it's always, it's joyful to hear someone else read to you. And Jim Dial does a phenomenal job in that particular series, but there were quite a few series that we listened to. But then when you turn it off, then you discuss what went on and compare notes. And then we have that shared memory. I also gave both of the girls a journal to write down all the books they read in their lives. And one of them has still kept it up. Her journal is like 28 years old and she's still writing it. And I am incredibly jealous. She writes every book she reads in that journal. And then when she travels, she keeps it in her travel journals, all the books she reads. And to this day, whenever I read a book or whenever one of the girls read a book, we always text each other or send a picture and say, hey, this is a great book. I think you'd like it. And if you do read it, let's discuss it. So it continues. Oh, that's terrific. Yeah, Mary has done that with me a couple of times in recommending books. And that's been a joyful experience. As long as we're on books, can you go over some of your favorite authors and famous your favorite books? And maybe talk a little bit about genre too, because I'm anxious to hear about the Alaskan genre of books, which Mary talked to me about briefly. That is such a tough question. When someone asks you, and I can remember back a certain time, but I think with someone asked me a long time ago or even more recently, what was my most favorite book that I've ever read? It was To Kill a Mockingbird. But most recently, I'm starting to question part of that book. But I think what I loved about that book was complex issues from a child's point of view. Let's see, farewell to my concubine. It was a rich story about the transition of China from the 30s into communism through the eyes of some opera singers. Let's see, Fair and Tender Ladies by Lee Smith was an epistolary book about a woman in Appalachia. And that really, I really enjoyed that because I'd never read an epistolary book before. What are they? Oh, Alaska, Bright Edge of the World. It's a story of a famous, I think he was a captain who explored the Copper River Delta, but the person that wrote it fit in some magic realism to it and really included the shamanism of the local indigenous people. Our book group used to always have, every year we had to have at least one title that was Alaskana. And so I have quite a few that I've read. Let's see. Ken and I both love Louise Eddrich. I haven't written enough of hers, but I am gonna save the Night Watchman for my trip. I just, yeah. You've got a treat coming to you. It's a treat of a book and it's her next to the last book that she's written, next to the latest book. She's still writing. And her latest book is The Sentence, which I'm saving too for a joy read as well. She is an incredible writer as are many writers. And once you read it, you think to yourself, wow, I need to read another one of these books to get in that space that this person has put me in. Yes. So tell us a little bit more about Alaska because there's been just instances that you've sort of frozen up. Mary's out in an area that's difficult to connect up. So periodically there's a frozen moment in there. And I told Mary that I was gonna tell the audience that it's because it's so cold in Alaska. That's why she's freezing up a little bit on the screen. So maybe you could tell us a little bit more about Alaska and Alaska books. Rotten internet. It's very wonderful because we have our own section in the library, Alaskana. And lots of people have written about their pioneer experiences. And there is quite a group of indigenous people that are writing about growing up in the state. And there's a lot of people that are self-publishing. The Alaska Native Language Center is real supportive of native writers and storytelling. And they have a huge library and a huge bookstore where you can buy books from them. So yeah, I. We do a lot of support like that here as well. Trying to support local writers in that. And it's one of the things that I love about Alaska which is my second favorite state after Hawaii. We're sort of sister states and that were the two non-contiguous states to the mainland. I mean, here in Hawaii we call it the mainland to separate it from us. And when I was living in Alaska, they called it the lower 48. I don't know, do they still do that, Mary? They still do that. So we're different, but we're part of it. I'm sorry. And we're both, we're both so unique because our indigenous cultures are different from the indigenous cultures and bring a different layer, I think, to our state. And we're just not connected to anybody else. We're, you know, islands upon ourselves. Absolutely. You know, and when I first came to Hawaii, I realized that a lot of people here went up to Alaska to work in the summer in fishing. And so there was a lot of travel back and forth which I found fascinating and really brought us closer to Alaska. It's hard to explain to people how beautiful Alaska is, but it's, you know, here in Hawaii we live among beauty but it's where you live, it's incredible. It really is. I think both states have a lot of beauty. It's just that Alaska has a few more acres. Yes. When I flew into Alaska. Also, it's that it's that spirit of having a limited number of people that you become close to a lot of people and it becomes a small, it becomes a small town. Yeah, that's for sure. When I was, when I was in Fairbanks in the 1960s, they had 20,000 people and they were the second most populous city in Alaska compared, you know, with Anchorage being first, but how many people are in Fairbanks now? Well, if you look on the census, Fairbanks itself is still, you know, down around 25,000. However, the Fairbank North Star borough, which is the size of Connecticut and Rhode Island combined is about 75,000 people. Oh, okay. We have an army base and an Air Force base and a university, which are, and then we are also the hub for all the medical and shopping and everything else for the whole northern half of the state. Yeah, right at the center and you live very close to the university, which I spent some time with in the 60s and glorious because it's right above Fairbanks. So you get to look down into Fairbanks and you don't have to worry about the flooding usually. No. Well, Mary, tell us a little bit about some of the, you know, when we were preparing for this, some of the thoughts that you were thinking about when we sat down to say, let's talk about books. Let's talk about what makes people joyful when they read books. Maybe we could do that because we're down to about seven minutes in the show. So maybe it's a good time to do that. Okay. I think like you said before, you know, books can be joyful for yourself, but it also can be spread to other people when you share book titles. I think the best part of being with friends is it always works into my conversations is what are you reading now? What do you recommend? And a lot of times their recommendations go on my list. And when I do read the book, I think of them and I'm sure to contact them and we discuss it. That's real important to me and that brings me a lot of joy. And you know, I have an electronic book, you know, e-reader, but I really don't like it much. I'll probably use it to travel but I like the feel of a book. I like opening pages and the smell of the book and the font that they use. And I just started to read a little bit of graphic novels. So then you get into the illustrations. And when I used to read books to kids because I was a preschool teacher for a very long time, we used to talk about the illustrations, the joy of how you communicate with illustrations. What else? I was just gonna comment that, you know, you talk to people about books and unless you've got a really wide circle of friends, or you're in book clubs, sometimes it's very difficult to connect with people who have read that particular book. And I think that's one of the big advantages that movies have in that there's a lot more people who see movies and can talk about the movies than read the books. And they've got an interesting relationship because some of the great books turn out to be great movies. And they touch people, but in different ways, you know, part of that I think is the visual part you're talking about with illustrations. And you've got the advantage of the movies to have, of course, the visual imagery in the movie. But if it's really gonna be a great book and a great movie, it's gonna have great characters and characters that you care about and want to know more about and are sort of rooting for them. That doesn't mean they're pie in the sky type of things. A lot of people I think mistakenly say, well, if you're finding joy in books, it's because they lived happily ever after book. Well, no, it's a book about real people and real people don't live happily ever after, but they live joyfully. You can't do it all the time and it takes a lot of work, but these are real people. And when you get real people in books and movies, it makes a difference. What are some of your favorite characters in books that you've said, wow, this is a real person? I really would like to know more about this person or just reading about this person tells me a lot and brings me a lot of joy or good feelings. It's hard to, off the top of my head besides scout. I think what I really enjoy is reading about characters because I love to travel internationally. I love to read books that are people of other eras and other countries so that I might be able to see what it's like to live there or to kind of feel their culture or experience what they might be experienced that I can't experience being here in the US. And back to the movie part, there are some books that I have read that I am dying to see the movie so that it can fill in the gaps of the visual parts. And there are quite several books that I refuse to see the movies because I don't want my visual to change. I have that idea of what it looks like and I don't want them to change it. Absolutely, yeah, I have some of the books that I've read are so depressing that I think to myself, do I wanna go see this movie? No, I don't think so. I'm gonna avoid, yeah, go ahead. Another point is, you know what I really love is the books that leave you in limbo and let you determine what happened in the end. And that's hard to do. Finding those very fast. Yeah, I'm in a writers' group and that's one of the most difficult things because I think you're right. You know, you want not to give them a pat ending. You don't wanna say they lived happily ever after or they lived unhappily ever after. You wanna sort of get their own imagination going and thinking, how did this really end, you know? And where is it going in the next part? That's a joyful way to do it, but it's hard to do for writers. Oh, yeah, and I think once in a while if I've read a really heavy book, I'll turn to a young adult fiction and one of the very basic characteristics of a young adult fiction, it has to end happily ever after. Yeah. And then when they get older, they're ready for the not so happily ever after. Or maybe there's a few troubles coming up, you know? A few bumps in the road type of thing. Yes. Well, Mary, we're sort of running down. One quick question, you know, when you talked about the Lord of the Rings and turning your daughters on to Lord of the Rings, one of the things that I would imagine is that you might ask them, you know, what's your favorite character? And I think when you ask people something like that and you're talking to people about it, I think people have different characters that they gravitate to. Did you notice that with them in that book or other books? Well, it was the Harry Potter series. I think it wasn't part of it. Oh, okay. Right, sorry. A much lighter level, let me tell you. Oh, yeah. Harry Potter works really well. Yeah, they talked about Hermione all the time. The Hermione, yeah, the female heroine, yeah, that was, yes. Did they get... Did they get pissed off like I did when Hermione didn't wind up with the Harry Potter? Did that bother them? I don't think so. I'll have to ask him, but I don't think so. Oh, good, good. That was just my problem. I loved Hermione, especially in both the book and the movie. And just a wonderful role in both the book and the movie. Okay, we're running a little... We're running late, so I need to say aloha, Mary, and I just really appreciate you coming on. And it's a long distance between us and this shortens that distance and makes me feel closer to my favorite cousin. Thank you very much. And I wanted to thank everybody who was watching as well. Always happy to be here with you, the viewers, and thanks to all the people at Think Tech Hawaii and for Jay and Hailey and Michael and Eric and everybody who supports us. And I hope to see you in two weeks and we'll find out how the new vaccines and boosters are doing. Aloha. Thank you so much for watching Think Tech Hawaii. If you like what we do, please like us and click the subscribe button on YouTube and the follow button on Vimeo. You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn and donate to us at thinktechhawaii.com. Mahalo.