A Story a Day...

By Barbara Woshinsky, originally published in the April 2024 issue of the 1666 Coffman Newsletter

I’ve never much cared for self-help books. If they’re not overly cheery or preachy, the advice they give is often obvious (lonely? Join a book club) or provokes guilt by proposing life changes I know I won’t make. That’s why I was encouraged to find an article in the March issue of the St. Anthony Park Bugle extolling the medical benefits of fiction. According to Kathy Henderson, reading stories is not only fun, but “reduces stress, anxiety, and blood pressure.” Scientific studies also confirm what I have intuitively felt as a confirmed bedtime reader: “Reading can aid us in sleep readiness and prevent cognitive decline.” We horizontal readers are not indulging ourselves; we are promoting our health!

Scholars have found these results so compelling that a course is being offered by the University of Minnesota on “Healing Words: Reading, Literature, and Wellbeing” through the Earl E. Bakken Center for Spirituality and Healing. According to instructor Asa Olson, fiction serves readers in ways

that both scientists and humanists can appreciate, helping us to recognize and understand our own emotions and to build empathy for others. Thus, what seems the most solitary of practices can connect us to other communities, in other times and places. These observations helped me understand why I learn and retain more about the complicated machinations of the Tudor court from Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall than from a nonfiction history of that period, however excellent. No offense meant to those of our residents who enjoy nonfiction, but the emotional impact of story can trump history. It goes back to the classical precept of “please and instruct:” art instructs by pleasing.

As we know, Coffman residents are great devourers of fiction. What do we read? Our choices often meld with those of our surrounding community. The Library Committee, through its monthly and annual book acquisitions and resident donations, strives to gratify these tastes. The top five fiction books checked out of the St. Anthony Park Library in 2023 were Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver, Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus, I Have Some Questions for You by Rebecca Makkai, Hello Beautiful by Anne Napolitano, and Saturday Night at the Lakeside Supper Club by J. Ryan Stradal.

All these novels are also in the Coffman collection. Finally, novels, like self-help books, do proffer counsel, subtly and attractively imbedded in character and story. What are some useful precepts—coated in bedtime chocolate—that you can glean from our Library? In The House of Doors by Booker Prize contender Tan Twang Eng, when a woman discovers her husband is unfaithful, a friend tells her: “. . . from this time on, no man can bring you sorrow, only yourself.” That’s pretty good advice on autonomy for the non-single as well as the single. In What You Need to Know Is in the Library by Michiko Aoyama, a mysterious librarian directs each visitor to a book that unexpectedly fills their needs. My favorite quote: “In a world where you don’t know what will happen next, I just do what I can now.” So read, enjoy, and be healthy!