This is KLCC. I’m Connie Bennett, Director of Eugene Public Library, with a book review of "The Joy of Swimming” by Lisa Congdon.
With summer weather just around the corner, and last week’s announcement of Amazon Pool’s opening, it seems an opportune time to dive into "The Joy of Swimming: a Celebration of Our Love For Getting In the Water,” by Portland author and artist, Lisa Congdon.
The book is handsome, pleasing to the touch with a smooth, cool surface. The gorgeous watercolor illustrations enliven every page. Congdon - a lifelong swimmer herself - has assembled a collage of quotations, timelines, and old photographs that document our fascination with the water. There are pool rules and bathing costumes, including a history of the bikini. There are fascinating comparison with how other cultures – Iceland, France – approach swimming.
Perhaps the heart of the book is a diverse collection of brief vignettes on the role of swimming in people’s lives. These range from nine-year-old fraternal twins, Caleb and Zion, to the eighty-eight year old woman who credits regular lap swimming with keeping her young at heart. After all, “the water doesn’t know how old you are” according to twelve-time Olympic medalist Dara Torres.
In the end, “The Joy of Swimming” focuses not just on interesting facts and history, but also on the metaphorical aspect of the experience. To quote Emerson, as Congdon does in one stunning two-page spread: “Be not the slave of your own past. Plunge into the sublime seas, dive deep and swim far, so you shall come back with self-respect, with new power, with an advanced experience that shall explain and overlook the old.”
Immerse yourself!
This is KLCC. I’m Connie Bennett, reviewing "The Joy of Swimming” by Lisa Congdon.