A Book

"A book is like a garden carried in the pocket." -Chinese Proverb

I love this!

Writing the Book You Want to Read

Have you ever wanted to read a book that just didn't exist yet?

"If there is a book you really want to read that hasn't been written yet, then you must write it."

-Toni Morrison

I've been toying with this idea for a while now. I have a couple of children's books in my head as well as a devotional for women. Maybe a novel, too? I should probably just pick one to start with. But I love Morrison's directive here. Not just that you might think about writing it, but that you must write it. Like that book needs to exist. Do my ideas need to be books? Will anyone want to read them?

What books do you want to read? Ever think of writing them yourself?

Books That Keep Going

"A good book has no ending." -R.D. Cumming

Have you ever read a book that was so wonderful, you mourned its ending? A book whose characters are so captivating that you feel like your friends have moved away when you close it for the last time? I frequently feel this way about books I love, but this quotation made me think about it in a new way.

It made me think, are they really gone? Do those amazing characters completely disappear from your thoughts? I find that often the best books stay with me long after I've finished them. I mull over a favorite scene in my head when I'm taking a walk or waiting for my waffle to pop out of the toaster. Interactions with people I encounter in real life remind me of something a character might do or say. Important themes and lessons from a book sometimes pop into my head at opportune times.

Do good books ever stay with you? Do you think that's what Cumming meant? What books were you sad to finish?

All the King's Men

I have a catalog of "favorite books", neatly listed on my facebook profile. I'm working one writing a review of all of them here on the blog. There are so many it's hard to pick just one, but if I'm asked for a single favorite, I always respond with All the King's Men. This Robert Penn Warren classic has it all. Romance, history, politics, scandal, intrigue. The characters are so compelling and the writing is superb. I first read it in AP English, with a teacher who adored the book. She instilled that love in us as well. We would spend whole class periods analyzing a single page of Warren's writing. None of the movie version's I've seen do it justice. It is a truly powerful story.

What is the story about, you ask? For those of you who haven't read it, All the King's Men is narrated by Jack Burden, a young man who becomes political aide to Willie Stark, an up and coming Louisiana politician. Known as "The Boss", Stark becomes the governor of the state, with aspirations of becoming a Senator. Corruption and scandal ensue. But the book also takes you back, and shares glimpses of Jack's past, with his friends Anne and Adam Stanton, and his mother's long line of husbands. We're also taken on a tour of Stark's past, learning how he went from a country boy to a successful and powerful politician. There are twists and shocking revelations throughout. The story is gripping and full of the political quandaries I love. But simple pieces of beautiful writing that stick with me the most, and that keep All the King's Men at the top of my all time favorites.

Whenever I am driving alone at night on a highway, I think of this passage, when Jack is traveling from his family home in Burden's Landing back to Baton Rouge in the middle of the night (because of an urgent call from "The Boss".)

"There is nothing more alone that being in a car at night in the rain. I was in the car. And I was glad of it. Between one point on the map and another point on the map, there was the being alone in the car in the rain. They say you are not you except in terms of relation to other people. If there weren't any other people, there wouldn't be any you, because what you do, which is what you are, only has meaning in relation to other people. That is a very comforting thought when you are in the car in the rain at night alone, for then you aren't you, and not being you or anything, you can really lie back and get some rest. It is a vacation from being you. There is only the flow of the motor under your foot spinning that frail thread of sound out of its metal gut like a spider, that filament, that nexus, which isn't really there, between the you which you have just left in one place and the you which you will be when you get to the other place.

You ought to invite those two you's to the same party, some time. Or you might have a family reunion for all the you's with barbecue under the trees. It would be amusing to know what they would say to each other.

Meanwhile, there isn't any one of them, and I am in the car in the rain at night."

It's that lovely? Driving alone is kind of like a respite, if we let it be. If we turn off the radio and put down our cellphones, driving alone is a kind of disconnectedness that it's hard to find elsewhere. And I love the idea of inviting all the different variations of myself from different parts of my life to meet each other. Maybe I will invite them all to tea.

Have you read All the King's Men? Have you seen the movie versions? Do you still love any of the books you read in school?

If pressed, what is your ONE top favorite book of all time?

Image from amazon.com

A reading habit...

I've recently received the opportunity to work on a few projects that might help others to read more and to enjoy reading. In my preparation for these projects, I have found a renewed joy in my own reading habit. During this research, I came across this wonderful quotation:

"To acquire the habit of reading is to construct for yourself a refuge from almost all the miseries of life." -W. Somerset Maugham

Isn't that true? So often I find great solace and peace in a book when my life feels overwhelming and out of control. A refuge indeed.

(I found that quote at the top of this fabulous Lifehack article by Leo Babauta on tips for cultivating a reading habit.)

Lovely Passages from the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

Most recent read: City Dharma

I promised Katie that I wouldn't write about the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society until she finished reading it because it is our online reading group pick for this month. However, I could wait to share these little gems from the book in the meantime. I promise it doesn't give away the plot. Only meant to tempt you into reading the book as well because it is splendid. Thanks again to Carolyn for the recommendation.

These passages are all from letters written by the central character, Juliet:

"I wonder how the book got to Guernsey? Perhaps there is some secret sort of homing instinct in books that brings them to their perfect readers. How delightful if that were true." (p.10)

"That's what I love about reading: one tiny thing will interest you in a book, and that tiny thing will lead you onto another book, and another bit there will lead you onto a third book. It's geometrically progressive--all with no end in sight, and for not other reason than sheer enjoyment." (p. 12)

I adore these quotations about reading. They speak directly from one book lover to another. The first quotation is in response to a letter Juliet receives from a gentleman who bought a book of hers second-hand and found her address inscribed on the inside cover. After loving the book, he decides to reach out to its previous owner. Letters and friendships are then exchanged by a wide array of colorful characters because of that one second-hand book.

I love when I purchase used books with inscriptions. I love to imagine the previous life of my books. I recently started labeling my own books with a little sticker that has my name and e-mail address. It was meant to keep track of books I lend out, but what if it could be a means of communication between myself and the future owners of books that I part with. How delightful! Do you ever think of the past or future existence of books you collect second-hand or donate?

I also delight in the idea that certain books are almost destined for certain people. I love Juliet's thought that books find the right people, instead of the other way around. Have you ever accidently stumbled upon a book at exactly the right moment in your life? If so, please share your story. I plan to write down a few experiences of my own, and would love to make it a bit of a series. Share in the comments, if you like, or it might be fun to feature a few on the blog itself.

This also makes me think of Christine Mason Miller's fabulous 100 Books Project. If you aren't familiar with it, get thee to her delightful blog immediately. She is giving away 100 copies of her recent book, and documenting each place that they are deposited, and inviting the recipients to contact her. This has given me some ideas for a little (MUCH smaller) book project of my own. More details later.

A Quotation and a Poem

Most recent read: Little Men, by Louisa May Alcott 

Today I was flipping through a new book I recently purchased by Sarah Ban Breathnach called Moving On.  She is the author of Simple Abundance, which I thoroughly enjoyed and still refer to often.  I haven't really begun to read this other book, but at the very beginning a lovely quotation and poem caught my eye and I was moved to share them with you all.  

"If a reader cannot create a book along with the writer, the book will never come to life."

-Madeline L'Engle

Isn't that so true?  Sometimes when they are collecting dust on a shelf or in a box, books began to seem like such static things, which really, I believe they were meant to be dynamic and full of life.  The best books are ever-changing conversations between the author, the reader, and sometimes all the readers that have come before or will come after.  These are usually the books that we revisit and find in them new meaning and delight.

And now the poem by David Whyte:

This the bright home

in which I live,

this is where

I ask

my friends

to come,

This is where I want

to love all the things

it has taken me so long

to learn to love...

There is no house

like the house of belonging.

Where is your "house of belonging"?

Image from Amazon.com

Definition of a Common Reader by Virginia Woolf

As I mentioned previously in my discussion of Ex Libris, by Anne Fadiman, I have been wanting to read Virginia Woof's The Common Reader.  In the preface to Fadiman's book, she quotes Woolf's definition of a common reader, and I wanted to share it.

The common reader "differs from the critic and the scholar.  He is worse educated, and nature has not gifted him so generously.  He reads for his own pleasure rather than to impart knowledge or correct the opinions of others. Above all, he is guided by an instinct to create for himself, out of whatever odds and ends he can come by, some kind of whole."

Fadiman also quotes Woolf as she describes, "all those rooms, too humble to be called libraries, yet full of books, where the pursuit of reading is carried on by private people."

What do you think of Woolf's description of a "common reader".  In many ways, I agree with her assessment.  I believe I would consider myself to be a common reader, and I am by no means a scholar or a critic.  I like to consider myself well-educated, but not compared to a literature professor.  I definitely believe in the last part of her description, as I do seem to be looking for some kind of whole in the disparate volumes I read everyday.  

I want to read more about "all those rooms" and the books they hold.  I am most looking forward to arranging my modest library when I finally move into a new apartment so that I may carry on the "pursuit of reading".

Chinese Rejection Slip

"We have read you manuscript with boundless delight.  If we were to publish your paper, it would be impossible for us to publish any work of a lower standard.  And as it is unthinkable that in the next thousand years we shall see its equal we are to our regret compelled to return your divine composition and beg you a thousand times to overlook our short sight and timidity."  

-Chinese Rejection Slip

This is one of the quotations from A Writer's Commonplace Book.  I wish there were more details.  But even as it is, it made me smile.

Bas Bleu Quotations

Once again, I went on an unintentional hiatus, but I am going to focus and get back on track-again!

As promised (more than a week ago), here are a couple of quotations about books and reading from the Bas Bleu literary catalog and website!

"Just the knowledge that a good book is awaiting one at the end of a long day makes that day happier." -Kathleen Norris (love her!)

"No entertainment is so cheap as reading, nor any pleasure so lasting." -Mary Wortley Montagu

"Books are the quietest and most constant of friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counselors, and the most patient of teachers." -Charles W. Eliot

I have just requested a catalog and it should be arrive within two weeks.  I am so so delighted with the entire concept of this catalog and website.  Their tag-line is: "Champion of the odd little book...and your source for inspired gifts and accessories for readers."  How lovely is that?  I adore odd little books!  And as I said before, "Bas Bleu" means blue-stocking in French, which is a literary woman.  

I like to consider myself a "literary woman", but then I also think that there is much I could do to move myself more in that direction.  Can I consider myself to be well-read?  Do you consider yourself to be well-read?  What is the criteria?

Trying to Keep Up

It's been a long time again.  I seem to have fallen completely out of my blogging routine.  Things have been pretty busy, but really that's no excuse.  Tomorrow I am flying to Los Angeles for my cousin's wedding!  I hope to do some reading and riding on the plane.  In the last week, I read The Well-Trained Mind--I borrowed it from my sister who is home-schooling her son this year.  It's about home-schooling using the classical method of the Trivium.  The book was fascinating and gave me a lot of good ideas of books I want to read in the future.

I am at my sister's right now, we are going to drive to Dallas to fly out to Los Angeles tomorrow.  She showed me this delightful book catalog called: Bas Bleu.    I absolutely love it!  "Bas Bleu" is French for blue stocking-which means a a literary woman.  How wonderful is that?!?  It has wonderfully eclectic and obscure books.  I also found some lovely quotations about books and reading in its pages.  I'll add them later, because I'm about to teach my niece how to make friendship bracelets. 

Thought for the Day

Today has been a crazy day, so I will just leave you with this thought.  Then at least two fun posts tomorrow!

"Satisfaction of one's curiosity is one of the greatest sources of happiness in life."  -Linus Pauling

Reading is definitely one of the primary ways I satisfy my curiosities (even if it's just reading from Wikipedia!).  Reading The Renaissance Soul has spurred me to consider more deeply what makes me want to learn more, and how I satisfy that desire.  

A limited list: music, business, knitting, literacy, art, Spanish, technology, painting, beading, design and spirituality.  I have studied/practiced many of these topics for years, but others are brand new!  But I know books will be a part of my exploration of all of them.

What are you curious about?  How do you satisfy that curiosity?  Does it bring you happiness?

Credo

I've decided to start a regular feature on Sundays about religion, faith and spirituality.  I will include books, songs, prayers, poems, and quotations from many different faiths.  

For this first Sunday, I want to share on of my favorite books: Credo by William Sloane Coffin. Rev. Coffin was a freedom rider, the chaplain at Yale for many years, and the long time pastor at Riverside Church in New York. This book is a collection of excerpts and quotations from Rev. Coffin's many sermons and speeches, with occasional nuggets from other people added in.  

They are organized in different topics including faith, death, economics, and patriotism.  His words are inspiring and thought-provoking.  Here's one:

"The longest, most arduous trip in the world is often the journey from the head to the heart.  Until that round trip is completed, we remain at war with ourselves.  And, of course, those at war with themselves are apt to make casualties of others, including friends and loved ones."  

He also wrote some other superb books, including Letters to a Young Doubter.  It's a collection of letters from Rev. Coffin to a fictional college freshman.  His words are comforting, probing, reassuring, and challenging all at the same time.  

Rev. Coffin was a gifted writer and a powerful spiritual leader.  

Starbucks Quotation

“What I look for in musicians is generosity. There is so much to learn from each other and about each other’s culture. Great creativity begins with tolerance.”  -Yo Yo Ma

This was on my Starbucks cup tonight...

Reading in the Dark

“Outside of a dog, a book is a man’s best friend. Inside of a dog it’s too dark to read.” — Groucho Marx

This quotation is printed on the back of a t-shirt from my favorite bookstore, Joseph-Beth's in Lexington, KY.  I thought of it last night as I sat on my bed, reading Revolutionary Road in the dark with a little flashlight.  My apartment hasn't had power in over 24 hours.  Here's hoping that it's back on when I get home from school this evening.  

There were crazy high winds Monday morning that uprooted a giant tree near my complex that toppled over some power lines.  It also fell clear across the road making it still impossible to turn right out of my apartment building.  Power may not come back until tomorrow.

I had big plans for posts the past few days, but I was thwarted by the lack of electricity and internet.  Perhaps my brilliant blogging schedule will begin next week...

Quotation by Alan Bennet

"The best moments in reading are when you come across something--a thought, a feeling, a way of looking at things--which you had thought special and particular to you.  Now here it is, set down by someone else, a person you have never met before, someone who is long dead.  And it is as if a hand has come out and taken yours." -Alan Bennett 

I love this quotation from Alan Bennett.  I think it came from the shopping bag I received from Waterstones bookstore in London.  They had several different versions of the bags they put purchases in, and each one had a different quotation about reading or books.  What a grand idea!  This one was particularly meaningful for me. I have certainly had that experience in books, magazines, and now blogs!  (and I guess technically, I kind of had the same experience he is describing when I read what was printed on the side of a plastic bag!).  

Also, Alan Bennett is awesome.  I believe his History Boys was the second play we saw in London.  AMAZING.  The whole class was floored!  And then I read it as well, and did my final paper for the Contemporary London Theatre class on his writings.  His writing is humorous, poignant, a little bit dark, and very honest.  I love it!