Step by step, item by item, I've been going through things, cleaning them up, getting rid of them, making straight the way. One of the things I did was go through my bookshelves. This would have been a hard process if I had discarded more than a few. :) But how can I? They are my friends! My only collection is my library. I love adding special books to my shelves, especially when they are signed by the author. And no, I have not autographed my own books for myself in case you were wondering.
I like finding the messy faith classics. You know, the incredible writers of the last 2000 years most mainstream Christians have never heard of. Yeah, I love those. These include Mechthild of Magdeburg, Therese of Liseux, Kahil Gibran, and Karl Rahner. They are the cloud of witnesses around me, my spiritual ammas and abbas, my guides. I also have collections around Ireland, English Literature of the seventeen and eighteen hundreds, poetry (of course), photography, and Christianity and faith in general. I have some Janet Oak fiction, The Boxcar Children, and a lot of the American Girls collection books from growing up along with Mr. Pudgins, Pete's Dragon, and The Three Bernstein Bears and the Spooky Old Tree which I understand my mother had to read to me A LOT.
I am proud of my library. The books are like stepping stones speaking to where I have been, what I have learned, and to where I am going. They are voices I hear in my head. "Live the unanswered question," Rilke says. "Self-Knowledge is like the unfolding of a lotus flower," Gibran tells me. "Don't bother with the Caterpillar pillar," another goes. My friends at seminary and I came up with a fantastic excuse to buy books, we needed to have our own libraries and resources for our future directees to borrow from. So I am really being quite unselfish in developing my library. (Wink, wink.)
When I was growing up, books were my escape. I would take my backpack, fill it with books and snacks, and climb the tree in the front yard as high as I could go and I would sit up there all afternoon reading away. Sometimes, books can still be an escape for me but they have become more of a place to go than a place I go away from. I love what I learn. I love the worlds opened up to me through books. But most of all, I love who I become because of them.
This afternoon I took most of the books I no longer wanted down to the Book Bin, a used bookstore I really like to see if they would want to buy any of them. They surprised me by taking most of them and I was thrilled. In return, they would either give me $10.05 in cash or $16 in store credit. Which would you have chosen? Yeah, even with all my personal finance work and need to save up for auditing classes in the fall, I went with the store credit. It was so fun to pick out my books! I felt like a kid in a candy store! First, I selected a copy of, "The Four Agreements", a book I have told you about before that was a paradigm shift for me in my life and thinking. Then I chose another book I have wanted to have in my library for some time, "Kitchen Table Wisdom" by Rachel Naomi Remen. This book and it's companion, "My Grandfather's Blessing", which I already have a used copy of, should be, I believe, required reading for every spiritual director, counselor, and anyone in the health field. They are amazing, filled with truth books that have taught me so much about caring for the human soul. I treasure both volumes. To round it off, I bought a book by Anne Lamott. I have read one book of hers but it was enough to make me really like her as an author. She is so honest and frank, she is real and I appreciate that and can relate to her in her humanness. They are all books I will be happy to have in my library. Leaving the bookstore, I figured we were both happy. I got rid of several books I didn;t want in return for a few I do that take up a lot less space. They got some books they can sell for a higher price and make some money. It's a win-win. I love win-win. I think I may go through my bookshelves again to see if there are any I would be willing to sell to them. I am sure there are other books I would rather read. But that will wait till down the road. I have other things to focus on in the here and now. Like all those books waiting at the library for me to read... So many books, so little time.
(A quick note for fun. A friend took me out to eat after photographing a play tonight and when the waiter asked me how I wanted my steak, I said, (after a full night mind you), without thinking, "over-easy." Trying to translate that into meat terms, she askes me, "Medium-rare?" (Me slightly embarrassed and greatly amused) "Yes, please, medium-rare. Thank you." Apparently, funny things can come out without thinking.
#365-09 #140Labels: 365-09 Challenge, Books, Reading