What a night. We had tap rehearsal this afternoon in preparation for the show on Sunday. Then I came home, cleaned up, and headed out to an artist open house hosted by my friend Kathy with whom I acted in "Death of a Salesman". The artist was a spiritual impressionist and I enjoyed the depth of his work. He will be at the art fair this weekend and I told him I would stop by and say hello while I was there.
After most people left, he pulled out his guitar and sang for a while. While listening to the beautiful music I was looking at two shelves of books. There weren't any other modern books in the room with the exception of one underneath the coffee table. I wondered why she picked those, why those books on those shelves? Then I started to wonder, if I only had two shelves on which to put books from my library that have meant the most to me, which ones would I select? Books can have such a deep impact on our lives and the way we see the world. Some of the ones I thought of were "Mutant Message From Down Under", "The River Way", both volumes of Jane Austen, my copy of Jane Eyre, "The Four Agreements", "Hope For the Flowers", "Letters to a Young Poet", "The Prophet", "You are Special", "The Shack", "Kitchen Table Wisdom", "My Grandfather's Blessing", "Living Prayer" "A Testament of Devotion", "Secret Life of Bees", "Mechthild of Magdeburg", "Saint Therese of Liseaux", "Ishmeal", and "Glittering Images". I would also add "The Giver" if I had it in my library. This is not a definitive list but these are all books I could read again and again and come away richer every time. They have been paradigm shifts in my life, taught me to think from a much wider perspective. I am so grateful to their authors. It's amazing how you can touch someone you don't even know so deeply through words.
365-09 #192Labels: 365-09 Challenge, Books, Reading