“The cracking open of a book’s spine has always been an exercise in self-discovery, healing, and fortification. That subtle whoosh when words spill out makes me salivate. Then the feel of the coarse pages under my fingertips delights my consciousness, the sudden sprinkling of syllables, the black-and-white letters in various patterns, coalescing to find their way directly to my heart. It’s magic.”
The Book of Hope by Jane Goodall and Douglas Abrams is a powerful read with many passages that really stood out.
Dear Readers, have you read any of these books? What book(s) would you add to this list? Let me know in the comments.
Please note: I am including links to buy the books that I’m highlighting this week. If you use my link, I do make a small commission on your purchase at no additional cost to you. I am working with Bookshop.org which also sends a portion of the profit to support local, independent bookstores.
I bought myself a present. The print you see in the above picture created by one of my favorite novelists, Katherine Center.
I love this quote, because I agree whole-heartedly.
There are so many reasons to read. And those are the same reasons I write.
This week, I thought I’d take inspiration from Ms. Center and share a book I have read for each of these statements.
Read for Fun.
This one is easy. I recently finished Abbi Waxman’s The Bookish Life of Nina Hill. The pages flew by as I read this fun, delightful novel. And now I want to read more of Abbi Waxman’s books.
Read for Pleasure.
Beach Readby Emily Henry was pure pleasure. Just one of those novels I disappeared into and stayed up later than I probably should have just to read one more chapter.
Read for Comfort.
A disclaimer – one of my essays is published in The Things We Don’t Say: An Anthology of Chronic Illness Truths.What most strikes me about this valuable anthology is the universality of the feelings written about. The medical conditions may be different, but the emotions are the same. And it is so comforting to know there are others out there who “get it.”
Read for Wisdom.
Anne Lamott’s Bird by Birdmay be one of the most popular books about writing. It’s a book I have read multiple times, and each time I find some new nugget, something that strikes my fancy and warrants a sticky note.
Read for Insight.
Michelle Obama’s Becoming. Honest, moving, inspiring. And what makes it even more special is that one of my best friends gave me this book about one of the best role models out there.
Scott Kelly’s memoir, Endurance: A Year in Space, A Lifetime of Discoveryis a true tale of adventure. It’s highly unlikely I’ll travel into space, let alone live onboard the International Space Station for one year. Yet, by reading Mr. Kelly’s memoir I could get a sense of what it would be like to be that far away from planet Earth.
Read for Laughs.
Matildaby Roald Dahl has a special place in my heart. I always read it to my fourth graders – a little bit after lunch each day. Once we finished the novel, we’d watch the Danny DeVito film. (A touching side note – my students thought I resembled Miss Honey. I took it as a sweet compliment.) And I’m so glad my son enjoys it too. We’ve read this book many times. And we laugh at all the same parts.
There is a new edition out, with a beautiful cover, for Katherine Center’s Everyone is Beautiful. It was the first novel I read by Ms. Center. It was one of the few books I can say had me hooked from the first sentence. And I knew after reading this book, I would read everything and anything else this author wrote.
WendyKennar.com 