"No two persons ever read the same book." -- Edmund Wilson
Hello, my lovelies. It has been far, far too long since I have maintained this little blog of mine. I have lots of pictures to share, but haven't been able to yet find the story to share with them. I promise to do so soon. Just need to find the patience to organize the pictures, watermark them, and upload them on to this blog. In the meantime, I have been reading… A LOT.
I have always been a big reader, but it seems that I've been on a real kick with it lately. I normally average about one book per month, but I have been tearing through two or three each month since January. Even weirder? I'm reading books that I have already read. With so many splendid writers and new books out there to discover, you would think I would read those… but nooooo. Instead, I have been pouring over my old favorites, highlighting my favorite quotes and dog-earing my favorite chapters. One would think that I have been studying for some unknown test - as if I were about to be thrust back into school, being challenged by my professors and peers to look at the books differently… to see something I missed the first time around. It is so odd!
Interestingly, I have noticed nuances in these books that I had unconsciously passed over during my initial reading. My favorites do not appear to have much in common on the surface, but as I read over them again I have found some common threads… LOVE! HAPPINESS! LIFE! Now, not so much love in a romantic sense, but more like love as a matter of being. Love is such a weird thing, and we love things and people in such different ways. For example, the love I have for my family is different than the love I have for my friends, yet what I feel for both I still call "love" just the same. It's a very beautiful, complicated, and sometimes terrifying thing. I took a few of my favorite quotes from these books to show you what I mean.
Frankenstein - Mary Shelley
My heart was fashioned to be susceptible of love and sympathy, and when wrenched by misery to vice and hatred, it did not endure the violence of the change without torture such as you cannot even imagine.
The Sun Also Rises - Ernest Hemingway
"It's funny," I said. "It's very funny. And it's a lot of fun, too, to be in love."
"Do you think so?" her eyes looked flat again.
"I don't mean fun that way. In a way it's an enjoyable feeling."
"No," she said. "I think it's hell on earth."
The Art of Racing in the Rain - Garth Stein
My soul has learned what it came to learn, and all other things are just things. We can't have everything we want. Sometimes, we simply have to believe.
Invisible Monsters - Chuck Palahniuk
There's that fallen heart feeling that you rushed right through the moments where you should've been paying attention.
Well, get used to that feeling. That's how your whole life will feel some day.
This is all practice. None of this matters. We're just warming up.
Catcher in the Rye - J.D. Salinger
Don't ever tell anybody anything. If you do, you start missing everybody.
It's interesting that such a thread of themes has come to mind to me when I have been so busy with work. Usually one to call and check in with loved ones often, I have lately resigned myself to only calling a very small chosen few… mostly just to let them know I am alive. Alas, these books have provided much respite during such a stressful time. Honestly, revisiting these books has been like visiting home. I am such a nerd - I really need to get out more. Anyway, if you haven't read some of the above, I highly recommend them. Now, if you'll excuse me… I am about to re-read another favorite. Cheers!
Until next time ---
--- Becks
