About the only way I can pick something to read anymore, is on the recommendation of someone else. There are a few people in my life who know me so well, who I share so many life quotes with, that they know how to decide when to share a book with me. Trying to pick out something on my own seems like a futile waste of time, usually, as I get wrapped up in trying to find something that identifies me, and it becomes apparent I barely know myself, but a few people know me so well that they understand what words DO identify me. Sharing books, I think, is one of the most intimate relationship definers there is.
This past weekend my friend, Eileen, shared "The Ice Queen" by Alice Hoffman. I started reading the book when I settled into the plane for my flight from LAX to Chicago Midway and finished it on the one-hour jaunt from Chicago to Louisville.
The first few sentences of the book are: "Be careful what you wish for. I know that for a fact. Wishes are brutal, unforgiving things. They burn your tongue the moment they are spoken and you can never take them back."
Eileen and I have had a close friendship for a couple of years now, made closer by walking nearly parallel paths through this woods, learning to rely on one another now and again, knowing when our paths were about to cross the way you know when a dear friend has passed on before you receive the news.
Then, our friendship was cemented when she read those sentences and knew the importance of passing "The Ice Queen" on to me, with a little card hidden inside the bowels of the book that read, "Life engenders life. Energy creates energy. It is by spending oneself that one becomes rich." This pretty much identifies Eileen. She gives of herself constantly and in that book, passed a bit of herself to me. I'll be passing a bit of myself to someone else, and I hope then that person passes herself to someone else.
Sharing books is sharing oneself. It continues life. It identifies us. It passes on a kiss and a hug and a shoulder. It is so important to pass on words dear to our hearts.
In my life, I've loved you all.
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2 comments:
Here. Here. If I had as much compassion as Eileen has in her big toe then I'd be...compassionate. People like Eileen make this world a better place for people like me. Besides, she likes baseball so you KNOW she's got to be a cool person! I'll send you the violent, curse-filled shoot 'em up book I'm reading just as soon as I am finished. LOL.
Sniff, sniff. It's so awesome to have a friend to send a violent, curse-filled book, one to send soft, tender books, one to send smut; what the hell would I do without you??!!
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