There is a packing crate next to the downstairs bed, where guests stay, and where I sleep when I am tossing and turning or need to stay up very late working on something. This is one of the packing crates my husband made when we moved from England. Built to last, as always, these OSB crates have performed various functions while he has slowly built proper furniture to fill our home.
Most of these books are partly read as I only read a few pages before falling asleep, though some of them are there because of their eternal re-readability, others to remind me that I just haven’t got to them yet. Whether I want a few words of wisdom from the Dalai Lama, a quick taste of poetry, a story from Chekhov, some advice on raising pigs (you’ll notice guides to raising various livestock scattered throughout this book tour), or to revisit a favourite chapter from Clarissa Pinkola Estes (that’s the yellowed book with the creased spine that I’ve read more often than any other book I own and have had the longest), it’s all there at my fingertips.
The Sarah Susanka book is one of my current favourites. I really enjoy everything Jack Kornfield or Stephen Levine. Now that I think of it, those Mary Olivers probably should have been included in the preceding “couldn’t live without” post. ‘ Cheap’ was entertaining but I’m ready to give it away to the first person who shows a spark of interest. My father-in-law sent me ‘My Life on a Hillside Allotment’ and as you will see in the next post, I have trouble giving away books that were given to me as gifts, even if they were picked up at a car boot sale for 20p.
I’ll have to borrow that book about raising pigs sometime! Oh, Mary Oliver and Chekhov! Two of my favorite people (and both such lovers of nature, birds, animals). I bought that Susanka book after you suggested it, and stupidly loaned it to someone who liked it so much she decided not to return it! So, alas, we’ve parted ways. I was in a “less is more” mood until I discovered Patagonia outdoor clothes, and now all I want to do is buy new fleece-wear. So much for not being a consumer. And a new car, and new barrettes (bad hair day) and new binoculars and and and. Ah well.
Oh yes, I do believe raising pigs will be a well received hobby for a Toronto condo dweller! I’ll send you the Susanka book (which has already visited a few homes across the country) along with the other goodies in a week’s time. I can see why barrettes, binoculars, new fleece and a new car would be needed by birders everywhere. It all makes sense. More is more too.
There’s enough here to keep me entertained for many a night. Rebecca Solnit’s book, “Wanderlust,” is a favorite. I could read it daily and never tire of it. I doubt the same could be said of the book on raising pigs, but I appreciate your adventurous spirit. I’m also a great fan of Jack Kornfield, Stephen Levine, the Dalai Lama, and Mary Oliver. Thanks for sharing your bookshelves with us.
I’m only halfway through Wanderlust but I am loving it. The pigs book became a little less urgent when our rancher neighbours down the road decided to raise pigs and we decided it was easier to buy from them then raise our own. . . but one day.
A good collection–something for every mood! I also love Women Who Run With the Wolves.