Good Book, part 2

In this past month I have been on a book frenzy, reading through four books in four weeks and generally neglecting some of my less important duties. Reading takes me away from the stress of whatever is going on in life, and often transports me into a different world. I have many friends in my books, some stronger bonds than others, and I thought it might be nice to share with you some of my most faithful friends, the ones I keep coming back to when I need a certain something, in this case, something soft and quiet. 

After four intense, high paced novels, I decided it was time for an old friend. My Antonia by Willa Cather is one of my favorite classics. It is a quiet yet anguishing story about a girl and a boy.  It's about love, unrealized. It's also about family and childhood in the country. You probably read it in high school (I used to assign it to my high school students) and may not have returned to it in your adult life, but may I encourage you to give it another read? Revisiting such classics as an adult will give you an entirely new experience.

Many years ago I started a handwritten journal in which I record passages from books that have touched me. Whenever I find myself backing up to read a paragraph or sentence again for the sheer beauty of the language, I will handwrite it in this journal. I thought it might be nice to share these from time to time. So here is a small passage taken from the pages of My Antonia that I have saved in my journal and now will share with you:

"As I looked about me, I felt that the grass was the country, as the water was the sea. The red of the grass made all the great prairie the color of wine-stains, or of certain seaweeds when they are washed up. And there was so much motion in it; the whole country seemed, somehow, to be running."

Happy Friday, my friends!