"What is wonderful about great literature is that
it transforms the man who reads it towards the condition of the man who wrote."
— J.D. Salinger

"...An average of seventy-four species become extinct every day,
which was one good reason but not the only one to hold someone's hand..."
- Nicole Krauss - History of Love

Walt Whitman

I don't know many people who are into poetry.... but sometimes, on an especially inspiring day, it is one of my favorite things to read. Yesterday on my commute to work I was reading a little Walt Whitman and I came across this one. I think it is perfection and I want you to experience it too.

O You Whom I Often and Silently Come

O You whom I often and silently come
where you are that I may be with you,

As I walk by your side or sit near
or remain in the same room with you,

Little you know the subtle electric fire
that for your sake is playing within me.

<3

Having begun to feel, people's desire to feel grew. They wanted to feel more, feel deeper, despite how much it sometimes hurt. People became addicted to feeling. They struggled to uncover new emotions. It's possible that this is how art was born. New kinds of joy were forged along with new kinds of sadness: the eternal disappointment of life as it is; the relief of unexpected reprieve; the fear of dying.

Even now, all possible feelings do not yet exist. There are still those that lie beyond our capacity and our imagination. From time to time, when a piece of music no one has ever written, or a painting no one has ever painted, or something else impossible to predict, fathom, or yet describe takes place, a new feeling enters the world. And then, for the millionth time in the history of feeling, the heart surges, and absorbs the impact.

- Nicole Krauss, The History of Love

They would not find me changed
from him they knew,
only more sure of all I thought was true.

- from Robert Frost's Into My Own

"And that's the thing about people that mean everything they say.
They think everyone else does too."

Khalid Housseini [The Kite Runner]

The Bookish Type

Eventually, if I ever finish the four books that I started this summer (The Omnivore's Dilemma, Lolita, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, and The History of Love... all of which are excellent so far), I'd like to tackle these reads as well. So far I have heard good things. What are you reading this summer? Any recommendations?

Currently Reading: The History of Love

Having begun to feel, people's desire to feel grew. They wanted to feel more, feel deeper, despite how much it sometimes hurt. People became addicted to feeling. They struggled to uncover new emotions. It's possible that this is how art was born. New kinds of joy were forged along with new kinds of sadness: the eternal disappointment of life as it is; the relief of unexpected reprieve; the fear of dying.

Even now, all possible feelings do not yet exist. There are still those that lie beyond our capacity and our imagination. From time to time, when a piece of music no one has ever written, or a painting no one has ever painted, or something else impossible to predict, fathom, or yet describe takes place, a new feeling enters the world. And then, for the millionth time in the history of feeling, the heart surges, and absorbs the impact.

Nicole Krauss - The History of Love

Obsession?

Here I sit, in Indiana, loving it of course, but I've only been here three days and I'm already craving babycakes.... I could really use this right about now....

BabyCakes, the Book of Recipes: It's Here (Almost)! from BabyCakes NYC on Vimeo.

You Are Your Choices

A little over a year ago my mother, thinking I was the most indecisive person she had ever met, bought me this book from Anthropologie. It sounds like a serious self help book when in fact, it is actually very beautiful, lighthearted, and is filled with lovely quotes from brilliant writers and philosophers. I started to read it a long time ago and was not at a place in my life where I could apply it. I am the person who reads three or four books at a time because my moods change so often, so I forgot about the book and never finished it.

I wrote recently about The Invitation by Oriah. After reading only the first few chapters I had to put it down. It was too dramatic and way too new age for me. She wrote about meditating and calling up Grandmother Earth and what not...weird! So I put that book down, for good, and in my hunger for something uplifting to read I remembered You Are Your Choices. Isn't it amazing how we can be drawn to something that is exactly what we need at that point in time? If I had finished the book a year ago I never would have picked it up this week.

I am making this so much longer than it needs to be... but this book is so wonderful right now. As one of the many victims of this horrible economy I have been telling myself that this is what is for the best, everything happens for a reason, yada yada, but I wasn't actually believing any of it. I've been holding on to these bitter thoughts without even realizing it. So, naturally, this beautiful uplifting book is just what I have needed lately.

Each page is loaded with beautiful uplifting insight and quotations and I am probably going to share a lot of them with you as I read through this book because they inspire me. So today I am going to leave you with this quote by the author:

The smallest shift in our minds can cause a momentous insight. The smallest kindness at a dark time can light up a life. It's important to know that a smile helps someone who is grieving. The same power holds true for an unkindness that can cause someone a great deal of pain. Nothing is little. Everything has great and lasting significance for better or for worse. We should never underestimate the power of music to uplift our spirit. We can read a brief powerful poem that can change our life.

Krishnamurti wisely instructs us, "You must understand the whole of life, not just one little part of it. That is why you must read, that is why you must look at skies, that is why you must sing, and dance, and write poems, and suffer, and understand, for all that is life." Everything affects our soul. There is great value in whatever happens. - Alexandra Stoddard

having a serious vampire craving... i need bill, i need edward, and i need them now

eat.pray.love.

I'm sure you all know this already but one of my favorite books, Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert, is being made into a movie! And it doesn't end there! Julia Roberts will be playing Elizabeth! I looove her! I am sure this news is coming late and that you've all known about this news for quite sometime... but I had to share my excitement. Cheerio!

PS: For months I've been searching for a travel book as delightful, inspiring, and beautiful as this one..... any recommendations? Please share them with me!

The Invitation

I just got this new book yesterday that I am really excited about. I haven't gotten through the first chapter yet but the woman who rang me up at the store went on and on about how beautiful it was and even insisted I read her favorite passage while she watched (awkward!). Anyhow, the first page starts off like this...

It doesn't interest me what you do for a living. I want to know what you ache for, and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart's longing.

It doesn't interest me how old you are. I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool for love, for your dream, for the adventure of being alive.

It doesn't interest me what planets are squaring your moon. I want to know if you have touched the center of your own sorrow, if you have been opened by life's betrayals or have become shriveled and closed from fear of further pain. I want to know if you can sit with pain, mine or your own, without moving to hide it or fade it or fix it.

I want to know if you can be with joy, mine or your own, if you can dance with wildness and let the ecstasy fill you to the tips of your fingers and toes without cautioning us to be careful, to be realistic, to remember the limitations of being human.

It doesn't interest me if the story you are telling me is true. I want to know if you can disappoint another to be true to yourself; if you can bear the accusation of betrayal and not betray your own soul; if you can be faithless and therefore trustworthy.

I want to know if you can see beauty, even when it's not pretty, everyday, and if you can source your own life from its presence.

I want to know if you can live with failure, yours and mine, and still stand on the edge of the lake and shout to the silver of the full moon, "Yes!"

It doesn't interest me to know where you live or how much money you have. I want to know if you can get up, after the night of grief and despair, weary and bruised to the bone, and do what needs to be done to feed the children.

It doesn't interest me who you know or how you came to be here. I want to know if you will stand in the center of the fire with me and not shrink back.

It doesn't interest me where or what or with whom you have studied. I want to know what sustains you, from the inside, when all else falls away.I want to know if you can be alone with yourself and if you truly like the company you keep in the empty moments.

So... how great do you think this book is going to be? I think its sure to be a good one.

Harry Potter

M S Corely has designed these covers for the Harry Potter books to make them look like Penguin Classics! OMG! I want to read the books all over again now!

Books...

Books are one of my favorite things. I love to read them, collect them, and decorate with them. The older they are the better. When I was a little girl I used to pick out the oldest, loveliest books my mother had lying around and I'd pretend I was a princess on a long journey, with a book as my one prized possession. I still love beautiful old books today and if there is a lovely story inside of them I love them even more. Here are a few bookie pictures I've found and saved.

suki suki!!!

These are stupendous! I want some of these amazing Penguin Classic mugs and pencils!

A Little Poetry

Dust of Snow

The way a crow
Shook down on me
The dust of snow
From a Hemlock Tree
Has given my heart
A change of mood
And saved some part
Of a day I had rued

- Robert Frost

I recently purchased an old used book of all of Robert Frost's collected poetry and I must say he is wonderful. I was reading it over the holidays and I came across this one. It is short and sweet. My mother loved it and we decided everyone should have at least one poem memorized. Don't you think? My mom and sister both started reciting Langston Hughs's Hold Fast To Dreams and I remembered all the words to Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost. What poems do you know?

Yikes

I cant believe i'm saying this but i can't hold it in any longer.... I'm almost done with the third book (Eclipse) and well... it must be said... I am unconditionally and irrevocably in love with Edward Cullen...sigh... what a vampire!

Summer Reading!

So one of my favorite parts of my day is the 45 minute train ride I have to work and back everyday. It is a great time to relax, unwind and reflect after a long day of work and I've been doing a lot of reading during that time. So far my favorite book of the summer has been Franny and Zooey by Salinger. It is very dark and quirky and an easy read. I also just started his short stories as well.
I also recently finished a book by Jonathan Safran Foer (author of Everything Is Illuminated) and it was really good as well. It is about a young boy who lost his father in 9/11 and he goes on a great hunt for anything and anyone in new york who may have known his father. It covers a wide range of emotions from funny to melancholy and I recommend it to anyone who doesn't know what they are in the mood to read (I find myself in that predicament frequently).
I recently started an interesting book by Madhur Jaffrey about her life growing up in India. She is so wonderfully descriptive about everything. I can taste the flavors of the foods she describes and see and feel the bright soft fabrics she discusses. It also comes with a few traditional Indian recipes as well. One part talks about how her and her siblings would climb up mango trees, pick the fruit, slice and peel (all while in the tree) and they'd dip the sweet mango into a salt, pepper, coriander, and chili pepper mixture. I tried to concoct my own spicy mix to go with the fruit and it was certainly an interesting combo. I think it needed more chili.

Adam Gopnik

I am currently reading a book by New Yorker writer Adam Gopnik called Through the Children's Gate: A Home in New York. A friend recommended this book to me. I have already read and loved Gopnik's Paris to the Moon about his years in Paris with his wife and son. Now he has returned to New York City and writes his memoirs about family life in New York City. I am still in the early pages of the book but so far I love it. He is easy to identify with in his writing and his style is straightforward, quirky, romantic, and unique. I am a fan.