Just as expected, Maria Popova has invaded my consciousness. Her voice, on the radio, her posts on her website Brain Pickings, have been kicking around in my head ever since I found her speaking on the radio waves Sunday morning.
She mentioned that she is always looking for writers who "lift us up," and I realized this is exactly what I have been doing most of my life, since I first discovered that I loved to read. I have piles of books, shelves and shelves of books, looking for that "lift." And this is not "happy talk," not just the "power of positive thinking," it's not a trick of the mind.
No. What I'm looking for, always, never-ending, are those books, those writers, those words that will open me, that will deepen my experience, that will enlighten and confound me, that will put me into a state of wonder, joy, and a sort of creative madness. Not easy books, easy words, but words and works of power and depth.
Works that can change and mold my consciousness.This has been a major feature of my life. The life of concentrated, determined reading. One of the great joys and missions of my life. Sitting alone with a book. Not a solitary experience. The world.