3 books to add to your reading list…

a few weeks ago, i received this note in my inbox:
 

“you know i’m a fan. you’re a household name around here! and while i don’t know you personally, i love the way i think you look at the world. if you get the time or inclination, please share some of the most influential books you’ve read. books you think have contributed to your view. not necessarily Feng Shui books, but any book that has truly resonated with you.”

 
first of all, WOW and THANK YOU! consider me inspired to share more of what books have shaped me – and today’s newsletter is your first installment!

a few notes before we begin:

i love being swallowed whole into the pages of a good book – which begs the Q: what makes a good book in my world?

1 ::  i don’t want to put it down. which is to say, i often find myself muttering, “one more chapter and then i’ll go to sleep…” 

2 :: i am wooed by sentences, phrases, unique perspectives, and/or the beautiful language, any of which will make my soul drool…

3 :: i am (within only a few pages) texting someone to “GET THIS BOOK. NOW!” 

4 :: pages are dog-eared. there’s writing in the margins. and i’ve highlighted a pathway of passages throughout it.

5 :: a good book lingers. the voices and story and experience stay with me in a way that years might pass, but when i pick up the book again and inhale its scent and flip through the pages, it all comes back. (psst…these are the ones that receive tenure on the bookshelf!)

with ALL that in mind, here’s list one…


THE CREATIVE HABIT: LEARN IT AND USE IT FOR LIFE | twyla tharp

as a choreographer, tharp is intimately familiar with taking blank space and letting her genius fill it. and that’s not because she’s naturally good at it. instead, she offers this: “creativity comes from our daily routines around it. it’s that insane commitment to showing up to the best investment we can make, which is ourselves.” 

chapter by chapter, she shatters myths that creativity is best fueled by unlimited resources, exquisite planning, or luck. rather, real creativity is earned through practice, taking first steps, and getting comfortable with being uncomfortable.

this is the kind of straightforward talk that changes people’s luck and lives.



next…

MY GRANDMOTHER ASKED ME TO TELL YOU SHE’S SORRY | fredrik backman

this book gave me life a few summers ago. i can’t remember why i picked up this book, because i knew nothing about it, but it immediately took over the rest of my day.
since reading it, i peruse the pages often, re-savoring the universal wisdom drizzled into this unforgettable story.

this book is home to so many of my favorite sentences ever read, but this… THIS sentiment was a revelation:

“we want to be loved. failing that, admired; failing that, feared. failing that, hated and despised. at all costs we want to stir up some sort of feeling in others. the soul abhors a vacuum. at all costs it longs for contact.”



finally…

BRAIDING SWEETGRASS | robin wall kimmerer

when the author explains in the preface that her collection of essays is an “intertwining of science, spirit, and story”, i knew i was in the best possible hands. 

as a scientist and dare-i-say mystic, she uses the natural world as metaphor to reveal for us the guidance we so desperately need can be found within the plants and among animals. that there is so much practical magic that can be accessed in ceremony and ritual. and how cooperation over competition magnifies solutions and sustainability. bottom line: ALL FLOURISHING IS MUTUAL.

this one hasn’t left my bedside for 2+ years, and COVID has me re-reading it again. its sacred wisdom and simplicity encourage me there is a generosity out there waiting for us, if only we will learn to speak its language. and i’m committed to becoming fluent. 

(and stay tuned for a new list each month, combining what books currently sit on my bedside table and books i could read again and again…and again.) xo