Hello, sun in my face.
Hello, you who made the morning
and spread it over the fields…
Watch, now, how I start the day
in happiness, in kindness.
– Mary Oliver
I am sure one of my favorite authors,, Mary Oliver would not mind if I borrow the title of her poem. I often blog about her and how I enjoy reading her writings, simply worded and yet they have deep meanings that touch the heart and the soul.
The sun is up and I could feel its warmth on my face although at the moment it is playing hide and seek with the clouds. We are still experiencing southwest monsoon and there is another storm coming but at least we could enjoy the weekend without worrying about flash flood and heavy downpour.
Yesterday, I finally finished cleaning our bookshelves, sorting books and arranging them according to authors. The books Nissa, Josef and I have collected over the years are all placed on the higher shelves along with the lovely ones (craft books, Calvin and Hobbes comic books which my son collects, mythology and some non-fiction). Every time I do some dusting here, I always read a few titles and remember the times my kids and I bought them. Some are gifts from close friends who know of our penchant for reading. I can’t resist re-reading the boxed set of Nick Bantock’s The Griffin & Sabine Trilogy. Years ago ( I don’t remember now), my sister-in-law sent me this set as a birthday gift and it is one of the treasures that I have in my book collection. The three books are actually my introduction to an epistolary novel, work of fiction written through letters but what makes it so lovely to read is that, the letters are actually written on real stationeries with attached envelopes to boot. It makes me smile reading these lovely letters again. The Griffin and Sabine story is an extraordinary tale of love, beauty and art.
Believe me when I say that I again found duplicate copies of some books from authors that I collect. It’s a good thing they are just mass-produced paperbacks. For a while, I enjoyed reading e-books, but there is nothing like holding a good book in your hands, lovingly turning the pages and exploring another world in another time.
Do you love reading? Do you also collect certain authors in your bookshelf?
Love your Mary Oliver quote…start the day in happiness and kindness. 🙂 So, I wish you a happy and kind filled day.
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Same to you Carol. Thank you so much for following my blog. I hope you find something interesting here.
Are you a fan of Mary Oliver too?
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Yes I am. I hope to read more of her quotes on your blog. 🙂
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Thanks 🙂
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I used to read a great deal more than I do now Arlene. My book collection is packed away, mostly non-fiction, historical subjects. My favourite novels, since my youth, are by Mikhail Sholokhov. They are about Cossack families, through the first world war, and the revolution in Russia. Sprawling sagas, very involving. Here’s a link;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/And_Quiet_Flows_the_Don
Best wishes from England, Pete.
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I have more time to read now Pete. When you’re growing older, you crave for something quiet and reading is such a hobby that enriches and feeds the mind. I love historical fiction too. I used to collect the works of Leon Uris and my favorites are Exodus and QB VII.
Thanks for the link 🙂
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I have tons of books,mostly non-fiction (spirituality, psychology, arts and humanities, philosophy, lots of poetry, inspirational, literary criticism). My fiction collection includes Umberto Eco, Albert Camus, Virginia Woolf, James Joyce, Peter Mattiessen, etc. Too many to read.
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Wow, I envy you for having all those books to enjoy. I lost most of my early collections on poetry and psychology to typhoon Ondoy. We were not able to save volumes of books including children’s fairy tales, nursery rhymes and even my only copy of Dag Hammarskjöld’s Markings. I couldn’t find one to replace it.
My TBR list is still good for a year at least 🙂
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I do love to read! I have a whole box of unread books. Even in my ebook, I have a lot of things waiting to be read. I couldn’t reach my goal in goodreads but I still do read once in awhile.
Did you still have enough to read when you were still “busy” raising a family? (if you know what I mean)…I feel in time, when the kids are more grown, there’ll be a lot of time. I just don’t read as much as I used to before I had a family. =>
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I haven’t stopped reading since my high school days. I was a student librarian the first three years when I was in college so you could imagine the number of books that I encounter everyday. I was assigned at the Humanities Section of the UST Lib. then later at Asian Section. When I was raising the kids, I kept buying books not just for myself but for them too. I remember the old days when Friday nights were allotted for reading. I also remember I used to bring a book to the office. I read e-books now and then when I want to read a title that I could not find at Booksale or at NBS.
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books are magical. I collect them too mostly non-fiction books. I also collect wine and plan on collecting cheese too because I think when I get old and weary those are the only things that will make sense.
thank you so much for the blog post.
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Thanks for the visit and for your comments devynstella. We don’t have much choice when it comes to cheese here because they are so expensive. We just buy the local variety.
And I agree with you, “books are magical”.
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