I mentioned in yesterday’s weblog that I would make a partial list of some worthy additions to anyone’s library. This list is far from complete. I have hundreds of volumes on the shelves of my library in my home office. These are but a few…
The Literary Garden-Bringing Fiction’s Best Gardens To Life with an introduction by Duncan Berne and published in 2001 by Berkley, a division of Penguin Putnam Inc. Its ISBN is 0-425-16874-3
This is a book that gives you a peek into some of the most beautiful gardens ever committed to print. The book goes one step more along the garden path: it gives you the necessary information to plant exactly the same garden described in your favorite novel. Filled with illustrations and hauntingly beautiful excerpts from the gardens described by writers Conrad Aiken, Louisa May Alcott, Charles Dickens, Victor Hugo, and many others, this is a delight for those who have spent a lifetime imagining their perfect garden sanctuary.
The book also features gardens that Nature has reclaimed. A garden that is untended, even for a short period of time, will return to its wild roots.
Victor Hugo in Les Miserables, describes one such garden:
“There was a statue seat in a corner, one or two mouldy statues, some trellises loosened by time and rotting upon the wall; no walks, moreover, nor turf; dog-grass everywhere. Horticulture had departed and nature had returned.”
Louisa May Alcott describes a much-loved and well-tended garden where the roses seem to be alive, in Little Women:
“The June roses over the porch were awake bright and early that morning, rejoicing with all their hearts in the cloudless sunshine, like friendly little neighbors, as they were. Quite flushed with excitement were their ruddy faces, as they swung in the wind, whispering to one another what they had seen; for some peeped in the dining-room windows, where the feast was spread, some climbed up to nod and smile at the sisters as they dressed the bride, others waved a welcome to those who came and went on various errands in garden, porch, and hall, and all, from the rosiest full-blown flower to the palest baby-bud, offered their tribute of beauty and fragrance to the gentle mistress who had loved and tended them so long.”
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott is published by Penguin.
One of my favorite books that holds a cherished place in my library is A Garland of Love: Daily Reflections on the Magic and Meaning of Love by Daphne Rose Kingma, author of True Love, published in 1992 by Conari Press. Its ISBN is 0-943233-27-5.
This is a book of days featuring a thought for each and every day of the year. This book can be read in just this manner. You open to today’s date and find a writing called The Architecture of Feeling: “When we take note of how we feel–what angers and disappoints us and makes us feel like kite-flying children again–we ever so delicately begin to restructure our feelings along different lines. …”
One of my favorite writings from this book called Love Alters Time, begins this way: “In life and in work we have hours, minutes, plans, and obligations. But love stops the clock. Love is out of time.” Some lines later she continues, “This is one of love’s greatest gifts: that it connects us with the endless eternal; it acquaints us with the beauty of timelessness. …”
I can’t recommend this book enough. Even if it’s no longer easily found, this is one of those “Books of Love” that is worth searching for.
Any book in the “Chocolate” series.. Chocolate For A Woman’s Heart and Soul, Chocolate For A Mother’s Heart, Chocolate For A Woman’s Blessings, and so on. There have been many collections compiled and edited by Kay Allenbaugh and all published by Fireside, a division of Simon and Schuster, that will give you many hours of inspirational reading. You will shed many tears reading these true stories from the books’ many contributors. Your heart will feel full to overflowing with the loves and lives shared between these covers. No matter what kind of day you’ve had, no matter what shadow of sadness has darkened your soul, these books will lift your spirit and help you regain your perspective. They, too, are some of my most cherished books that I turn to time and again for inspiration for this radio program.
“Timing is everything in this business…”
There was a time, not that long ago, when my show was being broadcast on a network of radio stations across Canada, that I was seriously trying to bring the experience of Lovers and Other Strangers to a television audience. My wife and I were working with a small, independent production company mapping out a tv series that would have had the radio show at its heart. We spent many weekends in our home with the producer and director, a writer, and even one of the actors we thought would be perfect in an ongoing role, coming up with ideas that would translate the thoughts and feelings inherent in the radio show to a visual medium. Unfortunately, the concept never got off the drawing board, but it was an experience I will never forget. It is also an idea that has never really died. Maybe some day we will discover the right path to bring the ideas to a tv audience. I still believe the concept has wings to fly…
While working in these production meetings, there was one tv show that kept running through my mind: Touched By An Angel, the huge CBS hit that ran for so many seasons, and gave hope and inspiration to millions of viewers. That quote about “Timing is everything in this business…” is from one of the scripts. You may have thought that it had to do with my thoughts on the tv show, but now knowing it was about the “business of angels,” it carries another meaning…
I mention this because the last book in my list today features some of the most remembered lines from the scripts of the popular tv show. Talk about wisdom…
The book is called When Angels Speak: Inspiration From Touched By An Angel, Martha Williamson, Executive Producer, another Fireside Book, published by Simon and Schuster. Its ISBN is 0-684-84356-0. As it said on the back cover, “Now the words of Monica, Tess, and Andrew can be with you every day, everywhere.”
That’s my last entry in the Reading Room. We’ll do this again from time to time. I wish you well in your own search for that one definitive book that will answer all your questions about love and life. Believe me, I know it’s out there. Maybe you’ll be its author one day.. Maybe it’s my destiny to add one more page to a growing collection of wisdom..
Here is another excerpt from one of the many scripts of Touched By An Angel to conclude today’s weblog.
“What you need to know about the past is that no matter what has happened, it has all worked together to bring you to this very moment. And this is the moment you can choose to make everything new. Right now.“
***
Don Jackson
Working the shift I do, I never get to watch primetime tv….but I find that your blogs tend to give me “food for thought”, so to speak…
Ah, crickets…when I’m in North Carolina (visiting the husband, which I will be doing as of Saturday for 2 weeks :D), one of the neighbours fences is usually covered in a swarm of crickets! I know they are just doing their thing and living their lives, but, they can be annoying!! I hope your daughter is feeling better.
- NancyNancy