A Community of the Mind: Literature

Idea From X Ray courtesy arztsamui/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

I’ve talked a little bit about how music and literature and art reflect and define and cultivate us as much as we do them.

So in following my urge to grow and change, I contrarily took to reading some childhood favourites. When you feel the need for change, possibly drastic change, it can be helpful to find comfort in the familiar.

But now I’m done. My mind is adjusting to the changes, slowly, and right now it is screamingly bored.

I need something new to read.

Now I have a lot on my fiction to read list: Frankenstein, The Book Thief, and some new-to-me Sharon Creech – and those are just some of the ones I own… My shopping list is much longer.

But I’m craving some Non-Fiction. I could re-read Holy Blood, Holy Grail, but again, I want something new…. Something.

You know that feeling when you can almost taste it, you just can’t name it? Yeah, that. Totally THAT.

The problem being not many people in my communities read non-fiction. Oh, sure, if I want to discuss the Hunger Games, or hear (again) why I should invest in 50 Shades of Grey, or even to discuss Tolkien or A Song of Ice and Fire, I can find someone in a heartbeat, but non-fiction…? I’m hearing crickets.

Unless it’s a to-do (cooking, knitting, quilting) book, or a bio on someone you absolutely idolize, most people around me simply believe they will be bored without a plot filled with familiar character archetypes and either action or romance (or a little of both)…?

This is not true. A well reasoned argument, or well documented research and interesting conclusion, can be both stimulating and inspiring. Simply put, learning makes me want to learn.

And right now I don’t want to learn how to do something new, I want to learn how to think something new.

I want to bring new argument, new perspective, new challenges and debate into my mental community. I need some new fodder to chew on, I want to disagree and be inspired to do research and come to conclusions. I want to be made to think about whether or not I agree with someone’s logic.

So all you non fiction fans out there – help – any juicy non-fiction books you’d recommend?

Let’s Take A Break

Image “Old Book Open” courtesy nuttakit/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Alright. Let’s lighten it up around here.

I’m re-reading Cornelia Funke‘s Inkworld series. Because it’s fun. And well written, and full of vibrant and sympathetic characters.

I just finished reading a bunch of books off my “should” read list – Dracula, Children of Men… I started Gulliver’s Travels and frankly could not stand the thinly veiled preaching and lack of plot. So I’ve returned to a familiar and fun fantasy.

What I like about Funke’s work is that while you can get lost and enjoy the reading, it is thought provoking at the same time. For instance, this particular series of hers is about the idea that reading the written word aloud can bring characters into and out of stories.

I love that idea.

As an actress, and story junkie, the idea that your favourite characters could step into your world, or that you could walk into theirs, is thrilling. It’s terrifying, and beautiful; it’s like forbidden fruit, you shouldn’t have it, but if you could… oh, if you could what depths of pain, and heights of ecstasy would you experience then?

If I could meet characters from my favourite books, I would want to meet:

1. Charlotte Doyle and Zachariah.

2. Katherine Sutton and Christopher Heron, and oh, heck Geoffrey Heron, too; he’s a man with whom one could ride a horse, not speaking, and yet share volumes. And the Lady… ooh, she’s thrilling all on her own.
3. Meriadoc Brandybuck, Radagast the Brown, and Glorfindel. And Aragorn, and Arwen Evenstar, alright, let’s be honest. Oh, and Beorn from The Hobbit, Or There And Back Again.
4. Peter Pevensie, at any point in his story, and Susan while she was Queen Susan the Gentle.
5. And last but certainly not least, I would love to visit Anne Blythe at Ingleside, to meet all her children, especially Walter and Rilla and Jem… In fact, if I could be a seasonal tenant of the Ford’s at the House of Dreams, that would be lovely.

I love houses with names.

Who’s on your list??