Best Books First

“Read the best books first, or you may not have a chance to read them at all.”

― Henry David Thoreau, A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers

Thoreau was right. There are so many books to read that sometimes I feel overwhelmed and I am definitely not going to waste my precious time with books that are not the best. So I follow Thoreau's advice and read the best books first. Recently, I've enjoyed The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh, Carry on Warrior by Glennon Doyle Melton, Flora and Ulysses by Kate DiCamillo and The Great Unexpected by Sharon Creech. Two children's books, one essay collection, and one novel. 

I'm calling Carry on Warrior an essay collection, but it's really a collection of blog posts by my new hero, Glennon Doyle Melton. Her honesty and skilled storytelling echo Anne Lamott, my favorite truth teller.  She says, “I used to numb my feelings and hide, and now I feel my feelings and I share them. I’m not afraid of my feelings anymore. I know they can come and they won’t kill me. And that they can take over for a little while if they need to. But at the end of the day, they’re just guides. They’re guides to tell me what the next right thing is for me to do.” Read her blog, Momastery, and you'll want to read this book. More later about the other books…