"I can’t heal you - or anyone - but I can celebrate your choice to dismantle the prison in your mind, brick by brick. You can’t change what happened, you can’t change what you did or what was done to you. But you can choose how you live now. My precious, you can choose to be free." Dr. Edith Eva Eger, The Choice: Embrace the Possible
She is right, books can help us a lot, I know they have always helped and still help me.
"One has to work very carefully with what is in between the words. What is not said. Which is measure, which is rhythm and so on. So, it is what you don’t write that frequently gives what you do write its power." Toni Morrison
What is not said is so often more important than what is said. Not just in books.
"No furniture is so charming as books." Sidney Smith
I couldn't agree more. That's why half of your house is filled with books. You just can't sit on them so well, so we also have to have some other stuff like chairs and beds. 😉
I like the Morrison quote. I've always been impressed by a storyteller who can tell a story through what they *don't* say. It's wonderful when the writing is so good you can pick up both strands (said & not said) simultaneously. It's like listening to two pieces of music at the same time and being able to appreciate both of them together as well as how they interact with each other. It's definitely not a skill that many authors have in my experience.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Kitten. You have said that so well. Toni Morrison definitely belonged to the few authors who understood doing just that.
DeleteI love that first quote about how you can choose...your life, your future, your own freedom. And I totally agree with the Sydney Smith quote. A house does not look complete to me if it doesn't have shelves of books in it!
ReplyDeleteOf course, Lark, she is right. But it's sometimes soooo hard to follow that advice.
DeleteAnd as to a house without books, it just looks so empty, don't you think. The first thing people say who come to our house for the first time is "My, you have so many books." Yes, indeed.