Yoga Talk
Trying something new
~ January 2010 ~
I read a lot. It is one of my favorite things to do. There is a great spot in the corner of the couch where I can stretch out and cover up with my blue mohair lap blanket while I read. In the yoga room I often snuggle up in the blue chair near the woodstove, book in hand, coffee nearby. But I really love to read in bed. We have a joke that I usually last 10 minutes, but that is at night. On cold winter days I like to get into bed in the middle of the day and read. It’s a guilty pleasure.
A few years ago I started keeping track of the books I read in a book journal because sometimes I could not remember the author or the title when I wanted to recommend something. Once I finished a book I would write the title, the author and a few words about the book in my journal to help me remember it.
This year I am adding another layer to my book journaling. It is not really a new year’s resolution thing, it is just something I decided to do because I thought it would be fun.
From now on when I read a book and enter it into my book journal, I will include interesting facts that I want to remember.
Sometimes these facts seem to be louder in my head than the other text when I am reading them. Sometimes they do not really have anything to do with the story because they are Universal truths. Sometimes when I read I will suddenly see words in bold, even though they are not really any different than the other words on the page. Something is telling me to remember this bit of information, so I write it on a post it note so I can go back later and see if it still resonates. If it still speaks to me I will add it to my journal.
I just finished reading Dewey. It is a book about a small town library cat from Spencer, Iowa. Dewey Readmore Books (the name they gave him) was left in the book chute one night, and soon becomes a resident at the library. He touches so many people and becomes so famous that people from all over come to see him. It was a sweet book and I laughed and shed a few tears when I read it.
What did I learn that I did not expect to?
Page 129
Late July is the best time of year in Spencer. The corn is ten feet high, golden and green. It’s so high, the farmers are required by state law to cut it to half height every mile, where the roads meet at right angles. Rural Iowa has too many intersections and not enough stop
signs. The short corn helps, because at least you can see cars coming, and it doesn’t hurt the farmers. Corn ears grow in the center of the stalk, not the top.
Page 148
I know at least a dozen libraries in Iowa with extensive cake pan collections. The librarians hang them on the walls. If you want to bake a special cake, for instance, a Winnie the Pooh cake for a child’s birthday party, you go to the library. Now those are librarians who serve their communities.
Not sure where I am going with this, but I thought it would be fun.
~Laureen
