Good Books
My friend, LeAnn, told me the other day that she has read 30 books so far this year. Since I’ve known her she has kept a running list of all the books she reads. I have never done that, but after our conversation I remembered that I now have a cool computer database program that I use to keep track of my growing book collection. I can track when I purchased a book, how much it cost, when it was published, who I loaned it to, and lo and behold, when I read it. So I did a little investigating, LeAnn, and discovered that so far in 2006 (and I have another nine days to go) I have read 32 books. I love to one-up LeAnn. Of course my conversation with her was last week so she’s probably past me now. Books are obviously one of my passions, as they are LeAnn’s.
Chicago’s first public library, built in 1897, is a magnificent building with a 38-foot Tiffany glass dome. (Yes, the picture attached to this post is one I took a few years ago). The building now serves as Chicago’s Cultural Center. On one of the walls above a staircase a quote from 17th Century English author, John Milton, is inscribed in the wall with ornate tiles. It says, “A good book is the precious life blood of a master spirit embalmed and treasured up on purpose to a life beyond life.” I can read a story written by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Harriet Beacher Stowe, or John Steinbeck years after their death and still catch a glimpse of a master spirit that lives on and is treasured up in my own soul.
There are a lot of “would be” authors in our world, and I’m one of them. I have a dream that someday I, too, might write a book that is good enough to be treasured up and that will share my spirit with those who read it. What Milton implies but doesn’t say is that to write such a book means that one must be willing to open up the wounds of his or her own life so that the precious life blood might pour out upon the pages. Perhaps that’s why so few “would be’s” become authors.
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