This is not the sort of book I generally pick up, but I was in a small town New York recently, and out of a book. The local Wal-Mart selection was…unspectacular. I picked this up as the potentially least objectionable of the bunch. It looked like total fluffy bunny New Age crap, and to some extent, it is. But I loved it.
It’s not going to change the world. It’s not even particularly spiritually insightful or anything. It’s not a road map or a guru guide (although it did weaken my resistance to the very notion of having a guru or spiritual teacher) or a travelouge, precisely. What it is to me is hard to describe. It reads like I think. Does that make any sense? Reading it, it was like I wrote it, only I didn’t. But I know, deep down, that if I were to do these things and take these travels and study these things, I’d come to exactly the same conclusions as this author, even though I would have told you a month ago that some of them are ridiculous.
I spent about a week reading it. Not because it’s a difficult book, but because I was camping at a festival and went to workshops and hung out with friends a lot and had a life. Still, this book called me from my tent. And every time some issue came up for me in real life, I’d go read another few pages, and sure enough, there was my issue on the page, and a resolution 15 pages later. It’s become my ultimate I’m Not Alone!!! book.
The Prizewinner of Defiance, OH. Its about the author’s mom, who despite a severely alcoholic, sporadically employed husband and 10 children, kept her family’s finances afloat winning the write-in advertising jingle and slogan contests of the 50’s.
The Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain. It has absolutely nothing to do with hope or healing, but it’s entertaining, so I always read it if I’m feeling down.
James Herriot’s *All Creatures Great and Small *series always cheers me up. The stories are funny, and it’s uplifting to read about someone who was so appreciative of his life - who was doing exactly what he wanted to be doing, and living in a place that he loved. Plus, you learn something about delivering baby cows.
I recommend The Phantom Tollbooth, by Norton Juster, and The High House, by James Stoddard. Both are very charming fantasy novels on the one hand, and also allegories. The first is about mental exploration. The second will appeal to anyone who like old-fashioned storytelling, especially if it’s reminiscent of the Victorian era. (Both books are officially classified as children’s books, to which I say “Hah!”)
Easy pick me up: Cugel’s Saga by Jack Vance makes me corpse with laughter, even on the 50th reading. Scintillating light read and part of a classic modern fantasy series.
Heavy shit: If you really want to plumb the depths, but come out the other side a changed (wo)man - read *Suttree *by Cormac McCarthy. A deeply moving and life-affirming novel.