A Rose as a Half-Opened Book
June 23, 2012
Some of my current pile of library books to read
“I see you, rose, half-open book filled
with so many pages of that detailed
happiness we will never read.”
— Rainer Maria Rilke
The titles in my pile of books:
- Findings: Essays on the Natural and Unnatural World by Kathleen Jamie
- When I Was a Child I Read Books by Marilyn Robinson
- Farmers of Forty Centuries: Organic Farming in China, Korea and Japan by F. H. King
- Landscape and Memory by Simon Schama
(I was inspired to check two of these books out of the library after reading Sigrun’s list of books about nature, solitude, and travel on her blog, Sub Rosa. You can link to her complete list here.)
Rosemary's Blog 
June 23, 2012 at 6:23 am
I can’t wait to see how you like When I Was a Child I Read Books. I’ve been wanting to read that forever. Your photo is beautiful by the way.
June 23, 2012 at 2:22 pm
I actually found the book heavier than I expected — very thoughtful, but weighty. Robinson is obviously a person of strong faith and very smart, too. I did copy a few lines and paragraphs into my commonplace notebook, so perhaps they will become the basis for a couple of blog posts. It was a book to be read slowly and contemplatively. I had to turn my copy back in the the library, since there was a waiting list. Perhaps I’ll check it out again one day and spend more time with it.
June 23, 2012 at 7:13 pm
I did wonder about that because if you’ve read any of her books they are all heavily waited in faith, or the spiritual or just in beauty and not much plot. So I figured it would be a book to take your time with – it took me a great while to read Housekeeping so maybe I will remember what you say when I check it out from the library. I hate checking out books on waiting lists because of course you can’t renew and sometimes books need more time!
June 23, 2012 at 7:16 am
Wooohoooo!!! More book loot!
June 23, 2012 at 7:47 am
LOVE your daily posts and thought of you when I saw this: http://www.thisiscolossal.com/2012/06/flower-mandalas-by-kathy-klein/
June 23, 2012 at 2:18 pm
I REALLY loved the floral mandalas — what a creative idea. And executed so perfectly. Thanks for the link.