Life on a Bookshelf

My book club agreed on James Joyce's poignant masterpiece, The Dead, for our meeting next week. I knew I had Dubliners somewhere around the house - Joyce's collection of short stories set in and around Dublin. But, since we have more than 60 bookshelves of various lengths and heights in our house, (few of which are ordered with any rhyme or reason, never mind a decimal system), finding it would be an adventure. I should probably mention at this point that our book collection is actually the combined collection of two book-lovers, acquired over a total of 30 plus years each, so it's not surprising that a periodic trawl can reveal "new" or forgotten titles. It's really very cool. Like having your own little bookshop. So, early yesterday morning, before the traffic began (both outside and inside the house) I took my cup of tea and a step-stool and began my search. That quiet, bird-song-only-hour was like a meditation for me. Much like a piece of music can do, the books brought me back to particular places and times in my life. I thought about the younger woman who chose those books, the places and times where they were read, the circumstances that moved me to choose certain subjects, and I realized that my books are markers of my evolution and journey. My life is reflected on those bookshelves: high school (To Kill a Mockingbird was the first book to truly move me), motherhood, politics, history, poetry, multiculturalism, fiction of every description, economics, grieving, therapy, social work, feminism, cross/words (!), divorce, travel, humour, prayer, teaching, organizational communication, gardening, contemplation, meditation, women's health (both under and over 50), creating lives, building houses, music, keeping it simple, finding my cheese, figuring out why bad things happen to good people...it's all there - my attempts to enjoy, heal, and learn about the world and figure out life through humour, sadness, a sense of justice and a mind that's not always as open as I'd like. But I'm sure I have a book for that... As I went through the books, I took down and set aside some of them for no reason at all, other than they "spoke" to me once again. Now I have two piles of books awaiting me - my summer reading. I loved yesterday morning; loved re-visiting former lives, my younger self, in those early morning hours. It was like receiving an unexpected gift. Oh, by the way - I found Dubliners between a book on Orientalism and menopause. It's on top of the summer reading pile now, and I'm looking foward with delicious anticipation to meeting those Dubs again.