― Louise Glück, from ‘Mitosis’        Poems 1962-2012

“But first and foremost, I learned from Whitman that the poem is a temple—or a green field—a place to enter, and in which to feel. Only in a secondary way is it an intellectual thing—an artifact, a moment of seemly and robust wordiness—wonderful as that part of it is. I learned that the poem was made not just to exist, but to speak—to be company.”

― Mary Oliver, Upstream: Selected Essays

“You keep asking why your work is not enough, and I don’t know how to answer that, because it is enough to exist in the world and marvel at it. You don’t need to justify that, or earn it. You are allowed to just live.”

― Becky Chambers, A Psalm for the Wild-Built

“She had been forced into prudence in her youth, she learned romance as she grew older: the natural sequel of an unnatural beginning.”

― Jane Austen, Persuasion

JOMP Book Photo Challenge || June 24 || Outdoors:  The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman

Spent this week stuffing the local little free libraries!

I went through all my books, read and unread, a massive undertaking that took days. Also sweat and tears. Plus some screaming. Maybe some screeching.

But: ✨️ Over 100 Books Unhauled!!!!! ✨️

JOMP Book Photo Challenge || December 9 || Favorite Page Design:  The Language of Thorns by Leigh Bardugo

JOMP BPC || March 2 || Currently Reading:

“Reading one book is like eating one potato chip.” ― Diane Duane, So You Want to Be a Wizard

💖💙💜Barnes & Noble Book Haul!!!💜💙💖

“If you ask six different monks the question of which godly domain robot consciousness belongs to, you’ll get seven different answers.” ― Becky Chambers, A Psalm for the Wild-Built

Just one more chapter she said, many many chapters ago....

JOMP BPC || January 15 || Deals With Rough Stuff: The Iliad by Homer trans. Emily Wilson

JOMP Book Photo Challenge || April 2 || Currently Reading:   I’m aware I have a problem XP

“A library is a good place to soften solitude; a place where you feel part of a conversation that has gone on for hundreds and hundreds of years even when you’re all alone. The library is a whispering post. You don’t need to take a book off a shelf to know there is a voice inside that is waiting to speak to you, and behind that was someone who truly believed that if he or she spoke, someone would listen. It was that affirmation that always amazed me. Even the oddest, most particular book was written with that kind of crazy courage—the writer’s belief that someone would find his or her book important to read. I was struck by how precious and foolish and brave that belief is, and how necessary, and how full of hope it is to collect these books and manuscripts and preserve them. It declares that all these stories matter, and so does every effort to create something that connects us to one another, and to our past and to what is still to come.”

― Susan Orlean, The Library Book

JOMP BPC || March 10 || Character Growth: Sam Vimes from Discworld by Terry Pratchett

JOMP Book Photo Challenge || October 4 || One Word Title:  Piranesi by Susanna Clarke