As modern homemakers, we love lists—any type of list. If we didn’t, why would we make them daily? We have our to-do lists, our grocery lists, our school supply lists, our chore lists, our book club reading lists. Written in brief bullet points, rattling off the essential needs for the household to run smoothly; lists give us power. They show us that we are reasonable, rational beings who can minimize text for maximum efficiency and benefit.

We also cling to other important lists such as People’s 50 Most Beautiful People, Forbes‘ list of the most influential people, and perhaps the most intimidating (or at least for me) The New York Times bestseller list. Perhaps, we glance over this book list, go the local bookstore and peruse over the recommended titles. (Maybe the New York Times bestseller list is not one that you follow. Insert whatever book list whether it is romance novels, Christian devotionals, classic literature—whatever books’ lists, the specific list is not important.)

Books from self-help to postmodern novels to presidential memoirs stare down at us with their glossy dust jackets and $25.00 price tags. We may leave feeling disillusioned, disengaged, or worse: buy an expensive dust-collector for the ever growing collection of expensive dust-collectors. We return to the mundane, wishing to engage our minds, but despairing in our lack of fortitude since we did not follow the book list. All of these books come highly recommended by “the book list,” our fellow book club friends, everyone except us.

Reread that last sentence (I helped you out with the wonders of copy/paste)– “All of these books come highly recommended by “the book list,” our fellow book club friends, everyone except us.” We disengage our minds because we are too busy comparing our desires, interests, and emotional responses to others. By comparing ourselves to others’, we set ourselves up to be disappointed.

engage your mind: quit comparing

The first step to engaging our minds is to give up comparing our likes/dislikes to our friends, co-workers, neighbors, and mostly importantly, the recommended book list. We must openly admit that there are books, blogs, magazines that we DON’T LIKE! I have a list of authors that I have tried, really, really hard to enjoy—Ralph Waldo Emerson, William Faulkner, D.H. Lawrence, Harriet Beecher Stowe—to name a few. This does not in any way negate those who do enjoy these writers from appreciating these texts. I would prefer to have my tongue nailed to the kitchen counter everyday before breakfast than read these authors’ works. I have learned to admit what I don’t like so that I can spend more of the precious time I have reading what I DO LIKE!

engage your mind: be enchanted

The second step to engaging our minds is to be enchanted with our reading. I believe Emily Dickinson in her poem best describes how we women should approach our minds/reading:

I think I was enchanted
When first a sombre Girl –
I read that Foreign Lady –
The Dark — felt beautiful –( Poem 593).

Enchantment. When was the last you time that you picked up a book, enthralled by its contents, smell, the feel of its pages, utterly absorbed in the emotional ecstasy of the written word? After we discover what we like to read, we must move to what we LOVE to read.
Books that we love should move us toward a higher plane, ignite within us a new curiosity, encourage us to think deeply. Books I love are the ones I read over and over just because I continually find new facets of the plot, characters, or the language itself. The books that have enchanted me always give me a reason to return to their well-worn, ink-marked pages.

engage your mind: join a community

The final step to engaging our minds is to find/create a community. Once we are enchanted with a book, poem, short story, blog, we need the support of others to keep our minds focused. There is no right or wrong way to find or create this community. Whether you choose to write a blog professing your love of zombie haiku, or gather other people who share your passion for cookbooks and create a five star worthy French bistro dinner—we need community. Community opens up dialogues, and dialogues reaffirm our enchantment with the written word.

Today, I am enchanted by Emily Dickinson’s poetry (if you couldn’t tell). My love for her poems has been rekindled. I’m enthralled, enchanted. I invite you to join me.

“There is No Frigate Like a Book”
Emily Dickinson

There is no frigate like a book
To take us lands away,
Nor any coursers like a page
Of prancing poetry.
This traverse may the poorest take
Without oppress of toll;
How frugal is the chariot
That bears a human soul!(Poem 99)

What book has enchanted you?

Today’s 2 Cents Courtesy of:

Sarah Jessica grew up reading, thinking, musing which led her to pursue a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in English. This Virginian settled in the Carolinas where she lives with her husband Mark, two beautiful step-children AJ and Ashley, and three rambunctious English Springer Spaniels: Ginger Snap, Cupcake, and Ophelia (Ophelia was thus named when no one in Sarah’s family was hungry). She is currently writing blog posts for From Tolstoy to Tinkerbell, and you can follow her on Twitter.

I think that having learned our letters we should read the best that is in literature, and not be forever repeating our a b abs, and words of one syllable, in the fourth or fifth classes, sitting on the lowest and foremost form all our lives. {Henry David Thoreau}

There is a great deal of difference between an eager man who wants to read a book and a tired man who wants a book to read.  {G.K. Chesterton}

The stories of childhood leave an indelible impression, and their author always has a niche in the temple of memory from which the image is never cast out to be thrown on the rubbish heap of things that are outgrown and outlived.  {Howard Pyle}

More…

• Gotham Writers’ Workshop : recommended reading lists to “expand your knowledge of both the craft and business of writing.”

• Recommended reading lists for children.
• “What Should I Read Next?” website offers a personalized recommendation.
• Bartleby : great books online. A huge collection.
• NYTimes : best seller lists.
• Mortimer J. Adler’s list of books to read (the Western Canon).
• Harold Bloom’s list of books (the Western Canon).
• A whole collection of reading lists: Western Canon, Eastern literature, Columbia’s reading list, more.
• Gender-based selection? 75 Books Every Woman Should Read. Hmmm.
• Tips for reading more books: how to be a literary glutton.
• Create your virtual bookshelf, show off what you’re reading, get recommendations, be my friend on Shelfari.