"There is no Frigate like a Book
To take us Lands away . . ."
— Emily Dickinson
"Reading is a mysterious process, entirely private, perhaps even secret: a rent in the fabric of time, so to speak, a sudden lifting of the veil that separates one consciousness from another."
— Joyce Carol Oates
A book can take us to worlds where we've never been before. Like travelers in a strange town, we wander down the streets without any maps. There's a certain and distinctive satisfaction in such explorations — especially the joy that comes from surprise and risk.
Books make good companions. They offer us the freedom to open our hearts and minds to other people. They are tools that help us patch together our values and our visions.
And then, of course, there are those books that provide something akin to revelation: an entry into a fresh understanding of self and purpose, a transformed appreciation and understanding of a commonplace object in our possession, or the keys to a kingdom that was there all the time.
A Reader's Book of Days by Tom Nissley is filled and overflowing with an abundance of riches that can be derived from books. The author has a PhD in literature and is a former Amazon books editor . He has a lively appreciation for writers of all stripes: novels, memoirs, literary histories, and more.
Here is a daybook that bubbles over with nearly 2,000 stories from a diverse and fascinating group of creative souls. This day-by-day literary companion is divided into 12 chapters with a mix of the births and deaths of writers followed by a list of recommended books for seasonally appropriate reading. A special feature giving added value to the book in our visually oriented age are illustrations by Joanna Neborsky.
The playfulness, love of information, and many anecdotes make A Reader's Book of Days a treat to read. Here is a brief sampler:
After Ezra Pound championed T.S. Eliot's "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock," he became the editor of the poet's The Waste Land in 1921.
March 2 marks quite a deluge of talent and creativity; Dr. Seuss, Tom Wolfe, and John Irving were all born on that date.
Erich von Daniken wrote the bestseller Chariots of the Gods and then opened Mystery Park, a theme park in Switzerland with seven pavilions explaining evidence of ancient aliens. It was closed after three years due to poor attendance.
From the seaside, George Eliot wrote that the "sacraments" of swimming and beer-drinking have been "very efficacious."
After telling his brother, "I have done all that I was sent into the world to do, and I am ready to go," C. S. Lewis died two days later.
