I’ve taken to leaving books open all over my apartment so I can wander by and read or look at something that I’m mulling or want in my field of vision. It often feels as though gifts or messages from amazing people are scattered throughout my space…
The sublime The Gorgeous Nothings: Emily Dickinson’s Envelope Poems, given to me as a Christmas gift (and written about here), is sitting on the coffee table open to this:
I’ve been pondering these few lines for a week…the mysterious creative process, which, as painful as it can be is often painful not to do… we don’t always know the “greater migration” that is underway.
Let’s Treat Ourselves, Sandra Calder Davidson‘s wonderful cookbook for kids, is open on the dining table. I walk by and treat myself to one of Sondra’s drawings (she drew that sublime New Year’s card)…
This one reminds me of cooking in France long ago…
Hiroshige: A Shoal of Fishes has been propped open on the bookshelf above the secret Murphy Bed, just because those fish are so beautiful. Every few days, I flip the page to another fish…
It recently replaced New York Arbor…
Mitch Epstein’s astonishing photographs of trees (check out some images here)…
Open House for Butterflies, another kid’s book, is open to an interesting practice: “When you’re very tired just throw your tired away”.
The ever-inspiring, meditative Tantra Song: Tantric Painting from Rajasthan seems to have found a permanent place on the mantle in my bedroom…
…though the page might change…
Really Beautiful, Sally! Inspiring in the literal sense to of making space inside for breath, wonder and renewal of the constant sort. Thank you!
Sally, this is a timely post for me.
I couldn’t pass up a really great table at an estate sale several weeks ago even though I didn’t really have a place for it in my house. (I think you’d love the table, by the way.) As a result, it has been sitting at the edge of the living room, looking awkward. A few days ago I decided to make it into a “library table” — a surface devoted solely to displaying stacks of books I love but rarely look at. A few are opened to favorite spreads while others await a turn they so deserve! The table WAS an annoying object to simply walk around to get elsewhere, but now it IS a destination. It may even stay there…
Pamela, Please send photos of that table with your books. Knowing you, you’ve spun it into some cool magic. And would love to see what the books are open TO…