A Velocity of Being

This was a Christmas present from my in-laws (who also introduced my to Maria Popova's excellent online anthology Brain Pickings.) It's a collection of letters to young people on the value of reading, written by various authors ( Ursula LeGuin, Ann LaMott, Jane Goodall, Neil Gaiman, Susan Orlean, to name a very few) and beautifully illustrated by different artists (Charles Vess, Maira Kalman, and Roz Chast.) The letters range from profound and serious to funny and profound -- and they are so good that I've been rationing my consumption over the past months. 

One of my favorites was from Eve Ensler (The Vagina Monologues)

"Here's why I read," she says. "I got to travel the rainy dark streets of London,

The sultry bayous, the exploding cosmos 

 . . .

I felt unexpected things for pigs 

And spiders.

I stopped being lonely

I met myself everywhere

I got lost

I got found

I became other people

. . . 

I refuted the mean voices in my head

I found my own."