Oh, rapture! I am so in love with the book I’m currently reading!
I think one of the best things in the world is to find a book I love so much I can’t wait to get back to it. The language, the characters, the growth that comes to them one by one as they face the situations the author creates for them…it all adds up to pure joy for me as a reader.
The book, I’m sure you’re now dying to know, is Mother Carey’s Chickens by Kate Douglas Wiggin (author of Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm). I don’t know if it’s even still in print. I’m listening to an audio recording of it via Librivox, (which is an amazing site, if you haven’t checked it out yet. Free books to download, read chapter by chapter by volunteer readers, of books from the public domain.) I plug it into my ears every morning as I go for a run (which I should term more of a “plod”)–and am rationing the story so I can make it last longer, by only listening while I’m out there in the dark and cold. This story makes the world warmer and brighter. So. Beautiful.
It’s the book upon which the Disney movie “Summer Magic” was based. You know the one–Haley Mills, Burl Ives, “The Yellow Peril.” The Ugly Bug Ball, anyone? Possibly the most delightful movie of all time, and the book? EVEN BETTER. The mother’s role in it is so lovely, so loving. It is making me want to be a better mother, and it’s just so full of wonderfulness.
Raptures. I will cease with them now, but if you are in need of more beauty and goodness and delight in your life, here’s one lovely way.
