TO REVEL IN THE AFTERGLOW OF CREATION

Have you ever had such an intimate relationship with the written word, that you could literally feel a book calling out to you to be claimed, to be consumed and to be regurgitated into new revelations? I recently had such a moment. Zora Neale Hurston's book (first published in 1937), "Their Eyes Were Watching God" called to me while I was in the check-out line. I had never heard of it before, but it bore all kinds of accolades on its slim paper cover: Harper Perennial Modern Classic, P.S. insights, interviews and more (included) and a wonderful front cover accolade by Alice Walker, author of "The Color Purple", which reads: "There is no book more important to me than this one."

I found it fascinating that I had never heard of it. The 20- something Borders Clerk even told me at checkout that he had read the book for school and found it to be one of the best he had come across. So the words whisper to me to claim this slim volume above all of the other books and periodicals who have taken up residence in my house long before its arrival. I am simply hoping to be inspired and mired within that inspiration should be a desire to spin my own story. As Neale Hurston says in the book, "...there is no agony like bearing an untold story inside you."

I want to feel the agony and birth of my words and to revel in the afterglow of creation.





Copyright Michelle Beckham-Corbin

BOOKS, BOOKS & MORE BOOKS!!

Ask anyone that knows me really, really well, and they will tell you that I am an avid reader. This love of reading goes way back to my childhood where I began as a precocious reader. I had read the complete works of Shakespeare (although the abridged version) by the time I was 7 and moved on to the Iliad and Odyssey several years after that. My house was filled with books during my growing up years and my mother was a librarian at our local public library. I used to go to work with her on Sunday afternoons and just sit in the library for hours and hours reading.

I am a particular reader, preferring certain genres and even subjects within those genres. I also am one who needs to employ the full senses when it comes to book selection. I like to pick up a book, wonder at it's cover art, smell it's pages, look at the font size and feel the heft or lack thereof within my hands. A paperback would never do for me, especially when combined with the romance or summer beach- read genres.

After reading the summary on the inside flap, I turn to the center of the book to read a paragraph or two so that I can lock into the feel and flow of the words. If I don't like what I see, then the book goes on the reject pile, never to be considered again. Thank God, I'm not a New York Times Book Reviewer able to make or break careers because I am so damn subjective! There would be several depressed first time authors wandering the streets because of my rejection of their work.

I love to save money and help with the whole green movement by borrowing as many books from the library as possible vs. buying them. The exception, and there always is one, is that I do collect all of the works of my favorite authors; even when I don't have time to read them. They just continue to line the shelves with the hope that one day I will stop reading other books and return my attention back to them. The authors that I collect include:

• Jean Auel
• Stephen King
• Mary Higgens Clark
• Ann Rice
• Dave Pelzer
• Jodi Picoult
• Toni Morrison

I think they represent a pretty ecclectic range of work.

I am currently reading (ok, let's call it what it is: these books are currently lurking on bed-side tables, kitchen chairs, family-room end tables, under the seat in my car, etc.):

• Just After Sunset by Stephen King
• One Drop: My Father's Hidden Life by Bliss Broyard
• Louisiana Creoles by Andrew Jolivette
• Click: What Millions of People are Doing Online and Why it Matters by Bill Tancer
• Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World by Joanna Weaver
• The Small Business Bible by Steven Strauss
• Blogging for Dummies
• Dreamscape by Michelle Beckham-Corbin (ok it's not published yet, but I am re-reading it!)

Next on my list to read will be:

• A Mercy by Toni Morrison
• Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell
• and any new books that the PostSecret folks put out- I find them highly fascinating and have their website posted here on my Blog- must be the Psychoanalyst in me.

You know, I think one could make some conclusions about a person from glancing at their reading lists. Let me know if you gain any insight about me from mine!

One of my New Year's resolutions is to read more (and hopefully those piles scattered about will become a little smaller). So if you truly need me, you now know where to find me. Grab a book and join in.

HAPPY READING!!