Tolstoy and the Purple Chair tells the story of how, after losing my oldest sister to cancer, I found myself running faster and faster away from sorrow, guilt, and fear. On my forty-sixth birthday - the same age my sister was when she died - I stopped running, dropped down into a chair and began to read. My year of reading was a discovery for me, not only of the truths found in books but also of memories, both personal and of my family. Tolstoy and the Purple Chair is the story of my year of reading. I describe how I met my other obligations - four kids, a husband, three cats, friends, school volunteer work, and piles of laundry - while still finding time each day to read and to write, and I recount the moments of epiphany that came to me, spurring me onward in my quest. Most of all, Tolstoy and the Purple Chair is the story of how reading helped me pull through the grief of losing a loved one, and how books brought me back to my family, hopeful, happy, and ready to move forward again. My book illustrates the motto of my website, "Great good comes from reading great books" and is proof of the all-encompassing power and delight of reading.
|
|
