I'm Engaged!

I finished East of Eden. Or rather I finished my beginning with John Steinbeck. If I could marry a book I would marry East of Eden. I wouldn't even need to wait around to make sure there wasn't a better match for me in the vast vast sea/library. I would tie the knot at Town Hall tomorrow morning before work. I'm ready. I've been ready since page two hundred. Betrothed since the chapter on Timshel (translation: "Thou Mayest") when the trinity's discussed Cain and Abel, i.e. the human condition. I have never felt so committed to a book.

I guess The Diaries of Anais Nin would feel jealous if they read this. They have been my companions for six years now. I hope to never finish them. 

(Anais referring to her diary) "But I need a place where I can shout and weep. I have to be a Spanish savage at some time of the day. I record here the hysteria life causes in me. The overflow of an undisciplined extravagance. To hell with taste and art, with all contractions and polishings. Here I shout, I dance, I weep, I gnash my teeth, I go mad -- all by myself, in bad English, in chaos. It will keep me sane for the world and for art." 

And that is exactly it. I love the mystery and the turmoil still brewing in these pages. They are the perfect long distance best friend whose visits infuse my life with color and height and nuggets of insight. 

The Poisonwood Bible? Too intense and dark. Not sustainable. 

Till We Have Faces? Less hopeful. 

The Time Traveller's Wife? Less marrow.

There is no question. I have made my decision. It's me for East of Eden. Now on to The Grapes of Wrath....

Seventeen at heart.

http://www.loc.gov/poetry/180/p180-list.html

I love stumbling across free AND RELEVANT poetry anthology. Billy Collins is my hero.