Monday, October 6, 2008

Madeleine L'Engle's The Small Rain

I love being in Savannah.
I got a library card the other day.

Now, I have access to TWO expansive (and filled with windows-thus, natural lighting) three story libraries within walking distance. One, the Jen Library- is entirely filled with art books galore... never ending. And the Live Oak- I'm not exactly sure how many stories it has- (and by stories, I mean floors), but it's got either three or four.

I just finished Madeleine L'Engle's The Small Rain.
I began reading it on a Saturday trip to the beach and finished on the next Saturday. (My roomate took my first "author photograph"- you know, the photo that's on the back flap of books. I'm not an author yet, but someday.... someday.. I was wearing my white and red Sunday-Morning-in-New York City-dress with the billowy red hat)

During the first week, when we had sooooo much work to do, I got used to being busy again and I LOVE that feeling, so this week- after I used my time very wisely- and got most of my homework done during class workshop time. I do not like to waste time anymore. If I have spare time, I want to invest it in a book by one of my favorite authors. Before I came to school, I spent a week or two reading the manual to Maya. No more unnecessary naps for me! If I do need to take a rest, though, I rest.My room is facing west, so in the afternoon, the sun graciously comes and warms up my bed for me so it's nice and toasty just in case I may need a nap. We also have lots of butterflies and dragonflies flitting around outside our window.

Oh yes, back to The Small Rain. Madeleine L'Engle wrote it when she was about my age.(20-ish) I've decided to begin at the beginning of her collection of writings and read chronologically up through her growing up. I enjoyed her first novel very much, though it was filled with a lot of pain. Her main character, Katherine is a very dedicated pianist and goes through many losses, including the death of her mother and other significant people in her life. I feel like, that through this book, I grew up with Katherine and we got through everything together, so maybe after this, I've grown up a little bit too.


"Mother said when you were unhappy or confused, Bach was the person to play. With almost everybody else you can think, but with Bach there's nothing but the music. It's true, you know."

p. 67 The Small Rain




1 comment:

voigt said...

I am so happy for you!

And I agree about Bach :-)