Connie's Corner

Connie - What is your "Go-to Book"?

I'm thinking the words "go-to book" is that book you pick up when you're feeling down or blue or just unable to cope, not necessarily your favorite read but the one that makes you feel better just by holding it, rifling the pages, feeling the words, soaking in what is held between the covers. It's the one that holds a special meaning, brings back good memories, takes you out of whatever present situation is getting you down at the moment.

I know it may sound stupid and strange to many, but that book for me is what is called a "coffee-table book". It was a birthday present from my daughter many, many years ago and has never lost its allure or newness everytime I open it up. It's titled The Impressionists by Francois Mathey. Sitting in my favorite chair with a good light over my shoulder, I can travel back to the nineteenth century, to the time of the English water-colorists, Turner and Constable, and then to the major impressionists, Gauguin, Van Gogh, Seurat, Cezanne, Manel, Monet, Degas, Toulouse-Lautrec. Their works are realistically presented on beautiful paper with historical and biographical information on the opposing pages.

I am always lifted up out of my surroundings as I thumb through the pages, noticing things I did not see before. I wonder what Toulouse-Lautrec's Laundress sees as she gazes through the window above her pile of laundry. I can feel her aching back in the deep arch of it as she bends over the clothes. I want to brush away the ringlets of hair falling over her eyes. I see the redness of her hands and the set of her jaw and feel her determination. I make up my own stories. The intensity of my problems are reduced to real size.

until next time...c