Books That Inspire You

[RedRosa]

When I was still in my teens (and living in my first apartment!) the previous tenant had left behind old book shelves filled with books from several decades. I combed through the book shelves and found this.

I had no idea what it was about or who this author was. I opened the first page and did not stop until the end. I’d never read a character like this before but mostly I was fascinated by Dean Moriarty (based on Neal Cassady,) who had an energy and attention span that I could relate to. I went on their adventures with them like they were my own. This book changed my entire life. I decided that week that I was going to write. I was going to travel. I was going to discover my world in detail and go after all my big dreams of creativity, art, music, all of it. I was going to live so fully that I would taste, see, touch, smell acutely, as if I was on borrowed time (which we are).

And I did.

It’s been a big, wonderful, fantastically huge, great adventure since.

Thank Goddess for books. Thank Goddess that I wasn’t forced to have had this removed from that shelf or told what would be good for me or not.
Books are the place for life changing revelations. Books bring us on wonderful adventures we might otherwise never have gone on.

Controversy, ideas, moral issues -- life is for sorting this out in our own minds without censorship nor withholding our ability to sort it out for ourselves. We humans are quite capable of doing so.

I suggest everyone start collecting all the classics that the States like Florida want to keep us from seeing or reading. Why? Because these books just might make you more evolved and imaginative -- something that makes you harder to control.

[RedRosa]

I had incredible teachers in my life who gave us incredible books to read. This one stayed with me.

Who didn’t fall in awe of Scout?! Not making my list of top seven, but worthy of mention by teachers are The Bell Jar, Nectar in a Sieve, and numerous books of poetry, most notable for me was Walt Whitman, Anne Sexton and Allen Ginsberg. On my own I discovered Anne Waldman, Jayne Cortez and Diane Di Prima.