More About Books … or Just More Books

Marie Kondo

Much is being said and debated about Marie Kondo’s comment (of the life-changing magic of tidying up fame) that one should have only thirty books, and those few, only if they “spark joy.” That comment has since been exposed as not at all what Marie Kondo said, but a giant social media brouhaha that lasted about thirty seconds.

Many who have visited my book-laden apartment and others who’ve heard me lament the overcrowded shelves, the stacks on most every flat surface, including the floor in front of those aforementioned shelves—know and accept that I have a love affair with books. Perhaps not a healthy, balanced relationship, but one that is slightly obsessive and has no real boundaries. In this, I am not unlike most of my writers friends.

But what are we to do?

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Bibliomancy—Wisdom in the lines of a book

Yesterday I celebrated Indie Bookstore Day at West Grove Collective in South Park where owner Anne Mery invited me to be “soothsayer” for the day, using Bibliomancy as our oracle.

Bibliomancy is a form of divination in which insights are sought by randomly selecting a passage from a book and interpreting its message. Bibliomancy is also known as stichomancy—divination by lines of verse in books and compares with rhapsodomancy—divination from a random passage from a poem or ode.

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Willpower vs. Books: Guess Which Wins

A little over a week ago, I was deep in the woods at the Kanuga Conference Center near Asheville, North Carolina, sleeping in a cabin by night, and attending workshops by day. Kathleen Adams, her staff and volunteers organized a memorable weekend for Journal Conference 2016. I met so many accomplished, beautiful, open-hearted women (and a couple of beautiful, open-hearted men, too) and loved leading the Wild Voice, Wild Writing workshops. I’m still savoring the experience and the people and the writing and the stories and oh, yes, the full moon. (We howled!)

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