This story, like so many stories, begins with a gift. The gift, like so many gifts, was a book - and the book was given to me by a man called .... And that is how this mini booklet full of beautiful lines, facts and emotions begins. The Gifts of Reading by Robert Macfarlane is a work that one cannot review, it is meant to be understood, enjoyed and treasured.
Love for books, love for reading, love for poetry, love for walking, love and gratitude for all that nature abounds with is aplenty in this book.
Books as gifts, both when given and received, transform life (some books, not all clarifies the author), this is the subject in discussion in this essay that lasts about 35 pages. I took my own sweet time to finish this as I am exceptionally slow with non fiction.
Robert Macfarlane talks about how a paper back copy of A Time of Gifts written by Patrick Leigh Fermor gifted to him by a dear friend transformed his life. He also discusses excerpts from Lewis Hyde's classic The Gift - detailing differences between a commodity and a gift, quoting that a gift, when it comes speaks commandingly to the soul and irresistibly moves us.
While we all have a 'to be read' pile, the author asserts the requirement of having a 'to gift' pile, a set of personal favorite books that you would like others to read and would gift them with.
This booklet is WOW from start to end and I should say that apart from Fredrik Backman, I have discovered another favorite author recently - Robert Macfarlane it is. His writing feels like a fluff of cotton, a quill afloat in air, everything one can associate with poise and simple beauty.
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