long walk. fall walk.

i walked out of church into the perfect fall weather, the weather that makes me nostalgic for the anticipation of change and accustoming to a new normal.
whether it the beginning of another school year, a new home, adapting to a new community
fall always means settling after the change. makes me the most restless. or rather the need for walks becomes more apparent.
i was briefly browsing other books by julia cameron (the artist's way author)...in skimming a sequel she wrote to, i noticed she kept the same principles of morning pages, weekly artist date
but added: weekly LONG walk.
because walks are therapy for a full brain.
(and cheap therapy i might add)

the fall is when i start walking and can't stop. its a combination: beautiful trees, sweaters, bright sun, crisp air, the blue sky (which is darker and brighter than the summer one), leaves on the ground, especially red ones
in fact i wonder if shaun tan was inspired to write
the red tree
because after a really long day, that he couldn't remember who he was
or what he was doing
and seemed that he was waiting for something, without sense or reason
and so
he walked and kept walking and every so often
a beautiful red leaf would be quietly lying on the path, restoring belief
that beauty constantly exists in all the dark places; amongst chaos of life.

fall. such a simple, appropriate word for the season.
the leaves letting go of the branches
our eyes lowering from the busyness of summer, preparing our bodies for the winter, a more introspective time.

fall induces long walks. and somehow each walk is reminiscent to chicago, central city, huemoz, jackson, seattle, henderson.
this is when all the places of my life, share something in common.

banned book month.

for some reason i always anticipate banned book month. honestly, it may have something to do with my obsession with lists. and i do mean obsession. and mostly with book lists. i like making lists of books i've read, books i want to read, books i want to read in the next month, books i want to purchase. and then i like to print off lists to cross them out, planning for what to read next...
TIME Magazine | the complete list (17 read)

ALA Banned/Challenged Books (23 proudly read + current read 'tropic of cancer' = 24)

Image Journal 100 Writers of Faith (17ish read)

i'm not sure where the need to read things banned has come from...there are actually several different banned/challenged books lists where i've read close to 50%...

(which is maybe the reason i find it hard to recommend things to my mother.)
because once you read something beautiful, its hard to settle
for crap...happy endings.
i constantly want to be washed in beautiful words, lost in a story that consumes my emotions,
a story that makes it past the pages to my everyday conversation.

a book that sticks with you for years,
is a rarity, but something i feel a worthy cause- reading for the purpose of finding more to add to my own pool to pull from
of books that have given an abundance of stimulating richness,
that paint pictures of violence and then of grace.
they usually are not on the bestseller list.

of course, what am i currently recommending....
. god of the small things (a. roy): beautiful, sad, endearing, oh so endearing.
. things fall apart (c. achebe): really stark picture of westernization overtake of nigeria
. my name is asher lev (c. potok): i still refer to this book on a weekly basis
. barabbas (p. lagerkvist): one of the best pictures of christian community
. children at the gate (e. wallant): thank you dr.derosset for this one. truly a gem.