the weight of the sky by lisa ann sandell

Maybe I wasn’t the freak I thought I was. Because I realized, for the first time, that if someone in a book could feel the same way I did, then maybe it wasn’t just me. I identified with Meg in every way, and that connection was profound for me.

Her closest friendship was with her younger brother, as mine was with my younger sister. She felt the same despair I did, the same sense of awkwardness and loneliness and hopelessness I felt. Meg embodied all of the ugliness and pain I felt when I was younger. Automatically she pushed her glasses into position, ran her fingers through her mouse-brown hair, so that it stood wildly on end, and let out a sigh almost as noisy as the wind. “Just be glad you’re a kitten and not a monster like me.” She looked at herself in the wardrobe mirror and made a horrible face, baring a mouthful of teeth covered with braces.

The greatest thrill in reading, for me, is entering into a stranger’s head and looking out on life through different eyes and learning something about myself in the process.įor as long as I live I will never forget the first time I read Madeleine L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time and met Meg: I love slipping on somebody else’s shoes and going for a nice, long tromp. Lost in a new and different world, lost in someone else’s view of the world. And I get a kick out of the fact that the book is a technology that hasn’t changed in hundreds of years (although, I’ll admit the future of the book seems somewhat uncertain in this electronic age).īut best of all, I love the way I can curl up in bed, in a comfy chair, or on a blanket in the park and ge t lost in a book. I love the feel of a book, especially if it’s squat and heavy and fits in my hands just so.

Well, I like the smell of a book, of its paper and ink, the perfume of the printed word. And there’s nothing elevated about reading that stuff. After all, so much of our reading time is spent finding out what celebrities are wearing or what the candidates are feuding about or what the tabloid headlines are. My husband accuses me of being a silly romantic for elevating books and reading to some foolishly glorified state.

Lisa is also giving away a copy of her book read on for details. Thanks so much to Lisa for her fantastic post about books! Speaking of fantastic, and of books, you’ve got to read Lisa’s book if you haven’t yet done so. This week’s guest blogger is Lisa Ann Sandell, author of Song of the Sparrow. The winner for last week’s contest is The Page Flipper! Please email me at with your mailing address and I’ll forward it to Paula. Last week’s guest blogger was Paula Yoo, who gave away a copy of her book to a random commenter.

The weight of the sky by lisa ann sandell