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This ‘Jane Eyre’ enthusiast invites you to treat your favorite books as sacred text | NPR

August 27, 20236:00 AM ET, Heard on All Things Considered, By Rachel Martin

https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1195954927/1196251653

Vanessa Zoltan’s memoir is all about how she learned to read literature like sacred texts.
TarcherPerigree/Penguin Random House

It was my mom’s birthday the other day. She died 14 years ago of cancer. She would have been 74 years old.

Every year I scan my bookshelves for her copy of “Jonathan Livingston Seagull” written by Richard Bach in 1972. It’s a story about a seagull who defies the expectations society has put on him and learns to fly high into the heavens to reach his highest potential. It’s not an explicitly religious book, but there are some Christian undertones along with some Buddhist concepts of reincarnation.

I love this book because reading it makes me feel closer to my mom, but each time I read it, I also understand her a little more. And yeah, when I close the book on her birthday, I am also reminded how beautiful it is to fly. I never really thought of that ritual as a sacred practice, but after talking with Vanessa Zoltan, I realized it is.

Treating your favorite books as sacred text : NPR

Source: https://www.npr.org/2023/08/27/1195954927/this-jane-eyre-enthusiast-invites-you-to-treat-your-favorite-books-as-sacred-tex