The Must-Read Book Club
Brette Popper: I originally read another Rebecca Solnit book, A Field Guide to Getting Lost, which I loved. It was recommended to me by Sara Hubbs, who taught at Yoga High here in NYC before relocating to Tucson. I found this one while wasting time at The Strand on 5th, behind the coffee place. Bookstores are one of my favorite waste of time places because they rarely are a waste of time.
YogaCity NYC: Describe it in 5 words.
BP: Connective tissue of our souls.
YCNYC: Favorite quote?
BP: "If the boundaries of the self are defined by what we feel, then those who cannot feel even for themselves shrink within their own boundaries, while those who feel for others are enlarged, and those who feel compassion for all beings must be boundless. They are not separate, not alone, not lonely, not vulnerable in the same way as those of us stranded in the islands our ourselves, but they are vulnerable in other ways."
Another one: "Time always wins; our victories are only delays; but delays are sweet, and a delay can last a whole lifetime."
YCNYC: Who would you recommend this book to?
BP: It is an essay on the search for meaning, so I recommend it to anyone that is consciously in that process. My 25-year-old daughter, Jessica, just read it and enjoyed it, and my other daughter, Rachel, who is beginning a new life in Birmingham, AL, is now reading A Field Guide to Getting Lost.
YCNYC: What moment or part resonates with you the most?
BP: There are two great quotes to live by that run through the book. The first is that you should "never turn down an adventure wthout a good reason." The other says that Georgia O'Keeffe, once she moved to New Mexico, would sign letters to those she loved "from the faraway nearby." In other words, always be ready for adventure and know that the ones we truly love are always right by our sides.
You can purchase The Faraway Nearby here.
Have a Must-Read book to recommend? Email us here.
—Interview by Allison Richard
