“Sometimes, you read a book and it fills you with this weird evangelical zeal, and you become convinced that the shattered world will never be put back together unless and until all living humans read the book.” <<< That’s a quote.

I got in a whole lot of reading in the month of March. I actually read one of the best books I have read in a really long time, The Fault in Our Stars by John Green.

I’m not sure how this book got on my must read list, but I’m sure it was from Googling “best book you ever read” “best book of the year” “favorite book ever” type lists that I constantly look at trying to find “my” best book ever.

I’m still trudging through reading Civil War history books, leading up to our upcoming battlefields tour and feeling the need to supplement with variety. I download this on my Kindle, anxious to read something I enjoy, for a change, and we hit it off beautifully. So I am reading along, loving this book, already making plans to reread it, before I finish and debating if I should start rereading it before I finish, to make it last longer, or just finish it and start over??? When was the last time you read a book that had so much to absorb?

This book is full of so many great phrases to chew on. And when I get to this quote it gives me pause.

“The pleasure of remembering had been taken from me,
because there was no longer anyone to remember with.
It felt like losing your co-rememberer meant
losing the memory itself,
as if the things we’d done were less real and important
than they had been hours before.”

Powerful. I had to stop for the night and chew on that one.

The next night my husband and I walked to dinner. Afterwards we where strolling down the street, just past sunset, and paused on the sidewalk to look and see if we could spot the Starrs comet. This was the night when it was supposed to be prime viewing. Well, we stood there a minute watching and a man darn near ran over us. He was hurrying down the sidewalk to catch up his lady friend and didn’t notice we were just standing there. He was curious what we were looking at and we told him all about the comet and explained how we were hoping to spot it, but it appeared to be too early. Now if you know Peter and I, you know we are not social people, but when he invited us to share he and his partner’s table, we said sure. This was where we were headed anyway, the local spot for live music, we just didn’t realize how busy they would be this night and were glad to have a seat!

The really strange part? This woman and I hit it off immediately (remember I’m of the shy, introverted variety). It felt as if the universe put us on a path to meet. Why else would her story spill out, so quickly, to a total stranger? Her story of her losing her “co-rememberer” brought tears to my eyes within minutes of meeting her. I don’t believe in coincidences, the closely related cousin of luck, this was much bigger than that. One of those experiences that leave you wondering why you were exactly where we were, at the exact time, to have the distinct experience you had. It was as if the book I was reading had come alive. Have you every had one of those experiences?

According to Aristotle, there is always a reason for everything that happens. Your experiences are designed to shape you, define you and, hopefully, grow you into the mightiest you possible. That Aristotle was a smart man.

A few other favorite quotes….

“Some people don’t understand the promises they’re making when they make them,” I said.

“Right, of course. But you keep the promise anyway. That’s what love is. Love is keeping the promise anyway.”

“The marks humans leave are too often scars.”

“That’s the good thing about pain. It demands to be felt.”

Three words: Best. Book. Ever. Seriously, go read it. It’s amazing! What was the last great book you read??