::on baristas and books::
I got the job at the SaltspringRoasting Co. I start Monday morning. I am so pleased. Phil, the manager called and said 'well Meaghan, you're loved. You got the job'. I even have options for full time (or close to it) now... and that IS serendipitous news.
The rest of this post is about books. Mainly the eight books that I packed in my suitcase when I came to Saltspring.
I've never really done a top ten list of my favourite books, I'm not actually sure I could. I have more than ten favourite books. However, when the rubber hits the road (or when my library gets shipped to Ontario) there are some books that I keep at my side as essential reading. This short list is also very similar to the list of books I initially brought to British Columbia from Ontario. So here goes.
1. The Bible. - I bring this little hardback with me everywhere. I have had it for about three and a half years, Chris Vyn bought it for me. It is beaten up from heavy use and a lot of travelling with little mercy. It is bookmarked with business cards from piercing studios I have visited across the country (a habit I have dropped of late) as well as notes from yfc staff and scrawled out prayers.
2. This is For the Night People by Ralph Alfonso - I bought this book at Chapters a few years back, it came with me to Montreal and has been one of my read over and over again favourites since its purchase. It's a book made of a compilation of the first few years of Ralph Magazine. A funky little free 'zine that is one of Canada's best kept secrets... Coffee, Jazz and Poetry. Bookmarked by scraps of steno pad paper, but the spine is bent to open to my favourite pages.
3. Le Petit Prince by Antoine de St. Exupery- My french copy of The Little Prince. I gave my much older english copy to Iona, with love. The Little Prince is one of the books that has meant a lot to me over the years, since I was little actually. I'd guess that I've read it well over a dozen time. I've read it in french five or six of those times, but my french copy is very new. It was a gift from my mother this past Christmas. I know my favourite passages off by heart.
4. Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller - Easily one of the best books I've read. Chris Vyn passed me Jeremy Gabriels copy almost two years ago. Shortly thereafter I picked up my own copy, but had to give it away to a friend (it was that good). The copy I have right now I picked up at Emmaus bookstore in Peterborough, it accompanies me most places. This spring I met Donald Miller in Vancouver... he signed my copy, so I guess I'll have to hang on to it. Read it. A good story about journeying...
5. The Found Book - Compiled Finds from Found Magazine. This big paperback was a gift shipped to me from Thom Unrau. I was truly touched. The pages are filled with notes and photos that people have found and submitted to the brilliant guys at Found Magazine. Little scraps of humanity. I love this kind of stuff so much. I pour over it for hours. Fittingly, my copy is bookmarked with my own finds... A crumpled five with a prayer on it, a polaroid of a set table, a crinkled suprise birthday invitation, a bright pink post-it with a desperate call for repentence ... the list goes on..
6. What's So Amazing About Grace? (visual edition) by Philip Yancey - Also introduced to me by Chris Vyn, I borrowed his copy. My mother was touched by it and bought me my own. I gave it away to Brian Rideout when he was searching for where he fit with God. Before I left for Vancouver my mom bought me a new copy with a letter to me written in the front cover. It is one of my treasures. This book is beautiful, it has little stories, snapshots I guess, about God's grace... his love and acceptance of us in spite of ourselves. The book is very visual, the images in it are absolutely superb. I have a hard time describing the impact of this little book on me. Pick it up.
7. At the Back of the Northwind by George MacDonald - This is the only book on this list that I have not yet finished. It was a birthday gift to me from Iona, it is her favourite from her very own library. I am reading it now. A childrens book, with a beautiful story. And one of the best gifts I have ever recieved.
and finally,
8. there is something terrible about a collection of guitars an anthology of Peterborough writers - I found this slim paperback wedged in the bookshelf at Bluestreak Records on George St. It was June, the month before I headed to B.C for the summer, and I was flat broke. So I stuffed the book in behind the rest and hoped that it would wait a couple of months for me to return with some summer job money. It did, and I gladly handed over the fifteen bucks it cost. I bought the book because I love Peterborough. I wanted to have it while I lived across the country. It assuages my moments of homesickness, with its author photos taken on the Hunter St Bridge, the market hall and the Only Cafe... it's a bit of culture in book format.
There are notable books with prominent places on my shelf that are not mentioned on this list, but if you dont know what's on my whole shelf, at least now you know what's in my carry-on. More on books later. Now I sleep.
Goodnight.
I got the job at the SaltspringRoasting Co. I start Monday morning. I am so pleased. Phil, the manager called and said 'well Meaghan, you're loved. You got the job'. I even have options for full time (or close to it) now... and that IS serendipitous news.
The rest of this post is about books. Mainly the eight books that I packed in my suitcase when I came to Saltspring.
I've never really done a top ten list of my favourite books, I'm not actually sure I could. I have more than ten favourite books. However, when the rubber hits the road (or when my library gets shipped to Ontario) there are some books that I keep at my side as essential reading. This short list is also very similar to the list of books I initially brought to British Columbia from Ontario. So here goes.
1. The Bible. - I bring this little hardback with me everywhere. I have had it for about three and a half years, Chris Vyn bought it for me. It is beaten up from heavy use and a lot of travelling with little mercy. It is bookmarked with business cards from piercing studios I have visited across the country (a habit I have dropped of late) as well as notes from yfc staff and scrawled out prayers.
2. This is For the Night People by Ralph Alfonso - I bought this book at Chapters a few years back, it came with me to Montreal and has been one of my read over and over again favourites since its purchase. It's a book made of a compilation of the first few years of Ralph Magazine. A funky little free 'zine that is one of Canada's best kept secrets... Coffee, Jazz and Poetry. Bookmarked by scraps of steno pad paper, but the spine is bent to open to my favourite pages.
3. Le Petit Prince by Antoine de St. Exupery- My french copy of The Little Prince. I gave my much older english copy to Iona, with love. The Little Prince is one of the books that has meant a lot to me over the years, since I was little actually. I'd guess that I've read it well over a dozen time. I've read it in french five or six of those times, but my french copy is very new. It was a gift from my mother this past Christmas. I know my favourite passages off by heart.
4. Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller - Easily one of the best books I've read. Chris Vyn passed me Jeremy Gabriels copy almost two years ago. Shortly thereafter I picked up my own copy, but had to give it away to a friend (it was that good). The copy I have right now I picked up at Emmaus bookstore in Peterborough, it accompanies me most places. This spring I met Donald Miller in Vancouver... he signed my copy, so I guess I'll have to hang on to it. Read it. A good story about journeying...
5. The Found Book - Compiled Finds from Found Magazine. This big paperback was a gift shipped to me from Thom Unrau. I was truly touched. The pages are filled with notes and photos that people have found and submitted to the brilliant guys at Found Magazine. Little scraps of humanity. I love this kind of stuff so much. I pour over it for hours. Fittingly, my copy is bookmarked with my own finds... A crumpled five with a prayer on it, a polaroid of a set table, a crinkled suprise birthday invitation, a bright pink post-it with a desperate call for repentence ... the list goes on..
6. What's So Amazing About Grace? (visual edition) by Philip Yancey - Also introduced to me by Chris Vyn, I borrowed his copy. My mother was touched by it and bought me my own. I gave it away to Brian Rideout when he was searching for where he fit with God. Before I left for Vancouver my mom bought me a new copy with a letter to me written in the front cover. It is one of my treasures. This book is beautiful, it has little stories, snapshots I guess, about God's grace... his love and acceptance of us in spite of ourselves. The book is very visual, the images in it are absolutely superb. I have a hard time describing the impact of this little book on me. Pick it up.
7. At the Back of the Northwind by George MacDonald - This is the only book on this list that I have not yet finished. It was a birthday gift to me from Iona, it is her favourite from her very own library. I am reading it now. A childrens book, with a beautiful story. And one of the best gifts I have ever recieved.
and finally,
8. there is something terrible about a collection of guitars an anthology of Peterborough writers - I found this slim paperback wedged in the bookshelf at Bluestreak Records on George St. It was June, the month before I headed to B.C for the summer, and I was flat broke. So I stuffed the book in behind the rest and hoped that it would wait a couple of months for me to return with some summer job money. It did, and I gladly handed over the fifteen bucks it cost. I bought the book because I love Peterborough. I wanted to have it while I lived across the country. It assuages my moments of homesickness, with its author photos taken on the Hunter St Bridge, the market hall and the Only Cafe... it's a bit of culture in book format.
There are notable books with prominent places on my shelf that are not mentioned on this list, but if you dont know what's on my whole shelf, at least now you know what's in my carry-on. More on books later. Now I sleep.
Goodnight.
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