When offering me a book, my friend Kitty often said, “This is good, but you won’t agree with everything in it, nor should you. Just eat the meat and spit out the bones.”

    With that in mind, I’ve enjoyed the words of many gifted writers and gained helpful insight and wisdom without choking on some pretty bad philosophy bones.

    For me, best-selling books are quite often a waste of time. Nevertheless, from book reviews, best seller lists, and the new-book display at the library, I do discover some good reads. Recently, I was curious about a book that has been on the New York Times list for over a year, written by a young Japanese lady with a quest for neatness and organization. I borrowed it from the library and found that Marie Kondo’s spiritual beliefs are not for me, but her ideas about home organization are interesting. The “meat” from this little book has inspired me to go through my house and examine the stuff that crowds my closets, kitchen shelves, bedroom corners, and bookshelves, and then to be brave enough to throw some of that stuff out or give it away.

    According to a Fortune Magazine article, there are three books every leader should read: “Steve Jobs” by Walter Isaacson, “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee, and “Where the Wild Things Are” by Maurice Sendak.

    According to this article, the “meat” from Isaacson’s biography of Steve Jobs is this: Follow your instincts. Expect excellence and quality from your employees, and unlike Jobs, don’t be mean or demeaning.

    From Harper Lee’s classic, “To Kill a Mockingbird”, we can learn: Stand up for your beliefs, in spite of opposition. Don’t judge others by how they look or what people say about them. And don’t let rabid dogs get too close to the house.

    “Where the Wild Things Are”, written by Maurice Sendak, is a children’s classic. Fortune says it can inspire us to be adventurous, to meet new creatures and look them in the eyes, and to remember where we came from.

    My favorite books do not always make the best-seller lists, but they are the ones I hang on to forever. The books on my own shelves are “real,” made of paper pages which can be highlighted, underlined, and dog-eared. Some are filled with wisdom for living and some are just fun to read.

    At the library, I found James Bowen’s true story, “A Street Cat Named Bob”. Bowen, a musician, tells the story of his drug addiction and homeless years on the streets of London and how adopting a homeless cat changed his lifestyle. Maybe it’s because I’m a cat-lover, but Bowen’s stories have touched my heart and given me more insight into the wounded souls who live on our streets today.      

    My very favorite best-selling book is filled with poetry and drama and interesting characters: prostitutes, prisoners, thieves, rich people, poor people, and godly saints. Its stories are rich with layers of meaning and deep messages for my life. I read it for therapy, and I read the Bible because it is a love story to all of us from God. Because of the power of its ideas, this book was banned in the Soviet Union years ago. For the same reason, people seek to ban the Bible today. The meat from this book could change our world.       

    

    Contact Virginia Dawkins at jtdawk06@aol.com.