The Book Project

Somewhere in the honey-coloured desert along the I-10 freeway, speeding east from Los Angeles, The Book Project was conceived. 

I have long identified as a voracious reader, devouring books of all genres, thirsty for a new set of ideas, fresh human perspectives, and inspiration, alighting on each printed word as onto stepping stones toward new worlds. Certainly anyone with a love of reading has experienced being utterly transported by a great book. 

I now find myself grown into a compassionate adult shaped by hundreds of these transformative experiences.  

After years of grueling, often demoralizing professional training and a transcontinental move, I started to build bookshelves. My beloved collection needed a home. My newest tomes needed to feel welcomed. I ran my aching, swollen fingers along the many-colored spines of my learned friends, old and new, resting in cardboard boxes. It seemed to be the right move. So I built. Surely the reading would come.

As a trip to a vibrant city tends to do, my recent visit to the City of Angels had both unsettled and inspired me. On this quiet afternoon drive, with my beloved toddler sleeping peacefully behind me, a singular thought took shape. I had become much less of a reader of books and much more of an optimistic collector. When repeatedly questioned about how I found time to read, I jestingly mentioned construction of a retirement book collection. ‘Some day’ would eventually arrive, and I could read – and be electrified by poetry and prose – again.

In the last decade I have gradually lost touch with my cherished love of reading. You yourself might identify. Perhaps you were once steeped in free time, or perhaps you just made the time, but you were a reader. Like so many of us, I blame the complexities of life – and a chronic lack of sleep – for my inability to make it through a book.

The Book Project is my public, intentional, and bold statement: I am a reader! I was once and I will be again. And my life will once again be transformed as my thoughts transform. I sincerely hope you will come along and read with me – it is going to be one hell of a ride!

Look out for tomorrow’s post and Book One.

Yours,

Jade St. Claire