Cold Tangerines is a book by Shauna Niequist that I hope to have in a few days but which I started reading (at least the bits that are available) via Google Books. And already I am anticipating a nice dose of perspective to come from it.
The introduction really drew me in. It says,
"This book is a shameless appeal for celebration.
I know that the world is several versions of mad right now. I know that pessimism and grimness sometimes seem like the only responsible choices. I wake up at night and think about pesticides and international politics and fundamentalism and disease and roadside bombs and the fact that one day my parents will die. I had a hard year this year, the hardest I've yet known. I worry about the world we're creating for my baby boy. I get the pessimism and grimness.
And that's why I'm making a shameless appeal for celebration. Because I need to. I need optimism and celebration and hope in the face of violence and despair and anxiety. And because the other road is a dead end. Despair is a slow death, and a lifetime of anger is like a lifetime of hard drinking: it shows in your face and your eyes and your words even when you think it doesn't."
The intro. continues from there, but I can't help but breathe a little easier after just this short excerpt... finally, a book that isn't all doom and darkness, by a real person who is comfortable being honest about the fact that things aren't great in the world but that there is hope and a reason to be joyful. Someone who understands that even glints of hope, optimism, and kindness are a necessary spattering of light splashed on a world that is otherwise sketched with the tenebrous brush of gloom.
That's why I'll make time to read this one... it's overdue yet right on time. And I'd encourage you to read it too. Check out allbookstores.com whenever you want to compare prices on a book like that one - new & used copies - from all different online booksellers. Enjoy! :)
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