Every so often Life rewards us with special friends, and through the magic of WordPress and cyberspace, I am honored to know The Daily Gadfly’s Hugh Curtler. To my surprise, Hugh included this Zeebra’s blog when passing along The Booker Award.
The Booker Award amuses me; not only does it acknowledge bookworms and natural writers, it also states, ‘for those who refuse to live in the real world.’ At times I have firmly stood my ground when others attempted to coax me into a normal life. With the sky as my ceiling and a fallen tree for a stool, I bask in the solitude of nature! It’s there where my senses become enhanced and alive! If handed a book, I’m an instant addict who falls off the wagon and plunges into the joys of the written word!
My two vices compliment each other! The instructions for this award are to name five other bloggers and share your five most-favorite books. “Just five?” I queried. Favorite books are like a family tree, and I have orchards of beloved books!
Over the past dozen years, I have moved to several Latin American countries, where English books are a rare commodity. Any time I have the luxury of buying new books, I eye the book and consider its weight in my baggage. Almost always, the book merits the effort!
“The Book Fairy” (The Baileys not only returned the books, but they also added new ones!)
A cluster of books journeys with me with each move and gives perennial comfort. I reach for them, my old friends, and I savor the essence that makes each one unique.
Some books I love for their opening sentences. “Last night I dreamt I was at Manderley again.” The sweetness of that first line from Rebecca preps me for a reading marathon through Daphne Du Maurier’s story of the young Mrs. de Winter, her husband Maxim and the sinister Mrs. Danvers.
Other books I love for the opening page. Two share that spotlight in my heart. “Dead Sleep” has walked away from my collection, and I mourn its loss. Written by Greg Iles of Natchez, Mississippi, it’s a dark story that hooks me again and again when I read the opening page, lovingly turn the page and read a bit more. I pause and smile and say, ‘Good work, Greg,‘ then return to the opening sentence and cherish that first page again!
When people confess that they don’t particularly like John Grisham’s novels, I smirk and reach for The Testament and ask them to bear with me while I read the first few pages out loud. I then rest my case!
I savor some books from the opening sentence to the end, and Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea is one of them. Although I have read the story countless times, I still cry.
Walden of the Tropics – photo copyright/Lisa Brunetti
My petite studio in Costa Rica was slightly larger than Thoreau’s Walden. Like Thoreau, I lived immersed in nature – by choice and slightly to prove a point that one could be happy with little. There’s a lot to be said (written!) about living in solitude, and I highly recommend the discipline of zipping oneself away from conversations and society for at least a three-day period. Only then can one look inward at one’s true self and look outward at the world and the universe and ponder one’s true destiny. I lived there for years, and I am a stronger person because of those experiences.
“…and not, when it came my time to die, find I had not lived…” Thoreau
I now pass on this award to five deserving writers. Dear Carlos of 1CruzdelSur shares his love and passion of his culture from his vantage point in Argentina. Combining beautiful images, quotes, music and prose, he casts a magical spell as he pulls you into each post. We share a love of Paulo Cahlo’s writings, as well as a love of nature and horses. He thoughtfully includes the English-translation prompt on his site for those who don’t follow Spanish!
Although a common language sometimes binds people together, a common geographical area often does as well. I enjoy every post or comment that lovely eloquent Linda of Shoreacres publishes from her Texas Gulf Coast vantage point! Spend some time on her blog, a enjoy a long cool drink of her beautiful photography, wisdom and words!
Deborah, a new WordPress friend (thanks, Nan!) writes from the unique location of Nicaragua’s Isla Ometepe, the largest ‘freshwater’ island in the world on one of the largest freshwater lakes in the Americas. When staying in the town of Rivas on the mainland, I’ve been known to take a ferry to Ometepe for the whim of having lunch there, then returning several hours later! Her blog, Retire in Nicaragua, reflects a healthy attitude about relocating and thriving in a foreign country. Not one to boast, ‘this is who we are and look what we’ve done,‘ Deborah, with firmly-planted feet, shares her Nicaragua experiences.
Each week the Island Traveler publishes new posts that reflect his command of the written word and photography as well as his love for his family. A natural coach, he truly reads others posts and makes incredibly-sensitive and thoughtful comments. I look forward to knowing which books top his list of perennial favorites!
Well read and well bred, kind and intelligent, talented and good natured, Madhu showers the WordPress world with beautiful posts that reflect her interests and travels. Enjoy her always-interesting posts here at The Urge to Wander. (Thanks, amiga, for your tireless support, not only on my blog, but on many others as well!)
Reminiscing about all of my favorite books makes me wistful to retrieve one from the shelves and wean into a reading marathon. Hmmm. It’s been cool here on the equator; maybe I’ll take a break from writing and curl up with an old favorite.
“Many years later, as he faced the firing squad…”
Happy reading! Z
Zeebra Designs & Destinations 
Congrads Z!!! 🙂
Thank you, amiga! I am enjoying your posts and am slowly catching up on reading/writing this weekend! Z
You have a most wonderful weekend..:) Carol
I am- and it truly is cold here.. day three of long-sleeves in the daytime and (for me) three blankets at night! that’s at sea level on the coast!
but yes, i am enjoying a few days of rest!
z
Congratulations to you and your nominees. You have mentioned some great reads and some of my favorites. I was in Grishom’s stomping grounds in March…Oxford and Southaven MS. As Ron and I hunker down for hurricane Isaac, I’ll hunker down with a good book, probably by flashlight.
I have friends and family in that area; I like Oxford.
I’m watching the hurricane predictions, though nothing’s for sure til the fat lady sings, but what if it’s a man singing?
I hope that the season is kind as the last days of August remind us of Katrina’s wrath. Enjoy your books!
Z
Many congrats, my friend, and definitely well deserved…(Living in the “real world” is very much overrated, in my humble opinion :))
Thanks! I’ve lived both lives, and for me, less is definitely more!
Z
So well done!!!
Thanks you so much! Z
I adored Thoreau too – but was too anxious to live in a forest …
http://flickrcomments.wordpress.com/2011/02/02/thoreau/
Thanks! Long ago my family bought a sweet cabin in the woods on the edge of a lake. I named it ‘Walden,’ and a few people asked, ‘Did you buy the cabin from someone named Walden?
I have always been a child of nature and drink in my times when alone with nature!
Your posts are always a treasure, and I love your selections of music. The speed’s not been good enough to ask the computer to attempt that today, but hopefully later! The lion sleeps tonight is such a great song to go with that post! Z
Congratualtions Lisa, what a lovely acknowledgement! Honoured to be on your list! By the way two of your chosen titles – ‘Rebecca’ and ‘The old man and the sea’ – are my favourites too 🙂
It’s great to have another ‘Rebecca’ fan! I’m not sure why I love that story so much, but I do, and I never tire of reading it again… and again..
the same is true of the Great Gatsby.
z
Congratulations Z!
Gracias amiga.. I just finished reading your chocolate post, and now I am craving something decadent!
I am honored Z. Your passion for books, of life, of nature, of people and Art comes alive not only in this post but in all your post. You found joy in the most simple of things and embraced the positive energy of nature around you. Thanks for sharing this award and congratulations.
Thank you as well! I look forward to your post and finding out some of the books that you treasure! Z
Good morning at last! As you’ve obviously realized, we’ve been a little distracted here. The real world is impinging in the form of Isaac. Now it seems certain it won’t visit me, but I have friends, acquaintances and family scattered across Louisiana – most of them in Bayou country – and it’s been hard not to focus there. It’s just a matter of waiting, now, for the storm to pull far enough inland that it can begin to weaken and move away.
I’m delighted as can be to be included in your awards, and I certainly enjoyed reading about your favorites. I love the tropical Walden, too! You’ve reminded me of one of my favorite Thoreau quotations: “How vain it is to sit down to write when you have not stood up to live.”
While I don’t follow the prescriptions for such awards to the letter, I do have an idea of how to approach this one, and will begin to do so as soon as I can corral my attention and get it to behave!
hey
i’m impressed that you can focus on anything except what’s happening. i just saw some images on wunderground, wow, the full moon tide surge must be breaking records.
it’s good to hear from you, and i’m glad you’re not getting any swirls/bands of bad weather.
am about to be away for a few hours and hope all’s ok. i keep thinking about it sucking up moisture from the river and chugging upstream. the river’s low and probably hot…
it’s best i will be away for a while. thanks again for the report.
z
Lisa, a big congratulation – well done! 🙂 🙂 🙂
thanks! z
Congratulations! 🙂
What a lovely award. I love that you named your cabin “Walden”.
I know you’re right that we need to spend time with ourselves in silence. The closest I’ve been to real silence was when I walked on the Camino in May and I spent a few hours each day walking silently
i am so proud that you were able to make that spiritual walk and hope that one of these days my life takes me there. i spend days in silence and thrive on it. i realize that i am very lucky, though getting there took a lot of belief in myself and not listening to what others wanted for me. z
I am so ready to quit my job and claim my freedom by going to live in a cabin in the woods but I haven’t made the move yet because there’s such a serious recession over here – so many people have been out of work for several years – and a job’s a job….
How did you get the courage to do it???
oh, my DEAR rosie!
with tears and an almost bursting heart, i send you my empathy!
i am lucky that i have always had a strong childlike faith in my future – whatever future that might be,
when i was ten or eleven, I became wistful to live in argentina after studying that country in geography.
when i was thirty-something and saw how a full-throttle life was exhausting my husband and me, and leaving little time to nurture and show our sons what a normal life was like, i often asked, ‘why don’t we go live a swiss-family robinson life?’ yes, we had plenty of lovely assets, but we had to work all of the time to pay for those assets and pay for the insurance, etc to keep them maintained. we had little quality of life. it was not a pretty time.
i finally bailed out. the journey was a difficult one, personally, for many reasons. most don’t understand how one can walk away from a ‘normal’ life and disconnect to a foreign location and start over. my attitude was that i was like a ‘kid out of college’ and could always work in a restaurant and trade my work for room and board.
those first few years of isolation were so important to my spiritual growth, and i recommend that everyone should removed themselves from phones/televisions/converstations for at least a week, better for a month, and any longer than that – it becomes an inward journey into believable growth.
you, of course, already know that.
what doesn’t kill us makes us stronger, and wow, am i ever a strong person.
most people back home still don’t understand.
but to quote kipling in the poem ‘if,’
‘…if you can trust yourself when all men doubt you and make allowance for their doubting too.’
i hope that you find your way to follow your inner nudgings soon.
lisa/z
Hi Lisa! I’m working backwards on this one, having finally gotten around to tackling my nomination, courtesy of Madhu. Loved your response to the award and it provokes yet more thoughts. I’m a Hemingway fan too. I can’t wait to see what Island Traveller makes of his award post, and to check out those bloggers you mention that I haven’t heard of. I love how blogging prompts us to reach out to each other.
hey to you as well! i admire your research abilities and am glad they brought you here! thank you so much. yes, i was thinking the other day that it was time to reminisce with my favorite, the ole man and the sea! i look forward to your award/awards post! z
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