When Books Ask You to Read Them

Have you ever read a book that you considered to be life-changing?  Do you remember how you came upon it?  Think back.

Over the past few years I have picked up books that have contained little gems that have propelled me from where I am to miles ahead on my journey.  Little gems that I have written down and I have incorporated into my life.  And not one of these books came to me by accident.

It first happened with The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho.  I bought this book when it was at the top of the NY Times Bestseller list.  And it sat with a pile of others from that list that I bought en mass for myself.  It sat there for years.  And then one day, after I had started on my journey, I was looking for a book to read and I sat down on the floor in front of my cabinet of unread books and looked at the covers of all of them and picked that one.  For no particular reason.  It didn't look more appealing.  The blurb on the back didn't entice me.  I just knew that was the one.  And it was.  Because where I was on my journey was accelerated by what I read in that book.  It was the right book at the right time.  If I had read it years before when I bought it, the lesson would have been lost.  I was amazed how the book found me just as I needed it.

And it happens now all the time.

I go to the bookstore looking for a book on a particular topic and I just each one on the shelf that speaks to me until I feel which one is right.  I don't spend a lot of time browsing through the book or reading the reviews.  I just hold a few and leave with the one that feels right.  And there is always something in there that I needed to read.

Or I put books on my BookMooch wishlist and they sit there unfulfilled for years until one day the book arrives in the mail.  And I know before I open it that I am going to learn something important.

YOUR TURN:
The next time someone mentions a book to you and the name sticks in your mind or the next time you are drawn to a book in the library even though it is not what you were looking for or the next time you find a book in the house that you have never read or read a long time ago, stop and take the time to read it.  Then. Because I bet there will be a message in there for you.