Sharing great books is a great love of mine. When you are a reader and a writer, passing on treasured words is a habit (or maybe an addiction!). Because I am frequently asked "What have you read lately?" when I am brain fogged with jet lag, my tired old brain struggles to spit out some best books quickly and thoroughly. So, if you will forgive my absent-mindedness, I will continue to post books worth your time here on my Blog.

In honor of one of my favorite reads from the last year (and, as I mentioned her in August, a recommendation from frequent book guide Mary Denman), here is an appetizer of Sherman Alexie's The Absolutely Tree Diary of a Part-Time Indian.

Gordy: Listen, you have to read a book three times before you know it. The first time you read it for the story. The plot. The movement from scene to scene that gives the book its momentum, its rhythm. It’s like reading a raft down a river. You’re just paying attention to the currents…The second time you read a book, you read it for its history. For is knowledge of history. You think about the meaning of each word, and where that word came from. I mean you read a novel that has the word “spam” in it, and you know where that word comes from, right?

Junior: Spam is just e-mail.

Gordy: Yes, that what it is, but who invented the word, who first used it, and how has the meaning of the word changed since it was first used?

Junior: I don’t know.

Gordy: Well, you have to look all that up. If you don’t treat each word that seriously then you’re not treating the novel seriously.

Gordy:…and you read a book for joy.

*From The Absolutely Tree Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie