Let the great books be read

Ann Donald writes about best sellers fiction booksAgers), I picked up the book that inspired this
and non-fiction books.  The book reviews she hascolumn: Colum McCann's Let the Great World Spin.
done are insightful and show off her real passion forUsing Philippe Petit's 1974 tightrope walk between the
books and reading.  Publishers love her book storetwo World Trade Center towers as a pivotal event,
at Kalk Bay.  Here is one of her articles in theMcCann tells the tale of a diverse group of
Sunday Times.characters whose stories intersect with this event.
Let the great books be readThere are many reasons to rave about this book:
Between the linesMcCann is a masterful writer who uses words with
Ann Donald: I'm one of those people who includepoetic precision; the people he creates have stories
Francis Wheen's How Mumbo Jumbo Conquered thethat are counterpoised to create a beautifully
World on the list of books everyone should read.balanced work of literary brilliance; it has emotional
Current Font Size:depths and personal insights that ensure a compelling
read.
Nevertheless, the Pisces in me likes the notion ofThese elements make the book worth reading at
"hurie gurie" elements of our existence - it's theany time of the year, so why do I feel that reading
stuff, after all, of great storytelling. Parallel universes,it as the New Year dawns is so significant?
daemons, mystical forces, foreseeing the future,Perhaps it is because what McCann was writing about
magical creatures and potions - these and their likewere people who dared to live beyond the ordinary,
offer wonderful material for the imagination.who refused to allow the constrictions of their
But when New Age mystics, Feng Shui acolytes andcircumstances to determine the way they would live,
other naysayers of reason sitting around a dinnerwho pushed themselves beyond their limits to
table try to beguile me to their beliefs, there's alwaysachieve the impossible, and who inspired those they
a Dawkins-like whisper in my head saying, "C'mon!"encountered to imagine their own lives differently.
Yet I believe strongly that there's a place in our livesReading this book at this time, when new beginnings
for ritual. The act of marking transitions is importantare on the agenda, encouraged me to look at the
as a way to honour and remember people, placesworld, my life, and my work differently; it elicited a
and events. Birthdays, Bar Mitzvahs, initiation ritessense of the possibilities that exist if life is
(when they don't kill or humiliate), anniversaries - all ofapproached without fear, with integrity, without
these remind us of the significance of life and are andoubt, with trust.
opportunity to pause and take stock of the past andI don't need to bay at the moon, keep my toilet
look to the future.seat down or smudge my house with sage smoke -
The celebration of a "New Year" is a time when wethe means to living a meaningful, useful life are in my
acknowledge the moment to contemplate what liesown hands, not some mystical, unknowable force
ahead. This new year, quite fortuitously, I realisedoutside of me.
there is an important rite we can each perform that,As you embark on your year of reading, my wish is
if done with intention, could set the tone for the 365that you find books that will enrich your spirit and
days to follow: the choice of the first book we read.encourage your endeavours; that you read widely
After arriving home from a fabulous New Year's Eveand wisely, and that when the year draws to a close,
dinner party during which we toasted 2010 under theyou embark on a new ritual to seek out a book
newly eclipsed full blue moon, dappled with clouds (aworthy of welcoming 2011.
concurrence that palpitated with significance for New