Books that Inspire Awe

This is a very special series of books to me, and my joy is to keep on adding to them. In life today I encounter so many people and perhaps most surprisingly children who don’t (or are not allowed) to stop and admire the beauty around them.

It is true that our sense of beauty and aesthetics is not what it once was, but why should that be? Beauty is all around us, to nourish us and uplift us. If we are not in search of beauty and to find it in life’s perfect nature as well as its imperfections, then what is the point?! If it is not these beautiful, natural, inspirational and simple if fleeting moments that keep us going, then what does?!

Beauty and being in search of it is something really important to me. And to be quite honest once you become aware of your own awareness and what it’s doing you’re not really searching at all - you’re just living, because beauty actually is everywhere.

I’m going to start with my two top books, and these are not just top books of the moment, they are top books for life. They bring me joy, even just looking at them on my bookshelf, even just flicking through the pages and reading a few, they are simply magic.

The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse

This gorgeous compilation by Charlie Mackesy is simply filled with love. At first glance you would think it’s a children’s book - yet after all what are we but adult children! - because it is filled with these beautiful ink and some watercolour illustrations of a boy, a mole, a fox and a horse. As you start reading though you can really see that these relationships and friendships start to form and flourish and it’s so intimate. As a reader it felt even more special because it feels like you’re being allowed a glimpse into someone’s soul, into something very precious.

It is a vital read full of little and big truths and big-hearted friends that will make you laugh! Love it.

Phosphorescence: On awe, wonder and things that sustain you when the world goes dark

Now this is also a beautiful read which I’ve actually written about separately, so if you like you can have a full read here.

I placed it here because it really is all about beauty in the small and fleeting moments in life. It’s about trials and triumphs that most of us go through, or at least which family and friends go through, it’s about parenting, it’s about joys in life and the unexpected occurring, but it’s also about the moments of awe that nature so effortlessly provides and which some us are in constant search of.

I really appreciated how Julia Baird weaved literary references into the text and shared precious moments she has experienced with family and with nature that truly reveal beauty. And perhaps most of all I am grateful that she points out that perhaps we are all in search of that light within.

There is beauty in silence

There is beauty in nature

There is beauty in imperfection

There is beauty in friendship

There is beauty in burning with passion

There is beauty in togetherness

There is beauty in being alone

There is beauty in uncertainty

There is beauty in savouring the moment

There is beauty in you

The Moth Snowstorm: Nature and Joy

This is actually a book I believe Baird mentions in her book. It’s one that I read quite a while ago, but it’s quiet presence is still felt on my bookshelf.

For one thing I really like moths - I think that there is something so special about them in an understated way. As with any great story you will experience a wide range of emotions, as Michael McCarthy talks about nature and its many gifts there is grief and rage, yet also love and joy. Perhaps there is more to nature than just existing alongside it. Perhaps nature has more to offer and more to teach us if we lived completely connected to its beauty and mystery. McCarthy is posing a question here - what kind of world and what kind of life do we really want to be living?

I think it’s about time we had a closer look at our relationship with nature and with each other.

How to be Human

This is a simple read in many ways, in which Paula Cocozza is showing us the thin line between us and the natural world - in many ways in physical terms as the house boundary is surrounded by forest. She explores what makes us who we are by placing her protagonist into this world which doesn’t seem real at all - Is she sane? Is she safe? Is this really happening? It’s in many ways a thrilling exploration of how we form bonds and what’s really important in life.

This fox really does have something to teach us after all!

The Fly Trap

Written by Fredrik Sjöberg, this is a different kind of book. It’s quite a particular style, perhaps because it was written by a Swede and translated, so this isn’t the original language in which it was written - which makes some difference. In many ways it feels distant but in others it is intimate; contrasting effects which make this story feel like an old friend - relatable yet also unknown. The beautiful moments described are quite special as he talks about the joy of nature and being surrounded by it, especially on his remote island full of unexpected and untouched treasures.

Nature can give us so much and this is why such books are such treasures really - they point these things out, they point the moments that we take for granted and tell us “Look!” “Look; it has been in front of you all this time!” “Pause to take it in” “Pause to be in awe of it all” “Stop to be filled with joy and beauty”

Enjoy your reading!

Book Club