Our first adoption

I'm pleased to announce that The Reversal by Michael Connelly was adopted from the Oolong Tea House in Calgary Canada on Feb. 9, 2011. I'm looking forward to hearing about its adventures.
A couple of pieces of information I wanted to pass on. This first bit is more directed at those people who take a more spiritual path to reading. Although I not inclined to do so I found this book of particular interest in its approach to reading and engaging the written word. The book is "In Bed with the Word: Reading, Spirituality, and Cultural Politics." by Daniel Coleman. The major theme as I see it centres around our concern for living in a social milieu of constant distractions and that we need some special "quiet time" in order to reconnect with ourselves in a more meaningful way. Since reading requires time and is reflective and also requires the reader to be an active participant with the words reading can be seen as antithetical to modern consumerist society where we live in constant distraction impatiently consuming while the bombardment of media images surrounds us most of our waking hours. Reading takes us away from this struggle to have us engage in the material world so it has become as Coleman describes as "counter-cultural" to the society that is evolving today. I find this notion interesting in that it clashes with the idea that we read simply to escape from the outside and slip into a fantasy world for a few hours in order to shut out the pressures of our daily lives. Reading when seen as "counter-cultural" implies an act of rebellion against the accepted norm of  corporate sponsored consumption. An active as opposed to a passive activity. If you have any thoughts on this please post them.
The second thing I wanted to bring up was the Bibliotherapy movement which apparently has been around for some time. Basically, the premise is that reading can assist us to repair and rejuvenate our bodies as well as our minds. Prescribed reading of specific texts in response to certain conditions or situations has become popular among physicians, teachers, and psychologists. "Reading, writing and revelation: How the written word helps refresh body mind and soul." by Ursula Sautter was published in the October 2010 edition of Ode magazine. Bibliotherapy has many forms from reading to block out pain to guided self-help therapy for people suffering from mind depression, phobias, or other anxiety disorders. You can read the article if you go to odemagazine.com look in the archives for this edition.
It's interesting to explore the many facets of reading which I hope will generate dialogue in the future.