Magic Books 2


Before I went off on the biggest digression known to mankind in Magic Books, I was meaning to share a list of books that have resonated so deeply with me that they’ve changed the way I view the world.  These are magic books. I’ll add to this list as I am touched by each new book. 


Eckhart Tolle A New Earth 


This book changed my life fundamentally. It offers a hand to scoop you up out of the middle of the stampede and bring you to higher ground. From this vantage point, you'll be able to look as far back as your entire life, before snapping out of it; When you see how small everything really is, and that life flows on within you and without you. This book can turn an atheist into a believer.


William Peter Blatty The Exorcist 


I picked up this book looking for a fun scare and I ended up getting so, so much more. This book shook me to my core, and not in the way that you might expect. It is a profound story about the transcending power of love. It’s filled with lessons that things are not always what they seem. It was through this book that I discovered what is probably my favourite passage of all time, which was taken from The Second Spring, a sermon by John Henry Newman. Here is an excerpt, 


The sun sinks to rise again; the day is swallowed up in the gloom of night, to be born out of it, as fresh as if it had never been quenched. Spring passes into summer, and through summer and autumn into winter, only the more surely, by its own ultimate return, to triumph over that grave, towards which it resolutely hastened from its first hour. We mourn over the blossoms of May, because they are to wither; but we know, withal, that May is one day to have its revenge upon November, by the revolution of that solemn circle which never stops, which teaches us in the height of hope, ever to be sober, and in our depth of desolation, never to despair.


Paulo Coelho The Alchemist


The tale as old as time. There is a reason that this is one of the most read and dearly beloved books in the world. It tells the story that each one of us already knows some version of deep down inside, and there's a wonderful joy in uncovering it in the way that Paulo Coehlo portrays it. Reading it ignites a connection to the world around us and how it relates to our personal legend. 


Marcus Aurelius Meditations


I listened to this included title in the Audible library and it was the cutest, sweetest thing to listen to while I was around the house. It sounded like it was read by a kind, loving, grandfather, who is ever wise and level-headed despite having lived through unfathomable hardships like wars, sickness, death and betrayal. I quite enjoyed the language used too, which made it seem as though it was read by a grandfather that lived in Skyrim (probably in Solitude). 


Steven Pressfield The War of Art


The War of Art is a quick, simple read that as an artist will guide you to understand the reasons we face resistance. It explains the things that hold us back from crossing the threshold between amateur and professional. I love the way he talked about getting up in the morning, setting an alarm, sitting down at your desk and doing your work, just as someone that was employed at an office job would do.


When our work is to create art, sometimes the people around us struggle to understand why we can’t be more flexible and available to them during these working hours. We struggle even to take our own work as seriously as other professionals do. To be an artist it is essential to protect that time.


If you want to be a writer, you have to write, as being a painter requires you to paint. You realize that there is more pain in not doing it than there is in getting to work. 



John Milton Paradise Lost

This is the meaning of the word, “masterpiece.” From one line to the next, it never breaks its continuous stream of wisdom on the beauty in the perils of life. A magnificent poem that teaches of love, forgiveness, and acceptance and evokes wonder of the world around us.


The reader of this book will be spellbound; It is like reading a renaissance painting. The fact that it was ever written is nothing short of miraculous, and I do believe that it came through Milton from the Gods. No mere mortal could have done such a thing. 


Kahlil Gibran The Prophet


A special book that has the power to put you at ease when you feel like life is a fight. A divine collection of poems that will bring you peace and calm and perspective.


Books: A New Earth, The Exorcist, The Alchemist, Meditations, The War of Art, Paradise Lost, The Prophet


My good reads profile: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/112713911-scotia-boyd


"And, when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it." Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist


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