“There is no doubt that reading acts as a leavening agent in a person’s life, with different results according to the ingredients with which it is mixed. The “kneading process” between reading and history can inspire the formation of groups that share the same passion. […] To leave behind one’s role in society and emerge from one’s private, intimate rapport with reading so as to share it with others involves an emotional journey that an individual must willingly undertake. Let me tell you about my own personal journey without claiming that it is the last word on the subject….”
With these words, Monique Pistolato presents her latest book, Cari Libri. La lettura condivisa come laboratorio di umanità, published by Pauline Editions, Italy. The book relates the experiences of several groups of book-lovers who set out on a journey aimed at sharing the effects of reading. In fact, books take on shape, color and fragrance as a result of the way we interact with them emotionally.
Thanks to her ability to enliven the written word, the author was invited over the last few years to different settings (libraries, associations, parishes) to set up small groups of book lovers to experiment with the work method she explains in the first part of her book, namely: to bring together people whose love for books gives them the courage to express in a public space the feelings they experience while reading privately, sharing their thoughts, emotions and ideas with others.