Life has a tendency to get pretty crazy no matter what we do or how much we try to control it. From our careers and our passions to our families and our relationships, it seems there is always something threatening to go wrong. Reading gives me an opportunity to move into sacred space, a place of peace and learning. Reading has the power to help us transcend to a path to being open to knew ways of thinking, to ways to pacify our emotional responses to the chaotic world, to heal emotional traumas, and to feed the soul.

Here are my top five, currently:

1. Mitch Albom's, The Five People You Meet In Heaven . Eddie, an 83-year-old grump, dies in a tragic accident and is forced to relive parts of his life, some tragic, some terrifying, some wonderful, but almost all painful. Despite all his own regret and guilt, Eddie is able to find redemption in the end, and his journey inspires readers (myself included) to forgive themselves and let themselves find a bit of peace at the same time.

2. The Education of Little Tree, The Education of Little Tree tells of a boy orphaned very young, who is adopted by his Cherokee grandmother and half-Cherokee grandfather in the Appalachian mountains of Tennessee during the Great Depression. Little Tree as his grandparents call him is shown how to hunt and survive in the mountains, to respect nature in the Cherokee Way, taking only what is needed, leaving the rest for nature to run its course. Little Tree also learns the often callous ways of white businessmen and tax collectors, and how Granpa, in hilarious vignettes, scares them away from his illegal attempts to enter the cash economy. Granma teaches Little Tree the joys of reading and education. But when Little Tree is taken away by whites for schooling, we learn of the cruelty meted out to Indian children in an attempt to assimilate them and of Little Tree's perception of the Anglo world and how it differs from the Cherokee Way. A classic of its era, and an enduring book for all ages, The Education of Little Tree has now been redesigned for this twenty-fifth anniversary edition

3. Witch of Portabello, Paulo Coelho,

How do we find the courage to always be true to ourselves—even if we are unsure of who we are? the story of a young Romanian orphan adopted by a Lebanese couple. She opens her heart, gains intoxicating powers and becomes a controversial spiritual leader in London. Athena and she becomes a spiritual leader in the reemergence, I guess, of the ancient goddess religion. Mr. COELHO: I do believe that for many centuries, religion or the quest for the spiritual realm was linked to the male figure, so God is the father, God is the one who get to rule us. We forgot totally that above all, God is love, and love is, in my opinion, in my understanding, it is simplified because, of course, God has no sex, but love belongs to this feminine face of the Lord, of the divine energy. So "The Witch of Portobello," the main character, tries somehow to bring this love, this universal love to her life.

I am a big fan of Paulo Coelho...each of his books pushes me to consider my own values and spirituality and how that connects with the world. I fell like he courageously takes on very taboo subjects and has a defy way of creating stories that unfold with surprise to take us to new places in ourselves and with the world.

4. Care of the Soul: A Guide for Cultivating Depth and Sacredness in Everyday Life by Thomas Moore

This book teaches how to add spirituality, depth, and meaning to modern-day life by nurturing the soul and deepen and broaden the reader's perspective on his or her own life experiences, Moore draws on his own life as a therapist practicing "care of the soul," as well as his studies of the world's religions and his work in music and art, to create this inspirational guide that examines the connections between spirituality and the problems of individuals and society.

revolutionary approach to thinking about daily life—everyday activities, events, problems and creative opportunities—and a therapeutic lifestyle is proposed that focuses on looking more deeply into emotional problems and learning how to sense sacredness in even ordinary things.

5. The Red Tent, Anita Diamant.

Her name is Dinah. In the Bible, her life is only hinted at in a brief and violent detour within the more familiar chapters of the Book of Genesis that are about her father, Jacob, and his dozen sons. Told in Dinah's voice, this novel reveals the traditions and turmoils of ancient womanhood—the world of the red tent. It begins with the story of her mothers—Leah, Rachel, Zilpah, and Bilhah—the four wives of Jacob. They love Dinah and give her gifts that sustain her through a hard-working youth, a calling to midwifery, and a new home in a foreign land. Dinah's story reaches out from a remarkable period of early history and creates an intimate connection with the past. Deeply affecting, The Red Tent combines rich storytelling with a valuable achievement in modern fiction: a new view of biblical women's society.

In my search for the Divine Feminine, I was led back to wondering about the women during biblical times. This book changed my life. I connected deeply to each of the women’s stories. My longing leads me back to read the book, over and over. I used the Red Tent ideology in many of my women’s circles. I figure it a ‘must read’ for any female in Western Christianity, or those whole repel organized religious philosophy, searching for spiritual enlightenment within the context of the Biblical stories.

Reading can transport you into the beautiful world of words and we can enter a sacred space of soul (the same as that space we go to when doing art). All of these books took me there. Of course, there are many more…many… but these are the ones that lead me on to the path I am on now. Care of the Soul began my deep work on my own spirituality. The Red Tent changed me in deep and lasting ways. All of them, together, inspired me and led me on the path of my truest self. Reading should be more than just recreation and filling time. There are many genres and we choose books that we are drawn to for a need within to ‘feel’ something that we are craving and the story chosen might be that which is an alternative to reality. I chose books that feed my soul, inform, teach, support me in my quest for meaning of life and before and after.

The bookmarks, shown, are the ones I sent to my youngest son’s children. They love to read and grandma tries to think up any way she can to stay connected to them. I made each a bookmark except the oldest of the seven. He is too cool to want a bookmark. I am sending him something different – a skateboarder painting I have been working on, off and on, for a few months.

The last two are my own personal ones. (lol, notice the name of the book I am currently reading?)