Walking a Literary Labyrinth

Who doesn't have a list of books that changed his or her life? Reflecting on her own reading life, Nancy Malone examines the role that reading plays in defining ourselves. Throughout, she likens the experience of reading to walking a labyrinth, itself a metaphor for our journeys through life. The paths within the labyrinth are not straight, but winding, and in the end, it is not the small circle in the center that defines the self, but the whole grand design of the labyrinth-every experience, every person we meet, and every book we read-that makes us who we are. Malone draws from diverse sources, both spiritual and secular-Augustine, George Herbert, George Eliot, Franz Kafka, Rainer Maria Rilke, Virginia Woolf, Paul Tillich, Elie Wiesel, James Agee, e.e. cummings, Tom Wolfe, Patrick O'Brien, Nadine Gordimer, Margaret Atwood and Sue Grafton, to name a few. The author's thoughtful and beautifully articulated analysis of influential books covers a broad range of subjects, including childhood reading; books as sacred objects; reading and social responsibility; "dangerous" reading (that challenges us to examine our prejudices and beliefs); poetry; and erotic literature. The book includes a bibliography to inspire readers to seek out the unfamiliar or return to old favorites. In Walking a Literary Labyrinth, Malone invites readers of all religious traditions, or none, to consider the influence of reading in their own lives.