Through Painted Deserts...

While in France, I read Donald Miller's book Through Painted Deserts. I know people go on and on about Blue Like Jazz, but TPD is the one that really spoke to me. I think the circumstances in which you read a book (or watch a movie or hear a song or experience any kind of artistic expression) have a lot to do with how you receive it. This book is about striking out on an unknown road, not sure what will happen along the way. It's a lot of introspection. A lot of quiet. A lot of staring up at the stars and just thinking about...stuff.

Though I didn't have the chance to stop and think about stuff a lot, I was in an unfamiliar place, away from all of my family and belongings. I connected with this book in a way I haven't done in a long time. Surrounded by the glitz and glamour of the South of France and the Cannes Film Festival, it was an amazing experience to sit back in the mornings and wonder what makes people really happy. To try to wrap my head around the answers to the why questions rather than the how questions (i.e. Not "how do I break into the movie business" but "why do I want to?" Not "how do I go about getting more money" but "why do I want more money?"). It was the perfect book for me at that time. And I highly recommend it.

Peace. Out.