"The Forty Rules of Love" and "The Giver"

“Love exists within each of us from the moment we are born and waits to be discovered from then on.” 

  Elif Shafak, The Forty Rules of Love
 

This volume is a most enlightening work encompassing the meaning of unconditional love for all beings and states of being, the absolute divine essence of pure love, and the majestic states of spirituality. 

“Every true love and friendship is a story of unexpected transformation. If we are the same person before and after we loved, that means we haven't loved enough.”

 

 Elif Shafak, The Forty Rules of Love

This is a book that surpasses all organized faith, thought and current societal standards. Elif manages to present a simple, innate idea to an increasingly complex world. This is a volume to be read again and again throughout a lifetime to keep oneself in check. This recent work by Elif Shafak is the most profound book I have read in a long time. 

* * *

“The worst part of holding the memories is not the pain. It's the loneliness of it. Memories need to be shared.”

  Lois Lowry, The Giver

"The Giver" is a rare glimpse into a world that Huxley and Orwell imagined in "Brave New World" and "Animal Farm." Although the three are drastically different, the theme of oppression and imagined equality are quite real. The difference with "The Giver" lies within the shared bond between the Giver and the Receiver. 

Lowry manages to seamlessly attach the reader empathetically to several characters, allowing one to become part of a world of sameness, devoid of all feeling, while simultaneously reading with pure human emotion. This volume touches upon gifts bestowed upon us all, the root of all spirituality, the power to see beyond and beneath, and to experience divine love. 

I never wished for this to end. The need to keep reading beyond what is written is immense. This story is compelling and demands continuation.

“The man that I named the Giver passed along to the boy knowledge, history, memories, color, pain, laughter, love, and truth. Every time you place a book in the hands of a child, you do the same thing. It is very risky. But each time a child opens a book, he pushes open the gate that separates him from Elsewhere. It gives him choices. It gives him freedom. Those are magnificent, wonderfully unsafe things.

[from her Newberry Award acceptance speech]” 

Lois Lowry