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The Book of Marvels

a Compendium of Everyday Things
ksoles
Dec 05, 2012ksoles rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
The fridge, the sink, the stove. Towels, bobby pins, clothes hangers. Such everyday objects don't generally inspire a lot of deep contemplation but, in Lorna Crozier's new book, the mundane becomes poetic and meditative. "The Book of Marvels" contains 85 prose pieces on the mysteries of the quotidian, ranging from ordinary items to less tangible features of existence such as Happiness, Heart and Darkness. Combining mischief and exuberance, longing and grief, the collection reads as a "trip into the thickness of things" and invites its audience to sit up and pay attention to all these random things. After Crozier's book, it takes longer to navigate through any ordinary day given how much attention needs to be paid, how much marvelling needs to be done. It becomes impossible to be bored or to take anything for granted. Crozier sums up this notion in "Feet," writing: "Don’t believe they can walk on water. Convince them you are content with the modest daily miracle of walking on the earth.”