The Living Library (24 feet by 18 feet approximately) has tiled floors, stone walls and massive wooden beams for the ceiling.
We ask every resident after accepting the retreat guidelines and upon acceptance, to donate two books to the Living Library.
We call the library a “living library” because it grows every time a new resident comes to La Muse.
At the beginning of every retreat residents talk briefly about the books they bring and what they are here to work on.
Your books should be :
- one about where you come from (this can be anything from a novel to a coffee table book), and
- one book that inspires you.
Over the years we have been delighted to receive copies of books, movies, scores, catalogs etc. that residents have created, to share with our ever growing community here. Because of these donations La Muse has amassed an amazing library of great books on anything from abstract art to the DVDs on the sexual patterns of animals!
The double French doors open out onto the terrace:
La Muse Living Library Opening onto the Terrace…
The one-meter thick walls keep this room cool in the summer and warm in the winter.
Some of the books in the Living Library:
Bear with us as we take photos of them all…
Exit Pursued by a Bear and Let me Explain by Gaylord Brewer
Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino
Reflections on the Art of Living by Joseph Campbell, selected and edited by Diane K. Osbon
The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion
Women Who Run with the Wolves Clarissa Pinkola Estes
Everything is Iluminated by Jonathan Safran Foer
Fifty Shades of Grey by EL James
The Liar’s Club by Mary Karr
The Vintner’s Luck by Elizabeth Knox
Invisible Monsters by Chuck Palahniuk
Moby Dick by Herman Melville
Two Lives: A Conversation in Paintings and Photographs by Belinda Rathbone, Roger Shattuck, & Elizabeth Hutton Turner on Georgia O’Keeffe and Alfred Stieglitz.
The Creative Habit: Learn it and Use it for Life by Twyla Tharp