Jenny Coates

Encounters with Living Language is to be inhabited more than read, though to be sure it is a a delight to read as well. Christina Donnell takes us into her world where words have not only the power to convey literal meaning but, more importantly, they also serve as a portal to transcend it. We glimpse what it might be like to be so receptive that words invite connection to a consciousness far deeper than the ordinary transactional interactions that dominate our daily lives. I experienced Encounters with Living Language as a delicious gift and an invitation from Christina Donnell to dance with language in ways I'd not done before. I sipped and savored the pages of this beautiful book and felt touched in indescribable ways. And I immediately wanted to start it again after finishing. In fact it does not feel like a book one can "finish," such a static word at its essence wholly inappropriate for words so clearly alive. I expect to visit the shimmer between this book's covers many many times over.