Audacity Book Club: December Read

By Nic Daniels

 Hello, audacious readers!

I am back from my break! I hope you all are well rested and ready to dive into our last book of year! As we wind down on 2024, we’re ending the year on a reflective and poetic note with the poetry volume, I Heard God Laughing by Hafiz (translated by Daniel Ladinsky).

Written in 1300’s Persia, Hafiz was a famous spiritual teacher that influenced the likes of Ralph Waldo Emerson and Emily Dickenson centuries later. In this poetry volume, he explores his relationship with God and the reader—here referred to as the Beloved—through friendship, humor, and insightfulness. Using classic Persian poetry conventions, he plays the role of friend, lover, and guide to the reader as he dares them to go soul searching. He urges the reader to look at the aspects of their life that weigh them down and trade it for joy and love.

Funny, unexpected, and loving, I Heard God Laughing dares the reader to recontextualize their relationship with a higher power and themselves. This book is available wherever books are sold and possibly at your local library. Many Hafiz poems are also available online if you’re unable to access this specific volume.

Hope you guys enjoy it and I’ll see you at the end of the month for the annual drunk review with Audacity founder, Jessica Wise. Until then, don’t forget to read audaciously!