When books are more than just books

As I continue reading Lord of the Rings, I am getting further and further drawn into Middle Earth. My love for Sam Gamgee is growing very quickly, and I got chills while reading the stories told in the Counsel at Rivendell. Seriously--chills. I could think that I shouldn't have put off reading the book for so long, but on the other hand, I wonder if I needed to be where I am now to enjoy it as much as I am. It's been long enough since I've seen the movies that nothing from them is fresh in my mind (besides remembering Orlando Bloom as Legolas...), so I feel untainted as I read. I just came off reading another fantasy book that set me up for reading about lands unfamiliar to anyone but fans of the books, which prepped my brain for reading a lot of names of places that only exist on a hand-drawn map in an appendix. It also helped, I think, that I was ready to read a book that went into more detail about the fantastic journeys of the main character--if you remember from my last post, I mentioned that as one of the few things I didn't enjoy about A Wizard of Earthsea. I wanted more details from it, and Lord of the Rings gives me more detail about its story and characters. A lot more detail. So my brain and my book soul are happy.

It amazes me that we all have those books that we have to read at just the right time to really get the full impact of them. I have several books that sat on my shelves after buying them for a long time (or that sat on my books-to-read list for a long time), only to get picked up at just the right moment for me to enjoy them most. Books included in that category are Rebecca (Daphne du Maurier), The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake (Aimee Bender), Garden Spells (Sarah Addison Allen), Lake of Dead Languages (Carol Goodman), The House at Riverton (Kate Morton), The Secret History (Donna Tartt), Water for Elephants (Sara Gruen), The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows), Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen), and The Inner Game of Stress (W. Timothy Gallwey)--among other great books. These--and others like them--are then the ones that I often talk about most and share most freely with friends. And yet they're often the ones that take me the longest to pick up.

I think that avid readers--or maybe it's just me--have a sort of book ESP. We know when we pick up a book or choose one from the store that it's going to change the game for us. Maybe the book is going to make us look at life differently or at other books differently. Maybe the book is that comforting friend we may need in a time of craziness. Maybe that book will serve as our private moment of escape when we need it most. Because of that special little bit of knowledge that largely remains unconscious, we avoid picking up the book until the right moment--whether it's a week or three years down the road. Then, when we do read it, it becomes a part of us. I can't look at some of the books on my shelves without being taken immediately to the feelings I had when first reading the book. I can't part with most of my books (even though books are heavy to move, and we seem to move a lot) because, to me, they are more than just books.

I also acknowledge here that I don't get that feeling about all books that end up becoming very special to me and were, in fact, impulse purchases that I read immediately after buying. The Help (Katheryn Stockett) and The Thirteenth Tale (Diane Setterfield) are examples of books like that. However, maybe that impulse is the same as the impulse I get to read a book I already own--maybe it's all connected.

I think people who read for the love of reading have a very special connection that non-readers just can't understand. That's why my husband can't figure out why I get miffed when I'm interrupted mid-chapter in a book that I've been buried in all day. That's why people don't always understand how hard it is for me to put down a book in the morning to start working on things that actually have to get done. Books feed my soul. And the really good books--the ones that touch me most--become a part of me. The characters cease to be words on pages and become role models, friends, stories of my own past.

That's some deep thought for a Wednesday morning... It's also completely different than what I had intended to write when I sat down to type a post. Funny how those things work.

What I've Been Reading

I've had an incredibly productive reading week, which reflects the fact that I've had a pretty slow week otherwise (in other words, all the work on my to-do list has been effectively pushed back to this week as I enjoyed sticking my nose in book after book).

After finishing Pride and Prejudice, I decided to read the other books I had listed in the first poll while anxiously awaiting results of the second Book-To-Read-Next Poll (which is up and running in the left-hand sidebar). First, I read Bridget Jones: Edge of Reason by Helen Fielding.

It was rather fitting to read Bridget Jones after having finished Pride and Prejudice, as the core of the first book's plot (Bridget Jones's Diary) is based on Pride and Prejudice. The second book focuses on what happens after our modern-day Elizabeth Bennet (Bridget Jones) gets her Mr. Darcy (Mark Darcy). I found that with both the Bridget Jones's books, it took me a while to get into a reading groove--I think the diary-style writing presents a shift in writing style that takes my brain a bit to catch on to--but by around page 50, I had found my groove and immensely enjoyed the book. I might go so far as to say that I like Edge of Reason better than the first book, which I find interesting because I didn't like the movie based on the second book as much as I liked the movie based on the first book. Just another argument for reading the books that movies are based on instead of relying solely on the movie version...

The second book, like the first, is filled with instances that had me laughing and my son asking, "What's so funny? Can I see?" I would show my son the page and explain that the words were funny, but he'd just shake his head at me, probably thinking I'm a bit over the edge of reason. One of my favorite snippets from Bridget Jones: Edge of Reason is when Bridget realizes that she accidentally threw her friend Tom's phone into one of the dumpsters (dustbins, in British English) when she took her trash out, but she doesn't know which dumpster it's in:

Ended up flinging long leather jacket on top of bra and knickers and going out into street to wait till Tom rang the phone so could find out which it was in. Was just standing on wall peering into the dustbins when a familiar voice said, "Hello."

Turned round and there was Mark Darcy.

He glanced down and I realized was standing with--fortunately coordinated--underwear on full display.

"What are you doing?" he said.

"I'm waiting for the dustbin to ring," I replied with dignity, pulling jacket around self.

"I see." There was a pause. "Have you been waiting . . . long?"

"No," I said carefully. "A normal amount of time."

Just then one of the dustbins started to ring. "Ah, that'll be for me," I said... (224)

I love the laid-back sense of humor Helen Fielding uses in her Bridget Jones's books; the scenarios Bridget gets herself into are over the top but believable at the same time.

Once I finished reading Bridget Jones, I moved straight into another Pride and Prejudice-themed book: According to Jane by Marilyn Brant.

I thought the book looked cute--definitely chick lit--making it an appropriate read for summer break. Unfortunately, it bored me. I couldn't get into it, and I found myself skimming more often than not and counting down the pages until the story wrapped up. The premise of the story is that one day Jane Austen's spirit/ghost/voice pops into a modern girl's head, giving her advice on life--specifically on her love life. The modern-day girl is appropriately named Ellie Barnett and is dealing with situations with men in her life that resemble some love themes from Pride and Prejudice. I didn't find the characters believable, which made it difficult for me to make any sort of connection with the book. Not only did I not like Ellie Barnett by the end of the story, I also didn't like Brant's version of Jane Austen by the end of the story.

After being disappointed by According to Jane, I was looking forward to the next book on my list, which I thought held a lot of promise: One Week in December by Holly Chamberlin.

One Week in December is based on a woman (Becca) in her early 30s who, when she was sixteen, had a daughter (Rain) and let her brother and his wife (James and Naomi) adopt her daughter. Now that Becca is in her 30s, though, and completely alone in life, she has decided that she is ready to tell her niece/daughter Rain the truth about her parentage. Rain is 16 and has no idea that the two people who raised her are not her birth parents. The rest of the family is appalled, and so the story focuses on the shifting relationships among the family during their week together for Christmas. I started the book with so much hope for it but ended up doing more skimming in this book than I had done with According to Jane. Chamberlin spends far too much time expanding details that don't matter (I don't care what the characters are wearing!) and attempts to create cliff hangers, but the outcomes to those hangers are obvious, so they failed. And felt cheesy. At one point, Becca thinks to herself that the week with her family wouldn't be "worthy of the Hallmark Channel." That's a bit of planted irony, I suppose, since the story ends up being exactly what you'd expect for a Hallmark Channel movie--including a rushed new love forming between Becca and the good-looking, mysterious neighbor.

And so after reading two disappointing books, one right after the other, I'm moving forward with another book that I hope won't disappoint: Dial Me for Murder by Amanda Matetsky, the fifth book in the Paige Turner mysteries.

What have you been reading lately?

Happy reading!

Unread Book Challenge: Voter's Choice

The voting ended last week for the book I would read after I finished The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly (which I adored), and the winning book was . . . Pride and Prejudice.

I bought Pride and Prejudice about five years ago and had started reading it, but I put it down after the first 60 pages because I just couldn't get into it. I didn't get rid of the book, though, and I was determined that someday I would read it. I Netflixed the Keira Knightley version of Pride and Prejudice last summer and enjoyed it so much that it renewed my determination to read the book. This challenge provided just what I needed to force myself to pick it up and try again. I'm currently about 100 pages into the novel and, despite my typically modern tastes in books, am enjoying it.

So a big thank you is due to the readers who voted for Pride and Prejudice and gave me reason to sit down and try reading a classic. :)

Happy reading!