Answering the call to post from Lisa I thought I would write about something I love best. That is to go to the library and wander around the shelves and let the books speak to me. I have found so many wonderful reads this way that I just have share it with ya'll! You do not have to marry the book as in Amazon or Borders, but just date it a little, maybe a dinner and movie and if you are not feeling it, if there is no connection, no chemistry, you just take it home and walk away, no obligations, no regrets.
Yes indeedy, I do love the library.
Recently on one of my wanderings through the non-fiction section I happened upon "Confederates in the Attic" by Tony Horowitz. What a fabulous find! Last summer I went on a Civil War (or war between the States as us Southerners refer to it) jag and read a ton of books in this genre. Then I took a long break until I came across this wonderful read.
It made me examine several attitudes I have developed in a different light. I made a trip to the Shiloh Battle Field in southern Tennessee mainly due to the interest this book piqued in meto have a look. I was not disappointed. I was able to even recall some of the history and the narrative from the book which resulted in several abbreviated lectures to Joe.
Then, while wandering around the shelves last week I found "The Year of Fog" by Michelle Richmond. I was taken in by the description on the book cover highlighting her interest in photography and how it was woven into the novel. Once I read the first few pages, I could not put the book down. I was not able to read it in one sitting, but If I could have, I would have. What a heart rendering story about an almost step-mother loosing her fiances daughter! Holy crap!! Was she stolen, kidnapped, or washed out to sea? I am from this moment on a Michelle fan and only yesterday checked out her 2008 book.....I just started it, I'll report later.
I also found "Paint it Black" by Janet Fitch, who also wrote an Oprah book club sensation which was then made into a movie,"White Oleander". "Paint it Black" was another book I could not put down. I have this "thing" about tagging parts of books I really like. Be it a phrase, a paragraph, a sentence, a thought, a recipe, things like that. This book was filled to the brink with post it notes!! I love the imagery she created with words. Books "vomited from the shelves", the waitress had a hair do "like a decorated wedding cake"...stuff like that. Thought I enjoyed the first two thirds of the book, the last part went slow. I kept waiting for it to wrap up.
Last year I arrived at the conclusion that I read to escape the demands of life, to dive into the lives of of others was often a replacement for my life or lack of. When I realized what I was doing, I put on the brakes. Now I am trying to be more paced, more discriminating.
Truth is, I spend too much time in libraries and pawing through book bins at the Goodwill's in Louisville (books 50 cents!!).
I try to avoid escape, but escape finds me.
3 comments:
I WISH I could stay awake long enough to actually read a book. I do love to read, but these days, my attention span runs more to magazine articles and blogs...
I love to read. I also read as a way to escape into another world but I'm okay with that! I learn a lot by reading as about half of what I read is non-fiction. It's probably a healthier form of escapism than than say alcohol or drugs or endless hours of television. I love wandering up and down the isles at the library or book store and end up going home with many more books than I have time read.
I used to be as you were. Read, read, read. Took me aware from where I was and offered entertainment for me. The speed didn't matter much, I retained what I wanted and needed. But I've found in my 'older' years, I am pacing myself and choosing the books more carefully as well as enjoying them as much as, if not more than, my earlier reads.
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