I decided to start this blog after staying up way past my bedtime last night to finish "The Girls" by Emma Cline. (Great book, by the way; more on that below.)
It occurs to me that a wonderful, thick and colourful thread runs through us: the love of a good book. The thread winds through many of the same books, and the ones that are near our thread are ones we may want to hear about. So this blog will be my list, with comments, both positive and negative. After awhile, I find it's pretty easy to tell if a book is for you. And, that sometimes just our mood or where we are on our journey can affect the types of books that attract us. I have been through Tudor England fictional history, couldn't get enough of it, but now, not so much. Funny, eh?
Also, I find snippets in books that move me. Sometimes a sentence, or a full paragraph, that resonate so strongly with me that I want to share (or run around shouting about it, so this is better). Have you ever read about a character's thoughts and been blown away that they have been inside of you, waiting to be articulated by a great writer? Actually, this just happened to me during the reading of the above-mentioned "The Girls". Here's the quote:
"Mitch studied me with a questioning, smug smile. Men did it so easily, that immediate parceling of value. And how they seemed to want you to collude on your own judgement."
Wow. This spoke to me and articulated a feeling I've had many times. It's a reaction that has remedied itself somewhat as I become older and more self-assured. But oh man, how easily we give away our power, and shift all the judgement, no matter how flawed, to the other person. Sometimes I walk away and think, 'why did I do that?'. It's like giving an opposing soldier your weapon and then putting on his uniform against yourself. Anyway, great quote from a great writer.
So you get the idea of what I'm aiming at here. I would love to get comments from people reading this blog. Books that spoke to you, quotes that resonated within them. That dialogue would be amazing.