Thursday, March 20, 2008

Bookless

For some boggling reason, I found myself bookless over the weekend. My oldest daughter and I were sick and miserable, but she was a bit less miserable than me because she at least had "Because of Winn-Dixie" by Kate DiCamillo to read and I had nothing. If I wasn't feeling sorry for myself enough then not having anything to read made me spiral into the dark well of self-pity. I'm not a pleasant sick person.

Whenever I find myself in this position of being without book and the library is closed, there's nothing from my holds list waiting for me or what I did check out from the library was a dud, I go to the same place. I stand in my home library and scan titles of my books, trying to remember which ones I had read the fewest number of times and could stand to read again. This is why people shouldn't buy books, I tell myself. You read them once or twice and then don't particularly want to read them again. Children's books are meant to be read at least 400 times and most likely all in the first week of purchasing it. But adult books, nope. Well, with the exception of truly great books that stand the test of time. I've read Jane Eyre every few years and never get tired of it. Ender's Game is another standby. Mostly I own the books I do because they have personal meaning to me, not because I think I'll read them over and over again. Also, I hope that someday my daughters will read them and then come talk to me about what they read. For the most part, books are meant to be checked out from libraries, loved and returned. I'm perfectly content with that. Unless I'm bookless. Then I wish I was a buyer of any book that comes my way. Then I'd have something to read when I'm sick, by golly!

On that fateful day this last weekend, as I stood there, tissue in hand and head full of goo, I opted for "Enchantment" by Orson Scott Card. This book is possibly his best storytelling. Beautiful, layered, captivating and suspenseful it's got all the best of Card's writing abilities. One of the most amazing aspects of a Card book is the dialog. The conversations people have in his books are so real, it feels like you are eavesdropping. My guess is because he started out as a playwright, he knows how to move a story along through dialog. At any rate, it was worth another read. I think I've only read it twice, so that's better than most everything else on the shelves.

Oh wait, there's my husband's collection of Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time books. Bleh. Once is more than enough for those books. They suck you in and leave you a shell of a person while you attempt to navigate it's 5,000 characters and plot lines. Of course I read every new one as it comes out, but I curse Jordan's name while I do it. Those books I will not re-read. Absolutely not. Not under any circumstances. Unless I find myself sick and stuck bookless again, but I'd have to read everything else on my shelves first.

4 comments:

  1. I absolutely agree with you about libraries! I have such a hard time trying to find something to read when I scan my own bookshelves. So I always try to check out "extra" books from the library when I go! Tight now I'm reading "The Omnivore's Dilemma" by Michael Pollan. It's truly fascinating non-fiction.

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  2. I was also sick a few weeks ago and did the same thing. I ended up reading the Georgia confessions books for the umpteenth time because I really needed a laugh. So those are definitely worth buying. But you're right about most books. Read and return.

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  3. Sailor has his favorites, usually our bed-time stories come from something humorous. But the night before last it was a bit much. He read a Pat McManis story from the book Real Ponies Don't Go Oink!.
    The story was "Blood Sausage". It had Sailor laughing so hard, all his "sleep meds" were canceled out and he was wide awake. Last night's story was probably equally as funny, "Zumbo and the Misty Mountain Ghosts" but I think we were both tired enough that it was perfect for falling asleep to. . .
    glad you are getting better.
    ~a

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  4. Glad you are feeling better. I do have my favorites, and while I know the story well enough, many times I pick up a new insight into one of the characters. I think my favorite book in this regard is 'Gone With the Wind'. Actually, these insights probably aren't little nuggets hidden by the author so much as my looking at it differently as I get older.

    A little laughing is good, but we really overdid it with 'Blood Sausage' the other night. Your birthday girl thought is was funny when I told her that grandpa almost fell out of bed laughing. Almost had a stroke is more accurate, but why worry her?

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