The Power of a Good Book
My friend Lani's been busy today, sending me a droll 90 second video from Unbridled Books, and a quote that touched her....
Unbridled Books P.S.A. from Unbridled Books on Vimeo.
By Maja Djikic, Ph.D. posted at OnFiction.....
"You make me leave the house hungry and unshowered, clutching your covers, one foot barely before the other. The little voyage from my house to the office a thousand days long. When the life of your words is too much to bear I halt, breathe, and try to hush the background buzz of people and cars and feet all striding confidently somewhere. I abandon your words to my mind, I let them invade me. I devour them one by one, or in dozens, or in herds and flocks and floods. Suck on them like on roasted ribs, turning them this way and that in my mouth, and when nothing is left, lick my fingers with heavy joy. You make me stop on the street, on the corner, on the stairs - perhaps sit shielded from the wind in some building, on my way to somewhere, now I forget where... You make me almost perish under the wheels of a brand new pick-up truck (No need to yell, Mister, can't you see I'm in love?). I admonish myself for wanting to flare ahead - wanting to have all of your words all at once; chide myself for losing the most delicious details in my great hunger. I cover the next paragraph, the following page with my palm and laugh at myself for with giddiness of a child knowing she will have her cake, and have it, and have it, and will have her cake and eat it too. I finish you (as if there is such a thing, an end of you) sitting in my office. And then close your covers and smile - all that, all that, before my morning coffee."
Which leaves me with just one question - what book are you loving at the moment?
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It takes it sweet time drawing you in, it is not a book that can be classified as fast read. You have to be wiling to give the writer as much time as she needs to draw out the narrative. Due to its long drawn-out pace it was easy for me to set the book aside for lengths of time and and not grab it my first available free minute. That was not the case with 'the Historian'.
I have a distinct memory of once finding a person reading it in my local library. It was early evening and the library was humming with activities, carts being pulled around nosily by the teenage staff, loud excited voices heard over form the kids' story time session, rustling of newspapers being read mostly by seniors, the clicking noise of the computers keys and in the middle of it all was a woman, mid 30's, reading "the Historian". It was the very last chapter and she was completely oblivious to the world around her. I watched her for some time because it is always a pleasant sight to see some one enjoying the same work that you yourself have so much admired. What held my attention was her total disconnect from her surroundings and her complete and utter absorption in what she was reading. I imagined her wanting to enjoy the climax of the that very thick book in as peaceful and comfortable setting as should could... she has already served dinner to her family, helped her kids with their homework, asked her husband what kind of day he had at work but the evening is still young and it will be couple of hours before at least one person in her family won't be clambering her attention. She really has no choice, she has to get back to her book, find out how the story ends, and she has to read it with as much absence of distraction as she can manage. It might be a cafe/restaurant around the corner, the kind not frequented by loud voiced patrons or shrill music or in my lady's case it was the branch of the local library.
The Swan Thieves did not grabbed me as The Historian did but don't get me wrong. It is an excellent read and I will recommend it to anyone who loves book for the simple pure joy of reading. It might start and stay slow paced but the it is worth the read, specially the last one third. While 'The Historian' was about the timeless character of Vlad III (Dracula) 'The swan thieves' evoke the familiar yet not universally appreciated French Impressionist art. It gave me a hankering to go to National Gallery of Arts and revisit the French 19th century Collection.
That's what a good book does-it does not end at the end of last chapter