Laura and Lucy "both read to find windows into our own dilemmas" ( page 49). Do you choose books for the same reason? What book has recently spoken to you the most? Why?
Created: 05/03/13
Replies: 11
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Laura and Lucy "both read to find windows into our own dilemmas" ( page 49). Do you choose books for the same reason? What book has recently spoken to you the most? Why?
Join Date: 01/29/13
Posts: 45
I am reading the Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry and it is surely making me think. Our lives go by so quickly and we have so many missed opportunities because we are caught up in what we have to do. We need to slow down and change our priorities before it's all over. I didn't choose this book for this reason. It was a book club decision but I am happy to be reading it. It's never too late to make adjustments in our lives. I am certainly going to try.
Join Date: 09/16/11
Posts: 165
I select books that are about places, people, and events I am curious about. One of my book groups just read "The Rose of Sebastopol" by Katharine McMahon which is set in the Crimean War. "The Painted Girls" by Cathy Marie Buchanan provides insight into the Paris opera dancers and into Degas sculpture of Little Dancer Aged Fourteen. For a look at the Spanish Civil War, another book group read "The Time in Between" by Maria Duenas.
Join Date: 04/21/11
Posts: 327
I just finished reading In the Shadow of the Banyan, one of the most powerful and heart wrenching books I have ever read. The incredible strength that some people have is just amazing to me. I actually prefer to read books that don't address my dilemmas
Join Date: 04/14/11
Posts: 201
No - I think that I read books that are as far away from my own dilemmas as possible. When I read, I want to completely forgot what is going on in my life and concentrate on someone else's life and problems - even if they are not real people. I read as an escape not as a way to solve my problems!
Join Date: 04/21/11
Posts: 281
Join Date: 04/12/12
Posts: 294
I try to read books that take me away from my real life. I like fantasy, science fiction, mystery, etc. This book in the beginning did hit home to some extent because I recently retired, I am an empty nest-er and my hubby lost his job. So all those thoughts of Laura's were echoing some of the things I have been thinking. I don't think anyone who has lived for awhile doesn't look back and say what if... as you are
"doing life" you don't always have the time to reflect. Sometimes life just happens and you have to go with it.
Join Date: 09/05/11
Posts: 42
I have always read to explore other people's lives and situations. And often, I have found that I can identify with another's feelings or experiences no matter where they exist. My journey to other places and people brings me back to myself.
I like to balance my reading. If I have immersed myself in a "heavy" book that consumes me, I often follow it up with a mystery series that is quick reading with the escape component.
Join Date: 09/16/11
Posts: 165
I select books that entertain and inform. One of my book groups read "The Rose Sebastapol" by Katharine McMahon, and we learned a lot about the Cremean War. We also read "I Am Forbidden" by Anouk Markovits and learned about the Satmar sect of Hasidic Jews. Another group read "The Shortest Way Home" by Juliette Fay and were entertained while learning how family with the Huntington Disease gene deal with it. We were able to Skype with her, and she is great.
Join Date: 01/12/12
Posts: 298
I enjoy books that help me see things from alternate perspectives and give me the chance to examine my own stance on issues. So I don't run away from books that mirror my own life, not at all. Sometimes I find solace seeing how a character resolves issues similar to mine.
Join Date: 09/26/12
Posts: 191
While I don't choose books based on my own "dilemma, I do enjoy reading about something I am familiar with --- be it the streets of Boston/Cambridge or the medical profession.
Join Date: 09/14/12
Posts: 111
I read to learn about new places, people and situations. That's why I love historical fiction so much. It is such an easy way to learn about a certain time in history. This book was good because it really got me involved, I felt I was in the main characters place. I really didn't like Dan at all, she was much more tolerant that I would have been (thought wise anyway).
I read I Am Forbidden to learn more about the Hasidic Jews. I just finished Flame of Resistance, about the french resistance in WWII. It really got me involved. I keep thinking would I have been brave enough to risk my life, knowing I would be horribly tortured if caught? I love my country I would just carry cynadine with me.
Next month's book browse club is Shadow of the Banyan. I am reading that to learn about the atrocities commited by the Khmer Rouge regime in the late 70's.
So in answer to the question I don't read books to find windows into my own dilemmas but to learn and experience others life's drama's.
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