Reader interview

In college I was sitting in a discussion session that was actually run by the teaching professor and as an opening question, he wanted everyone to go around and say what their favorite book was. I've always had difficulty with this question. How does one pick a favorite? More especially, how does one pick a favorite when it feels as though it is going to define you for the rest of the semester? I don't suggest doing what I opted to do, which was to say I didn't have one with the tacit implication that I didn't have one because I didn't read. 

This was in my years of never wanting to speak up in class, and it was beyond me to explain that there is no way I could pick one, but then offer a book I had enjoyed. This is most certainly what the current me would answer, and probably I would throw in a comment about the period of asking favorite type questions, especially in a situation of unequal power. I often wish I could go back in time and answer for my younger self. 

As I've mentioned, I am currently listening to past episodes of the What Should I Read Next? podcast while I work in the barn. One of the types of episodes they produce is a guest joining the interviewer in order to get new reading suggestions. In order to get to know the guest, they are asked to share three books which they have really liked, one book they didn't enjoy, and a book they are currently reading now. As I was pondering what books I would share, I was suddenly back in that college classroom. 

How does one pick three books that will define you and your reading to an Internet full of strangers? Especially when your reading is pretty broad? I seriously spent about 45 minutes trying to pare some of my favorite books down to three. My top five all-time favorite books** didn't seem to fit the bent of the show whose focus is more current books. 

I came up with three, but I would still need to preface my reply that these three are hardly a complete snapshot. I know you're curious what I landed on. I would share A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles because it is the most recent addition to my Top 5. Next would be A Psalm for the Wild Built by Becky Chambers. It is such a beautiful vision of a kind and mutually caring world that it soothes my soul. And finally I would add Last Bus to Wisdom by Ivan Doig. I just love Ivan Doig as an author because he is kind to his characters. You can tell he cares for them even if they aren't perfect. This book is what I wanted Towle's Lincoln Highway to be, but wasn't. 

The book I didn't care for also had its own challenge. I tend not to finish a book if I don't like it. There are plenty of books I could list, but none I have finished. To get to a book I truly didn't like and actually finished I'd have to go back about seven years to yet another aborted attempt at being in a book club. The first book chosen was The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty. I didn't care for the character's, most of the plot felt trite, but worst of all was that I didn't buy the premise. I know too much about how trauma effects the brain to think the main plot of the story was actually viable. I'm afraid I pretty much ruined the book for everyone in the book group because they initially thought it was great. I was reminded why I don't do book groups. 

Finally, a book I have currently read that I enjoyed. That's easy. A couple of nights ago I finished Precipice by Robert Harris. I think he is one of the very best writers of historical fiction. His book, Pompeii, was excellent and I was completely involved in what was going to happen even though I knew what the volcano was going to do. In Precipice, one of Harris' more recent books, we follow the relationship between H. H. Asquith, the Prime Minister of England and his mistress, Venetia Stanley. Other than learning about a slice of history I didn't know much about, what was interesting was that the letters Asquith sends to Venetia in the book are the word for word letters that the actual man sent in real life. Robert Harris is excellent at taking a subject that you might not feel terribly interested in, but then draws you in and makes you care very much. 

I'll never volunteer to be a guest on the podcast because I do just fine finding my own reading material. But it's nice to know I have my answers figured out anyway. As a final comment I need to add that I may have to stop listening to the podcast entirely if the host cannot stop saying, "I love that for you." It's like nails on a chalkboard. 

**For the curious my top five books of all-time are, in no particular order:

• A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles 
• Middlemarch by George Eliot 
• Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery 
• Possession by A. S. Hyatt
• A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Making bias tape... otherwise known as the Sew, Mama, Sew! Giveaway

Image
( Sorry, the contest is now closed .... though you're welcome to leave a comment if you like.) [This picture has absolutely nothing to do with this post, but is here solely to give Blogger a different photo to post in the thumbnail.] It's Sew, Mama, Sew Giveaway time again.  I love bias tape.  It is so useful and so easy to use... finishing edges ... finishing seams ...  And while the pre-packaged stuff has it's place and I use it often, I really like to have patterned bias tape as well.  Enter one of my favorite little tools: the bias tape maker.  This one make 3/4 inch bias tape and I will be giving one away at the end of this post.  But first, I thought some of you might like to see what it does if you've never used one before. I don't have a rotary cutter, nice cutting mats, or even a proper cutting table (I cut-out things on my floor), so if I can do this, so can you.  Here is my admittedly quirky method. Step 1:  Lay out the fabric an...
Read more

Sew, Mama, Sew! Giveaway

Image
Sew, Mama, Sew! is hosting another giveaway day , the day where many bloggers giveaway things they have made or supplies to make things or both.  It is great fun to visit a lot of blogs and try to win cool stuff.  So fun that I thought I would participate this year. I had great hopes of making a set of coordinating mother/daughter aprons.  But reality reared its ugly head and I came to terms with the fact that my time is not limitless.Instead of aprons,  I must continue to spend quality time with yards and yards of red plaid flannel.  What am I making?  Well, as I tell my children, it is the season not to ask questions... I will be able to let you know sometime after the 25th. Instead of making something, I went to my favorite thrift store and found some supplies in the form of sheets and pillowcases (some of my favorite raw material).  I'm giving away three pillowcases and one twin flat sheet. I decided to go with bright, springy colors...
Read more

The mystery of the missing soap

You all know that I am an avid reader of mysteries, but sometimes we have our own real life mysteries here as well. Take the case of the missing soap. One of our bathrooms upstairs is the children's bathrooms, whose sink is lower than other sinks upstairs. Now, since it is the children's bathroom, it is not always pristine and things cannot always be found when they are needed. Are we the only house where things just randomly vanish, never to be seen again? This happens fairly frequently. Often the items are too big to have been taken by Borrowers , but every human in the house disavows any knowledge of the missing item. As far as they are concerned, they never even knew said item existed, so how could they have taken it? Often Mr. Nobody gets the blame and we move one, the item sometimes resurfacing at a later date and sometimes not. Early last week, when the little girls went upstairs to get ready for bed and found an entire bar of soap missing, it was classed as one of ...
Read more