Bookwormin’ Once Again

Jackie ♦ July 13, 2008 ♦ Leave a Comment

People are often surprised when I talk about the amount of reading I do, even in times of great business like my life has been lately, as we renovate our kitchen, help my sister move, and juggle various amounts of financial paperwork. But for me, times of great stress and frenzy have always been the times when I need to read the most, because reading has always been my escape and my way of meditating, almost, when I need that the most.

So far, I’ve read three more books on my summer list: Almost Moon by Alice Sebold, The Whole World Over by Julia Glass, and A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley. I remember the Glass novel getting less enthusiastic reviews than her first novel, Three Junes, but I really enjoyed it, even the way that September 11th entered the narrative. I also remember reviewers being even less enthusiastic about Sebold’s, which is also her second novel, and there I did agree. While the dynamic between the mother and the daughter was creepily authentic to me, all the other relationships in the book did not ring true to me, which made the narrative seriously flawed. I enjoyed Acres of course, which I’ve read several times before, but found deeper resonance in now after seeing Lear so recently and really being able to appreciate how she turned each of the characters into the opposite of the original, but kept true to the narrative and themes that had inspired her.

I have made little to no progress on my writing though, but am forgiving myself for that!