Book Geek...
Over the weekend I devoured Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld. I had wanted to read it when it first came out a few years ago, but ended up being put off by all of the hype it got upon publication. My friend Liz brought it in to work last week in the batch of books she was adding to our office's library. We have some bookshelves set up next to the water cooler where people can bring books they've bought, read and don't want to keep for whatever reason. Since I had always wanted to read it, she gave it to me with a glowing recommendation. I was touch and go with it for the first 30 or so pages, but then all of a sudden it became unputdownable.
Being a total geek when it comes to books, I have a habit of jotting down passages that speak to me in some way. Sometimes it is because I find them to be particularly beautiful or sometimes they just hit a nerve. Every so often I stumble on a few lines or a paragraph or two that sum up my feelings about a particular topic so perfectly it is as if the author is expressing the feelings I've never been able to eloquently express. My "book journal" usually just consists of quote, author and the name of the book, but every once in a while I jot down how the passage I've included relate to my own life and why they moved me so much in the first place. The following passages fall into the latter category.
From Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld:
"Our friendship was over. Maybe it could have recovered if only she had had a reason to resent me without my having a reason to resent her back. I can imagine that such asymmetry might have created a fragile balance, requiring forgiveness from only one of us. But instead our resentment was mutually supportive, like a wall held up with equal force from opposite sides." (p. 114)
"...there are people we treat wrong, and later, we're prepared to treat other people right. Perhaps this sounds mercenary, but I feel grateful for these trial relationships, and I would like to think it all evens out-surely, unknowingly, I have served as practice for other people." (p. 245)
Sometimes the power and beauty of the written word truly astonishes me. It's moments like that when I think how limited my world would be if reading wasn't a part of it.
OK...off to watch Project Runway because even though I can appreciate a good book, I'm also down for some mindless entertainment.
Being a total geek when it comes to books, I have a habit of jotting down passages that speak to me in some way. Sometimes it is because I find them to be particularly beautiful or sometimes they just hit a nerve. Every so often I stumble on a few lines or a paragraph or two that sum up my feelings about a particular topic so perfectly it is as if the author is expressing the feelings I've never been able to eloquently express. My "book journal" usually just consists of quote, author and the name of the book, but every once in a while I jot down how the passage I've included relate to my own life and why they moved me so much in the first place. The following passages fall into the latter category.
From Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld:
"Our friendship was over. Maybe it could have recovered if only she had had a reason to resent me without my having a reason to resent her back. I can imagine that such asymmetry might have created a fragile balance, requiring forgiveness from only one of us. But instead our resentment was mutually supportive, like a wall held up with equal force from opposite sides." (p. 114)
"...there are people we treat wrong, and later, we're prepared to treat other people right. Perhaps this sounds mercenary, but I feel grateful for these trial relationships, and I would like to think it all evens out-surely, unknowingly, I have served as practice for other people." (p. 245)
Sometimes the power and beauty of the written word truly astonishes me. It's moments like that when I think how limited my world would be if reading wasn't a part of it.
OK...off to watch Project Runway because even though I can appreciate a good book, I'm also down for some mindless entertainment.