Resonating

It's hard to talk about a book without giving away important points that might ruin the story for someone who hasn't read it yet. And all Reader's Advisory aside, it's hard to blithely recommend a book to someone without knowing all their various likes and dislikes. It all comes down to taste, just like food.

I love salad, especially salad with lots of unexpected un-salad-y ingredients, like mandarin oranges, and nuts and seeds. If someone made me a wonderful salad and proudly presented it, carefully arranged on a chilled glass plate in front of me, I would be thrilled. But if, halfway through, I found olives in the salad, I couldn't eat the rest of it, and would feel faintly ill as I remembered how much I'd already eaten, wondering if I'd already ingested the tiniest bit of olive essence. Because I absolutely despise olives. The most savory of dishes is completely ruined for me if there are olives in it. I can't just pick them out and politely leave them on the side of my plate, I am almost overpowered with the desire to go rinse my mouth and then consume copious amounts of bread to wash the taint away.

It's the same with books. I could recommend a mystery to you, knowing that you like mysteries, but unless I know that you absolutely can't read a book where a dog is mistreated, I can't know that you would find a fabulous mystery that just happens to contain a mistreated dog to be a horrible book.

A few years ago I recommended a favorite book to a friend. She hated it, because of a horribly repulsive scene. She wondered out loud how I could recommend a book with such a repulsive scene in it. I had been equally horrified by the scene, but for whatever reason, had been able to put it aside and loved the rest of the story.

I've mentioned to a few people recently that I just read "The Kite Runner" and each of them have said "Ohhhhh, wasn't it good?" It startles me each time. Was it good? Well written? Undoubtedly. Did I like it, did I enjoy reading it? I don't think so. Would it make sense for me to say it was good, like cod liver oil, but not good like freshly baked bread with melted butter? Or is it like a grilled pizza with sundried tomatoes, goat cheese and olives? Something I can recognize as delectable for other people, but not for me.

Either way, I read my vampire book, and enjoyed it. It was pretty light and fluffy. Then I picked up "The Mermaid Chair" by Sue Monk Kidd, of "The Secret Life of Bees" fame. Again, I can't really talk about it without giving away key points and thereby ruining it for someone who might inadvertently read this. Suffice it to say that I enjoyed it, and will want to read it again in a few months, and then again some time after that. I think some of the themes will resonate in me for a while, and a book that I really liked upon first reading will mean more and more to me as I read it again and again. I finished it this time on a cold and overcast day, tucked into bed with my two kitties and my two quilts. One kitty tucked up against my side where I could dry my tears in the soft fur of his neck, the other kitty curled up on the other side of the bed, just out of reach, with her nose tucked under her paws and one eye open, looking at me. Did you ever wonder what cats think about our reading habits?