Bookshelf
New home for old books
As I ate lunch in the break room recently reading “The Motorcycle Diaries,” a fellow BDN employee mentioned she is an avid reader, too, and cannot part with her books. While I do keep several books — particularly those I received as gifts, hardcovers or those think I may reread — I give most of mine away through an online... »
Books I won’t let go
Dozens of Sweet Valley High books sit in the drawers underneath my waterbed in my childhood home. My Baby-sitter’s Club books are somewhere in the house, probably stuffed in cardboard boxes in the attic. When I was a kid, I said I wanted to be buried with them. I’ve outgrown that desire, but I still can’t part with them. I tell myself maybe my... »
I read that?
I hate it when I’ve read a book but cannot remember the story. This happened when I read “The Double Bind,” a novel I previously mentioned. “The Great Gatsby” plays a significant role in “The Double Bind,” but I think I missed a lot of the underlying meaning and symbolism because I haven’t read F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic in years. Details about... »
Books of pride
Is there a book you feel proud to have read? Mine is “Atlas Shrugged” by Ayn Rand because, I think, of its length. My mom purchased it for me when I was just starting college or was in college because — if my memory is correct — the Ayn Rand Foundation offered scholarship to students who wrote essays about the mammoth text. I... »
“Twilight”
My sister gave me “Twilight” by Stephenie Meyer for Christmas last year and, although I enjoyed it, I didn’t love it in the way I’ve heard teens gush about it. I didn’t get how Bella and Edward could fall in love so fast, and I knew going into the book he was a vampire, so I was impatient for her to... »
“Nineteen Minutes”
I picked a weird time to read “Nineteen Minutes.” Jodi Picoult’s book about a high school shooting has been out for a couple years, but I finally got a copy about a week before the 10th anniversary of Columbine. I finished it the day before the anniversary. Even though I stayed up late one night reading it and didn’t get out of bed... »
Appeal of non-fiction
Growing up, the only non-fiction books I read were textbooks. Now I relish finding engaging books in that genre. I admit I haven’t read many. In fact, I can only recall four: “Pledged: The Secret Life of Sororities,” “The Quarterlife Crisis” and “The Overachievers: The Secret Life of Driven Kids,” all by Alexandra Robbins, and “The Children’s Blizzard” by David Laskin. I recommend... »
The To Be Read pile
Just like my Blockbuster queue, my To Be Read pile never seems to go down. I’ve had a copy of “Angels & Demons” by Dan Brown in my apartment for probably two years now, and I haven’t even tried reading the first page. “The Da Vinci Code” sits nearby. Sinclair Lewis’ “Main Street,” Frank McCourt’s “‘Tis” and Barbara Kingsolver’s “Prodigal Summer” are... »
Read it again, the ending begs
I don’t know how I feel about books whose endings are so unexpected that it makes me want to reread the story. Just thinking about immediately rereading a book seems exhausting and somehow diminishes the accomplishment of finishing it in the first place. Re-watching a movie with such an ending, like "The Sixth Sense," is so much easier. I was faced with... »
Reading: My lifelong love
“Literature duplicates the experience of living in a way that nothing else can, drawing you so fully into another life that you temporarily forget you have one of your own. That is why you read it, and might even sit up in bed till early dawn, throwing your whole tomorrow out of whack, simply to find out what happens to... »
