That's not true, I've been recently trying with very limited success to control ridiculous, panicky, stressed-out thoughts. However, about a month ago I did think to myself "Hmm, what if I had to pick a favorite book? What would be my criteria?". I'd like to revisit that idea today.
Tell me something good
Perhaps this is a given in your mind, but my first requirement for a solid book is that it tell a good story. Tell me a story and you'll have my heart forever. I just can't get enough of them. Dad used to have this incredible story book he would read to us before we went to sleep. I can't remember all of it, but it had sweeping tales of princes and dragons and giants. I could sit all night listening to him tell me stories that lit my imagination on fire. But my grandmother could blow even the greatest of story-tellers out of the water. My fondest memories are those of me and Jane and our cousins lying in Grandmama's big bed listening to all the mischief Brer Rabbit got into. And her voices! Don't get me started on those. Each character had his own voice, constant over years of story-telling. One of my greatest fears is having a child who will never hear Betty Ruth tell her a story.
A whole new world
One of the most fascinating things about a good book is the world the author creates, whether it be a fantastic one filled with spren or the muggy streets of 1960's Jackson. The physical setting doesn't much matter to me, rather the characters themselves do, how they interact, the obstacles they encounter, the whole feeling of the world in which they live. I should fall completely into it. When I read Pride and Prejudice I thought with a British accent for weeks. When I read Harry Potter I would quickly pop my head back in the room to see if the faces in my pictures had changed when I wasn't watching. When I read the Boxcar Children I would build my own boxcar forts in the slides at recess and gather food (leaves) from the woods outside the fence. As I grow older and more boring, I can escape just as easily to these worlds as I sit on my patio or float on the lake, letting my imagination do the work while my body relaxes. It is the sweetest contradiction, this new world, a wonderfully solitary place I can escape to all on my own, only to be met by characters I have come to know as friends and fellow adventurers. Anyone who has experienced this sense of losing yourself in another place can attest to the frustration felt when someone cruelly shakes you from your new world. I'm not being rude if I don't respond, I just can't hear you over the sound of my friend explaining how he plans to regain ownership of the shipyard he lost while he was a prisoner in Nazi Germany. Maybe just wait a little while, I'll hear you in a few.
I think I can
The most intriguing books I have read are those that made me really think. In order to be the kind of world I want to fall into, it has to engage my mind and make me question things going on in my "real world". How would I respond to the discovery of a house left in my name in a country I've never visited? How exactly would I go about researching all the owners of a 1,000 year old Bible? What if my 8th grade yearbook photo looked like Tina Fey's, would I recover with the same grace and sense of humor? Would I have what it takes? Would someone want to write a book about me? Make me wrestle with myself and my heart's condition, you can totally earn a place on my bookshelf.
Books hold a special and most beloved place in my heart. They were an escape from whatever was going on around me, a chance to live an adventure I never thought I could. They have unfortunately become a luxury instead of the norm. Someday soon, someday when I have the time or the perfect chair or someone to read next to or just a damn good book, they will again take center stage in my life. I cannot wait for that day. If asked today what my favorite book is I would respond that it is the one that makes me hopeful, one that leaves me smiling contentedly and in awe of the people I just met and followed on their journey. Which book is that? I am ecstatic to say I can't remember the last time I could easily narrow it down to one. Each is so different and special, I could never pick just one.
But it's The Giving Tree.
Char thoughts:
I was having the most awful day today until a 45 year old man gave me a fist bump - I miss happy hour apps and wine at Char's house - Do other people like being in nature like me? Or do they think I'm weird - I need to make something today, like I need to accomplish something - I'm not ashamed of how excited I am to watch Grey's Anatomy tonight - I miss Aunt Holly
