Some books sit on my shelves for years waiting to be read. They are the Duty Reads, the Guilt Books, the ones that Oprah recommended, the ones chosen for the National Book Award, the ones received as gifts. Currently, the Old Maid prize (given to the book that has sat the longest on the shelf) must go to The Red Tent. I can't bear to give it away, but I don't really want to read it. Book guilt.
This year, I actually girded my loins and read two of the Books That Have Been Lingering: Regeneration by Pat Barker (a wonderful novel of the World War I poets Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen) and The Northern Light (a luminous coming-of-age story entwined with a real-life historical murder mystery). Great books--so what had I been waiting for?
Reading experiences like these remind me of three truths:
- Blurbs and cover art don't always do a good job of motivating readers,
- Some reading just depends on the proper alignment of the stars--like love, we need the right one at the right time, and
- I need bigger bookshelves.
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