Saturday 13 October 2012

holding on


I just finished 'Prodigal Summer' by Barbara Kingsolver, my reading time usually consists of nighttime  moments, stolen, as the rest of the house sleeps and I try desperately to keep my lids from falling. Reading this book brought back so many other moments (that I had forgotten) of utter deliciousness of being so in love with the whole book reading experience. I devoured most of the book, delighting in the stories that were unfolding within it and finding myself thinking about the story whenever I was away but then I realised, all too suddenly, that "oh no" I was nearing the end so I quickly reigned myself in, I changed my reading pace and read as if I was being bathed in it, I would put the book down even when my eyelids were still, relatively, open. And then I finished and the whole story was complete within me, I felt full, yes,  I wished it would go on but I was aware of that feeling, that wonderful feeling of being connected to it, in it's completion. I haven't had such a wonderful book reading experience it quite some time and now, now, I'm not sure where to go now but for now I am savouring this feeling.

9 comments :

  1. Thanks for sharing this Jay I am always on the look out for a good read. The last book I read and totally immersed myself in was 'House of Sticks' by Peggy Frew. I will seek out 'Prodigal Summer', I tried reading Barbara Kingsolver's book Animal Vegetable Miracle and just couldn't get into it even though I really wanted to. I will give it another go. Hope all is well with you. finally Spring is showing itself here today and we are heading outdoors for a picnic xx

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    1. Thanks for the tip re 'house of sticks' will definitely check it out. i am with you with regards to a lot of Kingsolver's books, i did enjoy animal, vegetable miracle though. this is a really pleasant and easy book to read, i promise. enjoy your picnic. xx

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  2. I felt this way when I read The poisonwood bible 10 years ago- parts of that story are still with me, almost as if they've become part of my history! Maybe I'll look for that one next. I just finished people of the book by geraldine brooks- I can't seem to get enough of her stories :-)

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    1. i feel the same way re geraldine brooks (except her latest, i just couldn't get into it, maybe i need to try again), i really enjoyed people of the book though.

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  3. I love the red tent, the only book of recent years i have been able to savour without wanting to check out the end first to see if it's worth reading in full - terrible, isn't it! I also loved the Frank moorhouse trilogy about the league of nations, forgot the title, sorry!

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  4. hi umi,

    for some reason your comment didn't come up on the blog page but wil have to check out 'the red tent' and the moorehouse series, i think that was Grand Days and Dark Palace but i didn't realise it was a trilogy until now, will have to get the third book, i loved the first two. thanks.

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  5. Yep, seems like I'm the only woman in Australia who just doesn't like Brooks! I recently had the book club power and chose Atonement but really, any Ian McEwan is amazing (besides Solaris). They all enjoyed it as well, yay!

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    1. ha ha, yes, it does seem that way doesn't it. Ian McEwan is amazing, i agree, and Atonement, gorgeous. Haven't read Solaris though, probably won't now though. xx

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  6. Just found The Poisonwood Bible at the op shop with a Fill a Bag for $10 promo, so picked it up. Will let you know how I like it when I actually find time to get around to reading it (may be never!).

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thank you, thank you for sharing your words, thoughts, feelings. xx