My neighbor and I were walking our dogs around the block this morning when she asked whether I had read The Kite Runner. “No”, I replied, “I don’t like to read depressing books; life can be depressing enough without reading sad books. I am a sucker for a happy ending.” Her take was very different from mine. She likes depressing books, because it makes her life looks wonderful in comparison.Thursday, August 30, 2007
A Matter of Perspective
My neighbor and I were walking our dogs around the block this morning when she asked whether I had read The Kite Runner. “No”, I replied, “I don’t like to read depressing books; life can be depressing enough without reading sad books. I am a sucker for a happy ending.” Her take was very different from mine. She likes depressing books, because it makes her life looks wonderful in comparison.
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Happy or sad doesn't matter to me but I do like neat resolutions and clever solving. I am drawn to spy thrillers and serial killer mysteries, set in venues where I would never find myself, following professionals in jobs I would never dare to do. I guess I'm an escapist reader!
ReplyDeleteI agree with Anonymous 1 because I do like clever solving overcoming disastrous circumstances. Let me recommend Carl Hiaasen for hospital reading, he is funny and the bad guys do get their comeuppance. However I also recommend biographies of people who have undergone awful stress and loss but who have found the strength to survive. Island of the Blue Dolphins is a good kids' book in that genre, also Wild Swans for adults, and two great out of print books, 7 Years' Solitary by Edith Bone, and Three Came Home by Agnes Newton Keith. You might find them at the library book sale.
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