AHHH, life…

I lent a friend of mine two books recently: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nightdress' and 'Vernon God Little' - two books that I thought were really well written, though perhaps not exactly what I would call entertaining - basically too dark for that.. HER description of the books was 'a little disturbing'... :-) I have to say I liked that description!! She for her part lent me a book by Marian Keyes (sp) - I read another book by her in my youth - 'Last Chance Salon'(loved it!) - but I found that this last book, while quite entertaining, was difficult to relate to. It had this unreal fairy tale quality to it that just didn't ring true with me, and even when there were shocking or sad parts, I wasn't really moved!

Well, this afternoon I just finished with another disturbing book by an author known as Siri Hustvedt entitled 'What I Loved'. It is the kind of book that I immerse myself in and read in two days (sometimes neglecting some of my work) but that I will forget all about in another few months! I think this is really sad so I have decided to keep track of all these kinds of books because frankly, not all books can be 'One Hundred Years of Solitude', or 'Life of Pi'. However, they are extraordinary all the same, and I have to keep track of them. The reason I forget all about them so soon is that they relate perfectly ordinary lives, but often depict such flawed and tortured aspects of these lives that they leave me a little depressed to be honest. However, I also feel that some people's lives are actually like that (if not most people), including, to a certain extent my own, so I always find these kinds of books much more relatable to! Not only that, I think they make me more empathetic and insightful with people around me, especially those for whom life on the surface appears to be going sooo well. Although, to be honest, it is not as easy to apply these kinds of insight to my nearest family - I guess that is why I relate so much to them – it’s like ok, these things happen to everyone. That is why I was drawn to A.M. Homes for instance, and just as I did in her case, I want to get Siri's other books and read them too.