Ordinary Wonderment

Snippet from Aunt's Dictionary

Today's Joy: Me vs. The Great Summer Novel.

I'm fast with a book, Reader. That is, I read fast. Really fast. I'm not just talking being the first to finish a book. Or getting thru the Sunday paper in record time. Those are child's play. I'm talking seriously, freakishly mutant-fast!

For example, I finished the largest Harry Potter book (784 pages) in a day and a half (the others only took 12 hours a piece--mostly less). Every Christmas for years I've bought my brother the latest hardcover edition in R.A. Salvatore's Drizzt series (one of his favorites). He opens it Christmas morning and promptly hands it to me with a wry smile. I finish it that afternoon or the next day. He will get around to finishing it a month or two later, then he'll call me up and we talk about it. I've discovered that few things are harder to do than wait weeks or months for your friends & loved ones to finish the same book so you can actually talk about it!

I also retain nearly all of what I read. Whether it's reading contracts before signing or scanning dense, field-specific articles (you never know what might come in handy later), I'm able to read something and almost immediately formulate ideas, process connections and participate in a discussion about the topic. If you want an impromptu debate on a particular subject--I'm your girl. Just give me some relevant material and five or ten minutes to get it down.

Don't know how I got this way. I just assimilate information really well. So, finding the perfect summer book to lounge barefoot on the porch with usually means acquiring several new books or perhaps rereading a series of old favorites. One never seems to be enough.

I expressed this sentiment to Aunt last week and she promptly walked over to the bookcase and plucked a fat, hardcover from the shelf. She handed it to me and said, "You need to read this. It's a vampire novel, but it's not like any vampire novel you've ever read. It's wonderful and so dense that I was the only one in my book club to even finish it."

Well, I'm not big on vampire novels. But Aunt is a veteran English teacher and a consummate reader with excellent taste, so I took her advice and sat down to dive into this 642 page behemoth. What is it, you ask? Well, Reader, I will tell you. It is a most amazing, meticulously researched, gargantuan-scaled, cerebral adventure novel called The Historian, by Elizabeth Kostova.

As of tonight, I'm only halfway through it's engaging, thoroughly well-written pages. And I'm relishing every nuance and each little revelation! It also helps that Aunt has already read it and can discuss it with me as I go--a very refreshing sensation! If you too are looking for a literary challenge that is satisfying throughout, give The Historian a whirl. I'm betting you will also be impressed with this heart-felt & savvy take on the classic Nosferatu.