I always feel that starting a new novel is like meeting a potential friend. There are all the same questions: will I get on with it? Will it absorb and interest me? Or will a struggle with it (like those people you ought to get on with, but with whom you have nothing to talk about)? And then there's the missing it (or him or her) afterwards (or not!).
I have to confess that while I read a lot of books, I've forgotten the plots of quite a few within a couple of months. But then there those rare books which I shall never forget, amd which I can't bear to finish. I have to ration my time with them to prolong our...relationship.
Spirit House by Mark Dapin is just such a novel. It's gripping, funny, heartbreaking and very very human. It's one of those (all too many) books that remind me yet again that I shall never be a great writer, but I thank heaven that there are writers like this one. Do read it if you get the chance. Sadly, I shall finish it tonight :(
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I love that feeling when you are settling into a book and just know you're going to be absorbed every minute. I'm glad I'm not the only one that forgets plots - but it leaves room in our minds for those we want to remember :-) x
ReplyDeleteTeresa, I've been known to get halfway through a book before realising that I've read it before. Oh dear.
DeleteThose kinds of books are wonderful, but then you find yourself coming towards the end, and it's almost painful to finish them. Really great books stand up to a second reading (sometimes a third or fourth), so you can always start again on page one.
ReplyDeleteYes, but there are so many books left to be read for the FIRST time!
DeleteI love that feeling of slowing down for the last few beautiful pages of a good book in order to savour it, but at the same time knowing your eye will race ahead, just a little, maybe to the next paragraph, because you can hardly wait to find out what happens. And there is that empty feeling when it's all over and you wonder if you could possibly bond in the same way with the next novel you read.
ReplyDeleteI shall definitely try Spirit House. I really enjoyed The Roundabout Man, which you mentioned a little while ago. Thank you, Frances.x
It does take a bit of time to get going, but I loved it. So glad you liked Roundabout Man.
DeleteI hate starting new books... and I hate finishing them! I shall look for Spirit House as I trust your judgement of a good read, Frances.
ReplyDeleteI hope you enjoy it, Wendy. It does seem to ramble a bit at times, but it's a Jose absorbing read.
DeleteThat should be most absorbing read. My iPad won't let me change things!
DeleteYou're not alone Frances. Mine won't let me either. It's part of the Google/Apple love-hate relationship I think.
DeleteI feel just the same about hanging on to a good book. You don't want to finish it because you are enjoying it so much. I shall order Spirit House at the library. Thanks for the tip.
ReplyDeleteEnjoy it, Maggie!
DeleteI've read the blurb and reviews. It's on my list.
ReplyDeleteJohn is reading it and loving it, GB. I'm sure you will, too.
DeleteThere are some books that I've tried to read as slowly as possible as I don't want them to end.
ReplyDeleteOh, me too, Patsy!
DeleteI love that feeling too, when you don't want to get to the end of a good book. Thanks for mentioning this as I don't know it.
ReplyDeleteIt's made a splash in Astralia, and is about to be published over here
DeleteThere are books that left a lasting impression on me even though I did not always realize it while I was reading them, but I find myself remembering a lot about them years after I've read them. Sometimes it's one or more characters I remember so well, sometimes it is the overall story, the plot, one particular scene or even just one particular sentence that sums it up for me.
ReplyDeleteSo far, I have not yet discovered a real pattern to what sort of book it is that strikes me more than others, but I know that I have to feel that the characters behave like real people.