I led a very misguided youth, my friends. A wild, rebellious life, full of dangling participles, chilled red wine, and moving parking cones around when I thought people weren’t looking…Ok, so maybe I wasn’t precisely a dangerous rebel, but there were mistakes made. For our purposes, let’s say that the greatest of these was the inability to accept book recommendations.
When I younger, people would offer me suggestions for books that I should read, and I, in my omnipotence, would pull my sleeves over my hands and roll my eyes and proclaim to the Heavens “You don’t know me! You don’t know what I should read next!” (Again, this is a bit of an exaggeration, but you get the point).
Eventually, however, as I grew older, and began to accept that I didn’t, and indeed, might never, know everything, I began to realize that other people might actually have some good ideas about books…and other things, as well.
I’ve mentioned here before about the benefits of having bookish friends, but it’s worth mentioning again. Because, very often, friends can see parts of us that we ourselves cannot. Therefore, while some of their recommendations may be straightforward “oh, I just read this and it was good–read it too, so I have someone to talk to”, very often, these recommendations can speak to a part of you that isn’t readily visible, can speak to a part of you that you don’t normally acknowledge, or can help you though a problem that you didn’t know you had. Sometimes, these recommendations speak to the nature of your unique relationship with anther human person, or just remind you of the reasons you entrusted yourself to this person in the first place.
For those of us who love to read, books are more than just entertainment. They can very often become extensions of ourselves and parts of who we are. So talking about books and their characters, their twists and turns, even their settings or details, can be a way of learning about ourselves and finding our way to others. So for that reason, book recommendations should seldom be discounted, particularly when they come from a trusted source (human, or blog…book blogs are great places for recommendations, you know!)
And thus, I’ve included a list of some of the best and/or most memorable books I’ve read as the result of a recommendation, to show how diverse and wonderful a reading experience you can have when you rely on the kindness of others. Please consider this my recommendation to you, as well!
‘Salem’s Lot: I’ve waxed lyrical about this book before, and I will again, but I might never have read Stephen King were it not for my Dad. When I was little, I genuinely thought Stephen King was a friend of ours, because his books (and, thus, his publicity photos) were all around our house. He has a terrific story about the first time he read ‘Salem’s Lot that I’m sure he can tell you if you ask nicely, but hearing it had me convinced that if this book was enough to creep my father out, it had to be terrifying. But the truth of the matter is that ‘Salem’s Lot is so much more than a scary book (though it is, indubitably, a scary book). It’s a beautifully-written book that I have, in turn, passed on to a number of friends, and we have all enjoyed making our own memories of The First Time We Read ‘Salem’s Lot, too!
Eugene Onegin: I was incredibly fortunate to have one of the best advisers ever in the history of undergraduate advisers, not only because she was infinitely wise and never let anything bother her, but because she began every conversation we ever had with “What have you been reading?”. And she genuinely cared about the answer. It was because of her that I first picked up Pushkin’s classic poem. Even in translation, Pushkin’s brilliance is obvious, and his rhyme scheme is subtle enough that the book reads as much like a novel as a poem. More than anything, though, I marvel at the way he can balance the humor and sarcasm of his narrative with heart-wrenching honesty and sympathy for all his flawed and unforgettable characters. If you’re interested, there’s also a superb film adaptation, starring Ralph Fiennes, and directed by his sister, Martha.
Silent in the Grave: I discovered Deanna Raybourn first delightful historical mystery series from a dear friend who was, like me, an historian, a fan of mysteries, and a lifetime devotee of Jane Eyre. In this series, Raybourn not only shows off her skill at creating complex and genuinely shocking murder mysteries, but her characters are total and unique treats to meet. Her heroine, Lady Julia Grey, is a young widow from what might be the most eccentric family in England, and her interactions with her father, brothers, and sisters, are some of the funniest I have ever read. But beyond this, there is her erstwhile and irresistible companion in sleuthing, the secretive Nicholas Brisbane, who is a slightly handsomer, slightly less angsty version of the great Mr. Rochester himself (swoon, sigh, etc.), making this series (in particular, the first three books), sheer delights to read.
Bird Box: This is the latest recommendation I’ve had, and it came from the lovely Lady Pole. She is one of the few people who doesn’t flinch when I talk about scary stories, or dark fantasy stories, or creepy stories, because she knows that reading scary stories can be good for you. It allows you to explore the feeling of fear in a safe place, it allows you to conquer those fears vicariously, and it also helps us realize that we are stronger than the scary stuff, both in books and in real life. So when she heard that this book was a genuinely terrifying exploration of Things That Lurk Where We Can’t See Them, she knew who to tell. And while I’ve only read the first few pages, I can confirm that this book is an immediately engrossing and unsettling one that is going to necessitate keeping the lights on–but it’s also beautiful and fascinating, and I can’t wait.