One of the greatest pleasures of reading is also the most elusive. Every once in a while, you find between the pages something that pings an internal knowing, a feeling that you recognize but can’t name. I don’t know how anyone does this, but it’s part of the magic artists possess.
If a writer can sustain this throughout a narrative, you are reading a great book. More often, though, it happens occasionally, if at all. I’ve read plenty of books that have nothing new to say. Others have irredescent flashes.
Here are three books that briefly wowed me.
1.
The author became briefly famous last year when this book was banned from libraries. Not without reason, as it contains graphic scenes of child molestation. It would be a shame to miss it, though, because the author knows things.
I was impressed early on when he said of racism, “The impact matters more than the intent.” Then he hit me with this quote from Abraham Lincoln: “I am not, nor have I ever been, in favor of bringing about in any way the social and political equality of the white and Black races.” Talk about living history!
For putting both the past and the present in perspective, I rate this pretty highly.
2.
I have praised this memoir recently as one of the best I have read in a while. The author was raised by incompetent trust-fund Bohemian parents in the East Village. The gritty street life contrasts with depravation in the home.
Trying to describe neglect to others is challenging. I love this description of the embellishments he tells to well-meaning people to help them understand:
This book is a remarkable story of the pernicious effect of abuse on a child. It made me think about the social cost in new ways.
3.
Some books are a pure pleasure to read. This story of a woman caring for a mentor’s dog is full of lines that make you sit up and take notice.
Describing romantic love, she writes, “It is two solitudes that protect and border and greet each other.” Quoting Rilke, she says, “Do not search for answers but rather love the question. Do not run away from sadness or depression for those might be the very conditions necessary for your work.”
I wish I could live inside a mind that thinks like this. The chance to briefly visit one is the reason I read.
Books Smitten 