Summer Reading - 8/13/08

Summer is a perfect time to catch up on reading. With my favorite shows on hiatus, I tend to leave the television off and spend my evening hours losing myself in a really good story. Recently, I finished “The Road” by Cormac McCarthy. I had seen it at the top of several must-read lists, and after seeing the film “No Country For Old Men” (based on a McCarthy novel) I thought I would see what all the fuss was about.

The story follows a father and son through a post-apocalyptic world. Each day is a life-or-death struggle as they follow “the road” south, hoping for a warmer climate as winter approaches and hiding from bands of cannibalistic thugs in a desolate, ash-covered world. The images were haunting, the writing poetic, and though I appreciated the book (enjoyed just isn’t the right word) I felt a cloud of sadness and depression when I was finished.

Shortly after, my friend Donna gave me a book she had read in 48 hours. Donna is notorious for her slow reading, so I was intrigued to see, once again, what all the fuss was about. I noticed a familiar HQN on the back cover. And as I began the story, I soon realized this was a Harlequin Romance novel. Suddenly I was sucked into the world of Kayla and Kane (does anyone know anyone with names like this outside of daytime drama?) He was a detective with a wounded soul, she a plucky businesswoman trying to clear her family’s name. As I devoured the book, phrases such as “body made for sin” and “a face that would tempt a saint” leapt out at me. It was cheesy, it was improbable, but most of all it was WONDERFUL! 48 hours later, my cloud of sadness was gone.

This reminded me of the time when my husband and I were dating and went to see “Schindler’s List”. The previous weekend we had seen “Philadelphia”. As we left the theater in stunned silence, my husband suddenly turned to me and said, “The next movie we see HAS to be a Jim Carrey film.” (We saw “Ace Ventura: Pet Detective” the following weekend.)

By all means, enrich your mind with drama, documentaries and fine literature. But every so often, give it a bit of fluff to balance everything out. Think of it as mental floss.