Just Read

I've just finished Anita Shreve's "Light On Snow", a short novel about a father, a daughter, snowstorms, an abandoned baby and a remorseful mother. Shreve is the author of many books; I've read "The Pilot's Wife", an Oprah choice. She has the amazing ability to captivate the reader from the first pages of her books. I like the way this story is told from the 12 year old girl's perspective. One reviewer describes the plot as the whole lot of them being "thawed", a pretty good description.

I like this paragraph: "My father sits at the head of the table, Charlotte and I across from each other. For a few seconds the three of us look at one another and at the stack of pancakes, as if we are a family pondering whether or not to say grace. Sitting at a table in our kitchen feels both strange and familiar. It is a simple thing, but my father and I have gone a long time without it." (p. 251)

I love reading fiction, but don't do it a lot BECAUSE I am so captivated by it. It's very hard for me to stop reading a novel, once I begin. Normally, I reserve fiction reading for vacations (summer and Christmas). What I should do, is read one fiction book and one non-fiction (theology related) per week. Then I could feel good about the fiction. But somehow, fiction and discipline don't go together well.