Reading Fiction

Since I wasn't able to come up with a fiction book that was life-changing for me, I've been thinking a lot about my reading habits. The last few months, I've read several non-fiction books, many children's books . . . and not much fiction. In fact, I've mainly read murder mysteries! Lately, I've been enjoying those of Dorothy Sayers, that great advocate of classical education. They are just light enough to relax me, but not too deep as to require much critical thinking. I am realizing that one thing I am really missing from Ohio is the book club I was involved in there. We were a pretty small, informal group, but it forced me to go outside my comfort zone in terms of reading materials, and it also gave me a wonderful outlet for adult conversations. I love to discuss books! Even books that I really didn't like, I enjoyed hearing others' perspectives on them. We read a very eclectic mix of books. We read some classics, such as Sense and Sensibility (our first book), Wuthering Heights, Uncle Tom's cabin, and To Kill A Mockingbird. We read some historical fiction, such as Cold Mountain, Girl With a Pearl Earring, and The Red Tent. We read some more "modern" books, such as The Poisonwood Bible, Behind the Scenes at the Museum, and Bel Canto. We read some books I absolutely hated --Best Friends, and The Lovely Bones come immediately to mind. Also, Little Altars Everywhere, which is the predecessor to Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood (we read both books together). Many people think the second book is wonderful, and also the movie, but I think if they had read the first book, they would have a very different opinion. The mother, Vivian, is an evil person who substantially abuses, even sexually, her children. The second book doesn't really get into all that, and we were all completely surprised and horrified by it all. Well, that was all a big digression to say that I guess I need the discipline of meeting with a group to force myself to dig into fiction. Another reason I liked the group was that we didn't read all modern fiction. You know, that really depressing genre of literature where everyone is so world-weary, and bad things happen in very sad yet fatalistic ways. I think that is one reason why I am leary of grabbing random fiction books off the library shelves, or from the New York Times best-sellers list! Every so often, someone on the Well-Trained mind board will ask what people have been reading, and people will give a big laundry list of titles. Today I wrote down several, looked them up on Amazon to try to determine if I would really like them, and made up a library list. So maybe the next time I go, I will not bring back only light murder mysteries! But still--who will I discuss them with? I am not starting a book club on top of all this crazy science fair stuff! Oh well. I guess I'll have to post reviews.