Second Chances
Have you ever started a book that you expected to love, and were just completely "Meh" on it? And then, have you come it back to it, weeks, months, even years later, and completely loved it? I've done this. I think books can hit us at the wrong time or the perfect time. This is why I rarely ever say a book is simply unreadable—I say I just haven't encountered it at the right time yet.
Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver is a good example of this for me. I first picked it up and was like, "Huh? Why did I think I'd like this?" I put it on a shelf, and then some time about three or four years later, picked it up again and was like, "OMG! Why did I not love this book?!?," read it in just a few days, and adored it. (If you've never read it, or didn't feel it when it first came out, give it a go!)
The current book I am giving a second chance to is A Gentleman in Moscow, by Amor Towles. I know, I know, it's so frigging GREAT, right? I had heard that. And I had also snapped this one right up at its release, because I LOOOOVED Rules of Civility (yes, all-caps-four-Os loved; I will stand by those caps and every single O.).
So when I picked up Towles' second novel, I figured I would be swept away by page three, just like I was with his first. I wasn't. It was about page seven or so that I felt like I was on a not horrible, but just kind of boring, date. By page ten it wasn't any better. Nor by twenty. I got busy, and never came back to it. I put it aside, and didn't miss it a bit.
But then recently a new friend (who works at the library, so she should totally know) said I really should give it another try. So I did. And wow, what a difference a couple of years makes! By page four, I was utterly charmed. By page twenty-five, I knew I would be coming back to this book every night, eager to see what else it had to say. I am not finished with it yet, but I can already tell—I love it. I'm so sorry, Gentleman in Moscow. Please forgive me.
What are the books you've done this with, readers? What second chances are you ready to give? I hope whatever you're reading right now, you love it. And if you don't, that your timing works out better later. Happy reading!
Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver is a good example of this for me. I first picked it up and was like, "Huh? Why did I think I'd like this?" I put it on a shelf, and then some time about three or four years later, picked it up again and was like, "OMG! Why did I not love this book?!?," read it in just a few days, and adored it. (If you've never read it, or didn't feel it when it first came out, give it a go!)
The current book I am giving a second chance to is A Gentleman in Moscow, by Amor Towles. I know, I know, it's so frigging GREAT, right? I had heard that. And I had also snapped this one right up at its release, because I LOOOOVED Rules of Civility (yes, all-caps-four-Os loved; I will stand by those caps and every single O.).
But then recently a new friend (who works at the library, so she should totally know) said I really should give it another try. So I did. And wow, what a difference a couple of years makes! By page four, I was utterly charmed. By page twenty-five, I knew I would be coming back to this book every night, eager to see what else it had to say. I am not finished with it yet, but I can already tell—I love it. I'm so sorry, Gentleman in Moscow. Please forgive me.
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| Me in 2016: "It's not me, it's you." Me in 2018: "Where have you been all my life?!?" |
What are the books you've done this with, readers? What second chances are you ready to give? I hope whatever you're reading right now, you love it. And if you don't, that your timing works out better later. Happy reading!
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