During a recent exercise, we took a favorite book (Lucy Sullivan is Getting Married) and broke down the elements. It was a bit surprising to discover a) from a writer’s perspective, it wasn’t all that well done, and b) that didn’t matter to us because the parts we adored the first time, we adored the tenth time. That’s the way it goes for us — we have a long list of favorite novels, but an even longer list of favorite sentences and paragraphs.
Yes, we keep books simply so we can revisit that one line on page 67.
Picking a favorite from the library in our mind would be nearly impossible. Is it a cold and rainy day? Well, then that would be The House of Mirth Is it so hot that it feels like we’re a loaf of bread, turning golden brown? On such a day, we might aim for Pride and Prejudice Are we sad? Are we happy? Do we want to think a lot or a little? Are we looking to be challenged or to escape?
There isn’t a single book we seek in moments of crisis, it is a particular mood. And to us, this makes the fact that anyone can choose all the more amazing.
- Life lessons: Everyone has a favourite book, but what was the novel that changed you or saw you through a crisis? Lisa Jardine asked hundreds of women to nominate their ‘watershed’ work of fiction, with some surprising results
