Best 09: Day Four

What is the best book of 2009, the book – fiction or nonfiction – that touched you? Where were you when you read it? Have you bought and given away multiple copies?

I must admit, I judge a book by its cover. If the picture isn’t aesthetically pleasing to me, if the typeface isn’t interesting, if the title isn’t compelling, or if the colors are jarring, I am likely to pass over a book. Unless it has been recommended to me with evangelical intensity. Or is a selection for my book club. Then, I’ll tentatively pick it up and read the inner flap or back cover. If the story summary is at all intriguing, I’ll skim the first five pages. If I think the story is crap and the writing is crap, the book is doomed. If I’m undecided, I’ll skim the last five pages.

Yes. I read the ending first.

But only if I’m not already hooked.

I give a book seven (by my count) chances to catch me in its imaginative grasp. Why? Because I love books.

I spent my childhood with my nose in one. The melodrama on the page kept me safely distracted from the real drama of my physical world. When I needed an escape, books never let me down. Hell, they still don’t. As long as I choose the right ones for me.

This year, there have been a lot of sharp edges in my physical world, and I’ve been drawn to stories of whimsy and romance. Imagine my surprise, then, when I began to reflect upon Gwen’s question of the day and quickly realized that the book which touched me most this year had everything going against it.

I hated the cover art.

The title was crude.

The story was ALL sharp edges.

The book? Bastard out of Carolina. By Dorothy Allison

The copy I came across has an utterly drab and desolate Dorothea Lange photo as cover art. Strangely, I actually love Dorothea Lange’s work. Usually. But I detested this picture on sight.

Every visual clue from the book jacket conveys BLEAKNESS. Last I checked, that’s kinda the opposite of whimsy and romance.

Of course, when the story is about a young girl trying to make sense of her world while living in a desperately poor, abusive family structure, bleak is probably the right imagery with which to work.

I wouldn’t have touched this book with a ten foot pole if it hadn’t been my book club’s choice a few months back, and I hadn’t developed a reputation in said book club of not reading the books. I was kinda wanting to shake things up.

So I picked it up.

And I read the first five pages.

And, five hours later, I had a crick in my neck, couldn’t walk straight from sitting for so long, was out of Kleenex, and slid oh-so-slowly back into the physical world. Stirred. Stunned. Stung. And silent.

When that happens, I know I’ve found a great book. It doesn’t happen as often as I would like but when it does… it’s magic. It’s what compels me to keep picking up more books.

Consider this ramble my recommendation to you, my friends, to check out Bastard out of Carolina. I won’t give you a copy, but please don’t think me a Grinch. I don’t own a copy of it myself. I rediscovered the LIBRARY a couple of years ago, you see, and it’s a beautiful thing. They let you read books for FREE!

Be Sociable, Share!

•