About ‘Oh, Revoir!”

August 30, 2015

What is it, I thought this morning, sitting with my journal in the early Sunday stillness, that you create when you review a book through the lens of your own life?  Part memoir, part book review; could you call it, maybe, a mem-view?

And then I thought, Wait–what about a ‘rev-oir’?  Oh, I liked that–it seemed clever and apt, and so I’ve decided that this blog is just that: a revoir blog, and a way of examining my life through the lenses of the books I read.

There’s that old chestnut about never stepping in the same river twice; I think the same holds true for books.  I have books I re-read periodically–the Lord of the Rings trilogy, a wonderful book I discovered in my teens called Pilgrim’s Inn, some of Elizabeth Berg’s work, and others–things that speak to me in ways that makes them essential to re-visit.  I have had books, too, that were life-changing at certain times in my life but that, on second acquaintance, had lost their tang.

Some books speak to us in real time; some speak to us for all time.

And have you ever had a dear friend, someone whose word and heart you hold very, very close, recommend a book you just don’t get?  You start it eagerly; the first chapter is puzzling in its lack of ‘catch’.  But your dear one said you’d love this, so you persevere, but the going gets slower and slower.  You try; you want finish it, you want to be able to say you loved it, to discover what it said to that beloved person, to unravel its appeal.  Sometimes you make it through to the end, and sometimes,–oh, you feel awful!–but sometimes, you just can’t make yourself interact with that book for one more page.

A book is different each time we read it, and no book is the same for any two different readers. Each of us brings our own lens.

*****

This blog will keep me honest; I’ll use this space to remember why a book called to me in the first place and how it came to be on my shelves.  And, as I read, I’ll try to be clear and discerning about what this book shows me at this point in my life.  I’ll hope for connections with like-minded readers, too.

Happy reading to us all!

Pam