rhapsodic.org is a weblog by Valette Keller

of books and oprah

im embarrassed to admit (though that has never stopped me before) that i have been inexplicably drawn to the oprah's book club section of my local used bookstore.

i think its partly a desire for a beach book - summer reading requiring little brain activity - and partly a need to branch out from my two or three faithful fall-back authors. that need started a few months back when i vowed to not read another stephen king book before getting my hands on something more substantial.

enter beth.

beth hands me a huge shopping bag full of every book she has that could be pushed into the 'literature' section. and i ate it up. i read books on men turning to donkeys, men turning into women, mambo kings, puppies named widdle and puke, and even the likes of horrific monsters. interspersed were a few stephen kings, but i hardly felt/feel guilty.

after i handed back the bag-o-books, i realized that the contrasting genres, tones, and styles was quite nice. since i was now free of that one-genre-rut, i needed another path to take; but beth was out of town. i stood staring at the wall of the used bookstore labeled 'literature'. how will i know what to pick?

thats when it happened. i stumbled across the small cart in one corner with her books. my first one was okay in that sappy woman-must-be-strong-enough-to-leave-husband kind of way. my second selection was so amazing im not even going to sell it back.

ive now read a total of four books from that small rack. ill most likely get more.

ill still be getting the newest king novel (once it hits the used shelves or the library, that is), but my options are much larger now. and im braver in my selections - no more will i worry about whether i will like the book or not. if i dont, i can always stop reading and pick up another.

i may even look for a few books on the npr's summer reading list; i would challenge you to branch out of your reading comfort zones and get something new.

[npr link via jr]