Novel Confessions

I am a lover of literature. I am much happier reading a book than I am watching TV or movies, and if I take a bath, I always bring a book with me. I have favorite books that I've read so many times that I know the plot, yet each time I discover something new. I will give almost any book a chance, but I must admit that I'm not a fan of romances or westerns. Romances are so cheesy, to me, and all seem to follow the same basic plot. Westerns bug me because they stereotype racially and sexually, and I just can't get past that aspect.

Yet despite my feelings on westerns, last week found me re-reading my tattered copy of Lonesome Dove. This book is my guilty reading pleasure. It shouldn't be guilty because it is, after all, a Pulitzer Prize winner, but despite that, it IS still a western. Almost all of the women in this book are prostitutes, the Mexicans are horsethieves, and the Indians are savages. In this book, though, there are exceptions to the rules. None of these characters are one-dimensional, and not all characters fit the usual western mold. The prostitutes are all women who have been dealt a hard lot in life, struggling to get by. The American Indians are reacting simply to the shrinking of their land and their property.

But what really gets me about this book is that it makes me fall in love with the story. It makes me want to marry a cowboy and travel places on horseback, drinking whiskey in saloons. Fortunately none of these things are possible, so I'll keep my normal, boring life, but there's something special about an 800+ page book that makes you say, "Is that it? Why isn't there MORE?" The thought of having the power to write like that, to make it come alive, amazes me.

Do you have a book that just comes alive to you? A book that you could read every day for the rest of your life and never be bored?