Welcome to bookchat where you can talk about anything...books, plays, essays, and books on tape. You don’t have to be reading a book to come in, sit down, and chat with us.
When I read even the simplest book I ask questions. Some of my questions are the basic questions about the characters and plot such as why did he do that or how will that help the problem and I read on hoping to find answers to my questions.
The big question that seems to make a difference to me and makes a book important and memorable is when I ask my self, “What if?”
What if I had to make a decision in my life similar to the characters in the story? Would I do as the characters did? Could I make an important decision and live with my choice?
What if I could travel? Would I go to the same places or different ones? What if I could time travel? Where would I choose to go?
What would I do differently in a bad situation? How would I behave? Would I be heroic? Would I think quickly? Would I run away? Would I help my companions?
Would I take advice? Would I sit down and make a plan or just go with the first thought?
What if I met an alien? Would I respect him? Would I be able to interact with him?
It is the “what if” questions that help me understand the characters. I might never have the same experience they do, but I can put myself in their shoes as I read if the author lets me. I can let my imagination roam from my little rural house to the cities of the world to empires in space, to a courthouse or café.
That is the power of a good book…the participation that is called for as I read. The knowledge I gain, the ability to understand and empathize, the choice to disagree with the solutions offered, is the power of reading a good book.
I did finish the Night Train to Lisbon by Mercier and it was the questions that got me through to the end. Did I think the ending was too vague? Yes, but it was fair and it left me the power to imagine for myself what happened next to Gregorious. What I might decide could be very different from other readers, of course.
I taught Shane by Jack Schaefer for many years and each class had very different ideas about what had happened to Shane after he left the valley.
This week I followed a WW I nurse, Bess Crawford, around England and France in the story An Unmarked Grave. I listened to her questions and several times I might have turned around and gone home myself, but Bess did not. I was there with Bess because the Todds are such good writers that they included me. The questions Bess asked are ones I might have asked.
The book I am reading right now, Two O’Clock Eastern War Time by John Dunning, is interesting, but I have too many questions that I think the author should have answered earlier. They are beginning to be answered for which I am grateful. The big question for me to consider is what if I had a close friend who suddenly disappeared? What would I do? Would I be brave enough to try to find him against huge odds? Would I risk everything to help someone I loved?
Alas, I quit reading In the Shadow of the Cypress by Thomas Steinbeck about half way through because the interesting part of the story was over for me. I didn’t have any questions left. I skimmed a bit to the end and thought it was not a bad book, but the last part was just boring. For me, boring means that I am not given any reason to ask questions.
What keeps me waiting impatiently, but hopefully for the third book by Patrick Rothfuss in his fantasy series that includes The Name of the Wind and The Wise Man’s Fear are the “what if” questions:
What if the woman he loves has been betraying him all along?
What if he can not protect the people he cares about?
What would I do if I were he and had decided to tell my story?
What if I knew the end of my life was coming? How would I behave?
Do you like to ask questions as you read?
Are the books you remember the most the ones that caused you to say, What If it were up to me to decide? What would I do differently? What if I could take a journey like the one in the story? What if I could choose my own ending?
Diaries of the Week:
Write On? Wrong On!
by GussieFN
http://www.dailykos.com/...
Thursday Classical Music OPUS 84: Schubert's Ninth Symphony (finale)
by Dumbo
http://www.dailykos.com/...
NOTE: plf515 has book talk on Wednesday mornings early