Two-Fifty Tuesday: Book Choices

Stay Open To Surprises

There’s a steadfast rule that my family must give me at least one book for Christmas. I dutifully provide a list; they dutifully buy off it. One Christmas, though, my husband discovered a book he thought I’d like that was not on my list. He knew the risk he was taking.

When I opened the gift, I felt silly. I’d never heard of the award-winning literary novel (Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell). I’m the one in the book business, not my husband. Wasn’t I supposed to know more than him?

Until I remembered there are hundreds of thousands of books published every year. Millions if you count other countries around the world. How could I possibly be expected to know about all of them?

I tried, years ago, to keep up. I remember reading many, many book review magazines, blogs and websites. I’d make lists of all the books I wanted to read. You know what happened? I spent all my (precious little) reading time reading about books rather than reading books.

I want to be informed about the writing world, but it’s so vast that I can’t know everything. And that’s a good thing, because it takes the pressure off. Now I can concentrate on my own areas of interest. And when someone else unearths a gem I’m unaware of and shares it with me? I can simply enjoy the surprise.