9 Jun 2010

Sublimely beautiful books

I'm sure that you've all read many unputdownable books, those page turners that keep you awake until well into the night.

But I wonder, have you ever read one of those beautiful books that you can't bear to read because then it will be finished? These books are the ones that you sneak a peek at when ever you pass but that you ration carefully like the last drops of a favourite perfume or a wonderful box of Godiva chocolates knowing that when the last bit is gone then it is gone forever. These books are rare. They're oh so special, and are sublimely, exquisitely beautiful. When you recall them you feel their peacefulness all over again. D'yaknowwadImean?

I've read three books that fit into this category - one only recently.

These are they:
I'm currently reading Barbery's The Gourmet. It's good too, but so far doesn't seem to have the magic of the hedgehog, despite my overriding interest in all things food. I've also read Marlena de Blasi's subsequent books, Tuscan Secrets and An Umbrian Love Story, but both have failed to grip.

I'm told that I'll adore Gilead by Marilynne Robinson too. It's on order at the library. I hope it is as good as the three I've mentioned about but somehow I doubt it.

Books this special don't come along very often.

What are yours?

7 comments:

  1. The Merry~Go~Round in the Sea. Such a beautiful evocative book.

    The Waterlilly.

    How Green Was My Valley.

    There are others but that will do for starters.

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  2. No Ordinary Time by Doris Kearns Goodwin
    As for fiction--wow, I'd have to really think! "Memoirs of a Geisha" WAS excellent...I'll think it over and come back!

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  3. I'll answer this one in two weeks!
    I love when you can step into a good story.

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  4. Hello Jeanne! Thank you for stopping by and visiting me the other day! I love it when you do "O)
    I just written a post I HAD to share with you and it fits perfectly here - well, from a childs point of view perhaps (we will all be disappointed when we get to the end I think). If you want to know the book we are LOVING at the moment pop on over here: http://gigglyhq.blogspot.com/2010/06/read-louds.html.

    It was thanks to you we picked this one up!!! Can't thanks you enough!

    Blessings!

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  5. Wish I edited my comments PRIOR to posting them!!! Hope you can make sense of my AWFUL grammar in the above comment!!!! Sorry!

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  6. Jeanne, I loved _Gilead_ and really hope you enjoy it, too! So many sections read like poetry. And I also very much enjoyed _Geisha_. The Hedgehog book is on my to-read list, and I recently saw it reviewed in a literary catalog I get in the mail, so I'm even more intrigued. . .

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  7. I also loved Geisha. Curious about Hedgehog now, though I simply can't add another book to my stack. Agggghhhh.

    Have you read these?
    A Severe Mercy - Sheldon Vanauken
    Little Women and Little Men - Alcott
    To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
    Ahab's Wife - Sena Jeter Naslund
    A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry

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