Literary Love Connection

Armed with caffeine on a sunny Saturday morning -- such a beautiful thing. Upon leaving my supplier I pause to take the lay of the land. To my left I see Stephen with a copy of Dostoyevsky's The Idiot. (What a beautiful book cover, by the way).

Stephen has had this copy of The Idiot for years, probably since college, but never got around to reading it. "I remember getting it a while back and it's been sitting on my shelf this whole time..." He's just like me! We get our paws on books and let them "mature on our shelves" before we crack them open.

"I'm just getting started but I'm enjoying the book. It's fun. Initial thoughts? It's typical Russian literature. I find I have to really pay attention to all the details, the different families involved, and all the names in order to know what's going."



I asked what made him decide to pull this book off his shelf. He smiles then leans back on the stool he's perched on. "This story is actually pretty interesting. I recently signed up for an online dating site and one of the profiles I'm interested in mentions the book. They mention how they are slowly getting through it so I decided to read along. I guess you can call it our own little virtual book club."

Stephen's favourite book right now? "Oh I'm sure it's obvious because everyone's probably brought it up. It's The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen." I was surprised that was his response. He was surprised when I told him that he is the first person who has ever mentioned the book to me!

"Oh the book is absolutely great! It's sweetly sad and very smart, about a quirky, dysfunctional family. Everyone I've spoken to from all walks of life always tell me they love it because they all can see themselves and their families in the book. We can all relate."


Is there a book on your shelf you haven't read yet but have been meaning to?