I spent this weekend devouring a novel. I can’t remember the last time I started a book on a Friday and finished it on a Sunday. It made me so happy to feast on fiction again!
After being let down by a book I had been excited to read, I went into this one with little hope. I allowed myself a little bit of excitement about the hay bale on the cover, and cautious optimism for stories of farm land and farm life. I had no expectation that this book would grip me, and the thought never crossed my mind that I would pick it up and not want to put it down until I finished it. I took time this weekend to tape off the baseboards in our living room, to go to the grocery, to bake hamburger buns, and to make chocolate covered strawberries with our daughter. Aside from those things, I read.
And it felt amazing.
I don’t want to build the book up, lest it might let someone down. The main point is that this book thrilled me, and it felt really good to be thrilled by a book again. It’s been a long time. Even with that caveat, I’m guessing you’ll want to know what book it was :-). It was Jane Smiley’s A Thousand Acres.
Butterfly Mind 
I got let down by a book too and very recently! I’m yearning for a good read… Maybe this book will help my spirits rise?! Thanks for the post…
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I’m so happy to hear this! I almost commented on your last post that I remembered really getting lost in the Smiley and loving it. But I didn’t, for the same reason you note. So hooray! Your caveat notwithstanding, I hope you will opine on it at more length at some point, I’d enjoy hearing your reading.
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I finally learned to stop reading a book when it starts to disappoint rather slogging on to the end.
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I love it when I get into marathon book reading mode. I’ve recently read a book that let me down so much so that I can only remember one word in the the title ‘ FREEDOM. I am having a ‘ lets’ read as many classics as I can year’ About too start Huxleys’ Brave New World’. I’ve read ‘ beautiful and the damned’ F. Scott Fitzgerald in January and George Orwell’s ‘1984’ – What a book! . Highly recommend that you read this if you haven’t already. I will keep a look out for ‘a thousand acres’
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It’s a fabulous book and that is always a fabulous feeling 🙂
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I’m so behind in my reading but this book sounds like it could be good. Thanks heaps.
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I just downloaded a copy from the NY public library 🙂 Can’t wait until after work to start it.
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I miss this feeling. Right now, I sneak reading into the cracks of my days. I need to block out more time for marathon reading.
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I read that same book earlier this winter… and it took me about the same amount of time as you. I remember finishing it in a fog and taking a while to settle back into my normal life. It’s a great story!
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I read “A thousand acres” in the early 90s and until this day I remember its pull. So funny to see that it had the same impact on you! Makes me want to reread it.
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Love that book. I read it my senior year of high school after a recommendation by my astounding speech and creative writing teacher. I felt so grown up. Even more so when the movie came to the local theater and I could say, “Yeah, I read the book,” to all my friends.
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on my reading list! thanks for sharing
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Thanks for sharing, I try to have a varied reading list and nice to get something from left field, easy to add to my list as something different. Reading the jelly effect at the moment.
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