Mission

Bibliophiliac is the space where one passionate, voracious reader reflects on books and the reading life. You will find reviews, analysis, links, and reflections on poetry and prose both in and out of the mainstream.

A book must be the axe for the frozen sea within us. Franz Kafka

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Falling in Love with a Book

Once in a while I pick up a book, turn a page, begin to read....and immediately become completely absorbed. I'm in the world of the book. I can almost feel my heart and pulse slow to the pace of the sentences, so entirely am I immersed. Falling in love with a book is a little like falling in love with a person; you're struck by how in tune you are, how your breathing and the rhythms of your hearts fall in together. When you walk down the street, you notice how effortlessly your steps match, your hands touch as if by accident. You speak, and you are finishing each others' sentences....

When was the last time you had a love affair with a book? What was it like to fall in love that way? What book was it, when and why? And was it wrenching when you had to say goodbye, let go?

15 comments:

Short Story Slore said...

The last book I fell in love with was Vida by Patricia Engel. It's a collection of short stories centered around Sabina and after finishing the first story, I couldn't want to keep going, but then when I realized I was at the last story, I wanted to just go back so it wouldn't end so soon. I know I'm in love with a book when I think about it when I'm not reading it and when I don't look forward to the next book lined up. Or when I start treating the characters like real people because they feel so real. I start to imagine what happens when the book is over and then I don't allow anyone to borrow my copy because I never know when I'll be in the mood to pick it up again.

bibliophiliac said...

Yes, my experience is exactly as you describe it. It is really hard to go on to the next book then--you get a sort of book malaise.

Jessica said...

Mine was Jane Eyre, I really loved that book. I always know when I love a book because I only read it in the evening when there are no distractions, its almost like its too good to read during the day LOL

bibliophiliac said...

@Jessica-Jane Eyre is one of my favorite books of all time. I've read it at least three times.

harkin said...

Kim by Rudyard Kipling. Not so much that I coukdn't move on just extremely disappointed that the story didn't continue.

ImageNations said...

The book I fell in love with was Two Thousand Seasons. Can't explain the feeling but it is a book I completely understood and felt some kind of bond with...

bibliophiliac said...

@harkin-when a book engages you that much, you feel you know where the story should go--that's total immersion....

bibliophiliac said...

@Nana-Two Thousand Seasons sounds like a book I really need to find. A reviewer on Amazon said "I read this book every day as if I was married to it."

Betty said...

This is why I am such a book slut. I've fallen in love so many time I can't even remember all of them. It all started, of course, with Nancy Drew. Later Doris Lessing got me with The Children of Violence Series. I was sucked into the 15th century in Dorothy Dunnett's The House of Niccolo series. I definitely loved Michel Tremblay's The Fat Woman Next Door is Pregnant and I still have the yellowed paperback even tho I have no memory of the story (time to reread!). And Cold Sassy Tree by Olive Ann Burns. And and...

bibliophiliac said...

@Betty-I went through a huge Doris Lessing phase, starting with Martha Quest, and culminating with The Golden Notebook. I got to hear her speak once in Boston.And I was a big Nancy Drew fan,too. It's sometimes the right book at the right time, or the right writer....

Elaine said...

Oddly enough - I fell in love with a book today and here is my review

http://randomjottings.typepad.com/random_jottings_of_an_ope/2011/04/the-unbearable-bassington-saki.html

Lindsay Cummings author said...

following you from lucybird's blog hop! =]

follow me?
http://lindsaycummingsblog.blogspot.com/

Aisle B said...

Hmmmm I think my husband would be alarmed by the number of affairs I've had then via my reading ventures... Literal passion not the human kind ;)

My motto in life is "Words are my PASSION... So READ IT!"

Lesa said...

Countless times. It seems like the truly absorbing books don't come along as often as they used to.

Last year, for me it is was Rhett Butler's People, The Forgotten Garden and a few others. this year so far: Stargirl and The Woman in White stand out.

Reaching the end is always bittersweet.

Robyn Ryle said...

It hasn't happened lately, and I'm missing it very much. Maybe Major Pettigrew's Last Stand.