Stephenson Family Ties

Is it possible to absorb a book so
completely that you miss the fact
that it is not about you and yours
but about people so unlike you that
you ignore all the ways they are different?
from: The Book That Changed My Life
by: Dorothy Allison

One of the best feelings in the world comes when I begin a book, and after reading only a very few pages, I immediately recognize that Im in for a real reading encounter!! When its obvious after only 2 pages...I get almost giddy with anticipation!! I can feel it in my bones that a life altering experience is right here in my hands. I dream of clearing my slate, my calender, my life, and envision nothing but time to read, thoroughly engrossed until Im through!!
I get this way when I begin noticing and appreciating the ability of a 'master' who uses words to move me and take me somewhere I've never been. When Ivan Doig can say what he likes in a few short, delicious sentences, what would take me a paragraph to relate...I yearn for a like talent. I do believe its a gift...but I pray it can also be learned...if one (me) works for it.
Wallace Stegner can do it, as well as Jean Webster and Terry Tempst Williams and Wilkie Collins.
Anne Lamott is my muse...and she shouts encouragement from her pages in books on writing. All these authors have mastered the English vocabulary and weld there trade with sweet precision. They arent just masters story tellers, like JK Rowling or Ron Brown, but they seduce me with their weaving of words, story and character into a story that I wish would never end.
Elizabeth Berg did this for me in her novel- Range of Motion (in my opinion, her best work)
Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner was beyond a masterpiece.

Les Misérables and Tess of the d'Urbervilles are of course on the classics list for a reason...they are brilliant!! They are the real deal.

I am already satisfied that The Whistling Season will find itself on the top of my list of all time favorite books. What a great way to start out 2010's year of reading!!!
I wont be hurrying through this one. Im going to savor every single bountiful page!!