We all read in different ways. One of the first books I read with my reading group was Snow Falling On Cedars by David Guterson, utterly brilliant. I read it as I always did, to get to the end to see what happened. When we finally met together to discuss it I wondered if I had even been reading the same book! The things I’d missed or had gone over my head were numerous and deep. So I sat down and read it again, a little more slowly and was blown away by the wonder of it. I still read books to find out what happens but I’m a little better now at slowing down and taking a breathe, most of the time. And once I did read the wrong Thomas Hardy novel for reading group and got very confused.
Of course I’ve read both of the Anna Maybury novels quite a few times. I know the stories well, so I’m too close to stand back or be dispassionate about them, and I know what I think lies behind the characters and their reasons for behaving in the way that they do. But it’s made me wonder if any of you found there were questions that bubbled up when you were reading Watching You Fall and hopefully soon Falling Tide? And yes, there is a large part of me in Anna and I do believe that God is in the normal everyday. That what goes on in our heads is rarely what we share with others, as it would often take too much raw courage to do so. I would absolutely love a reading group to take them apart, as long as I wasn’t in the room. I could even allow that some people might not even like them … surely not.
Of course some books can just be read and put down, and that’s fine too. Oh no – its become all things to all people. Oh the agonies of authorship, ownership, apprenticeship and alas salesmanship. Don’t become a writer unless you have a skin of leather and a very optimistic heart. But do let me have any questions that arose from the reading of Watching You Fall, I would be fascinated to know what they are.
