Earlier this summer, I attended a networking event where the speaker was talking about, among other topics, finding your passion and considering making a career of it. Those of you who know me well know that I love to read. I picked up my first book at a very early age, and I haven't really stopped reading since then. As a bibliophile, I thought it might be interesting to try my hand at reviewing the books I read. I don't really have a certain genre of books I prefer, but since I discovered the author Jodi Picoult, I've really enjoyed her books and have read almost every one of them.
This summer, I read and was really moved by her novel The Storyteller. This was a book about a young woman who works at night in a bakery. Think for a moment about the types of people who choose to work at night, and you'll realize why Sage is well-suited for this job. Sage in a grief support group due to the tragic loss of her mother and befriends an older gentleman, with whom she feels she can rely and trust. As they get to know one another, secrets are shared and Sage must decide what to do with some troubling information that she learns from her new friend. This is a book about family, secrets, and those tough moral choices we may face in our lives. As Jodi Picoult so brilliantly does (and not every author can), this novel changes in time and narrator. The characters are so very complex and well-developed, and it was easy for me to identify with the difficulty in the choices they're forced to make.
As I read this book, I found myself dreaming about the characters at night and thinking about them during the day. This is a novel that I wanted to tell my friends, family, and random strangers about. I love to read and find it reasonably easy to identify with the characters in my favorite novels, it's rare to find a story that haunts me so much. It's rare to find a story where I'm sad when it ends because I'm having to say goodbye to people who have impacted my life, This is a book that I want people to read. I feel that I walked away from this novel as a different person. I learned that while I cannot escape my past and that it has impacted the woman I am now, it doesn't have to dictate my future. One can move past the difficulties and losses of yesterday into the future. I've learned that my past does not define me; it's just the past. That’s a really powerful thing.
I've included the link on Amazon to this book, as I'd encourage you to consider reading it. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1439102767/ref=s9_psimh_gw_p14_d0_i1?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=1FJXAMRTWAYF7QC6FCV7&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=1389517282&pf_rd_i=507846
I've recently joined a book club and I will attend their first meeting next month. I'm excited to share my love of books with some new friends, and maybe with my blog readers as well. So, if there's anyone out there reading this who cares to respond, do you like my idea of posting book reviews on occasion, or do you prefer my random musings about my daily life?
