Reading When I finish a good book I am serene and very happy. With one leg asleep, I replay the scenes I like most in my mind, testing their reality. I re–read the preface (this time it makes sense) and try to figure out who the author is from what he wrote. Usually I identify myself with the ideas, the setting, or the plot, rather than with a specific character, but when I read The Book of Lights by Chaim Potok, I saw myself as Gershon Loran, a Jewish theology student who is quiet, confused, and thoughtful. A more recent favorite is Gustave Flaubert's Madame Bovary. Although I disliked Emma, the main character, I loved the way Emma remembered her life inaccurately, shaping it to fit her current mood. I also loved the language. Each description was so vivid and precise that it was like reading a painting. |