Book 43 - Ann Hood "Morningstar"
Jul. 29th, 2021 11:12 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jazzy_daveAnn Hood "Morningstar" (Norton)
Ann Hood grew up in a small town in Rhode Island, the children of Italian immigrants, who always dreamed of traveling beyond and becoming a writer. In this book of ten essays or Lessons she learned from books, Hood explores the many ways that reading is not an escape from life, but a way to live.
I generally love getting a glimpse of a reader's relationship with books, but I had a tough time with this one. I admit some of the faults may lie with me as a reader. First, I didn't realize they were essays until I was partway through. I'd been reading it as a connected narrative and was growing impatient with repeated thoughts and not being able to follow what was happening chronologically. Next, Hood grew up during the 1960s and read a lot of books that I have not. Usually, even when an author's personality or experience is markedly different from mine, I can connect with shared favourite books. I've only read one of the books that Hood mentions as seminal in her life, and I didn't like it - the others, I've heard of but have no interest in. There were moments where I could glimpse a fellow book and language lover, such as when she talks of reading the right book at just the right moment or having family members that didn't understand how she could be reading instead of playing outside. But most of the time I was bewildered by her precocious reading and wondering if she's really as elitist as she sounds when she almost apologizes for loving a book that she's since grown to realize isn't as well-written as she once thought. If you're a reader and love books about books, though, don't let my ambivalence discourage you. It's a short book worth spending the time to read, and you may discover it connects with you better than it did me.
Ann Hood grew up in a small town in Rhode Island, the children of Italian immigrants, who always dreamed of traveling beyond and becoming a writer. In this book of ten essays or Lessons she learned from books, Hood explores the many ways that reading is not an escape from life, but a way to live.
I generally love getting a glimpse of a reader's relationship with books, but I had a tough time with this one. I admit some of the faults may lie with me as a reader. First, I didn't realize they were essays until I was partway through. I'd been reading it as a connected narrative and was growing impatient with repeated thoughts and not being able to follow what was happening chronologically. Next, Hood grew up during the 1960s and read a lot of books that I have not. Usually, even when an author's personality or experience is markedly different from mine, I can connect with shared favourite books. I've only read one of the books that Hood mentions as seminal in her life, and I didn't like it - the others, I've heard of but have no interest in. There were moments where I could glimpse a fellow book and language lover, such as when she talks of reading the right book at just the right moment or having family members that didn't understand how she could be reading instead of playing outside. But most of the time I was bewildered by her precocious reading and wondering if she's really as elitist as she sounds when she almost apologizes for loving a book that she's since grown to realize isn't as well-written as she once thought. If you're a reader and love books about books, though, don't let my ambivalence discourage you. It's a short book worth spending the time to read, and you may discover it connects with you better than it did me.
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