Reading and Writing

It's a remarkable world we live in (Oh God, I sound like my father). Oh well, I suppose some of my voice is really his. My brother said the other day that when he hears my voice on his voice mail that I sound like him, that is, the way he sounds to himself. I have learned that writing is a kind of voice too.

But back to this remarkable world—yesterday, a dear friend recommended a book to me, really an author. When I couldn't sleep tonight, I sampled and then downloaded the e-book, and the author, Marilynne Robinson, leaves me speechless (imagine that).

Now, I am sure we have all had books recommended to us in conversation, I know I have many times before. More often than not, I can never remember them when I am in a bookstore. It's almost as if a curtain is drawn across the part of my brain where such recommendations are stored. I hope the books I missed were not as remarkable as this one.

From the first line, the voice comes tumbling out. I only wish I could write like that—not just to have the words come tumbling out—but for the words to have the capacity to catch you off-guard, to startle you into full attention with their speed and something else, something I can't yet get my head around. I will probably have to read the rest in a day or two just to figure out where we (she and I, the reader) are going with this. The book is entitled Gilead, and won the Pulitzer in 2005.

But this is not about the book; it is about what has happened to that process of recommending a book to someone. Having started on this little adventure, I am starting to rethink the process of recommending a book for someone to read. When you do, the person you are recommending it to can now connect almost immediately. It can, for a dedicated reader, become a new language. With the ease the e-readers provide, a whole heart and mind full of ideas, feelings and thoughts can be sent along by adding the book to your message. Sending your friend a recommendation might be more powerful than you think.

In the days of Cultural Literacy, when we all had a common vocabulary of ideas drawn from our common cultural reading list, people probably used characters and events from those stories to paint on their conversational canvas. If you have a lot of time, pick up the book, Cultural Literacy, its author, E.D. Hirsch, provides a much better explanation. But that's not a recommendation now, just acknowledging the source. I am learning to be more careful about my recommendations.