Literary Joy

Back in the fall of 2000, fairly new to Waco without many friends who had much time for me, creating gobs of free time, I ran into what became one of the best works of fiction I've ever read, Kent Haruf's "Plainsong."



The book was one of the first works of contemporary fiction that kept me moving along with it. Haruf uses words sparingly, choosing instead to let the unpretentious characters and dialogue suck you into the world of Holt, Colorado.

I fell in love with this book.

So you can imagine my joy yesterday when I walked into the breakroom at work and saw laying on the table an Advanced Reader copy of "Eventide," a continuation of the characters in "Plainsong."



Publishers send bookstores Advanced Reader copies of books all the time, and I almost always grab one that looks interesting, but never read them. This one will be finished within the next couple of days.

A few weeks ago I carried the "music snob" conversation into Coffee and Culture, my community group at church, and was presented with a very interesting question, which was "Are you a book snob?" The question was fascinating to me because it opened up the possibility that I may know enough about something to open up the doors to me becoming a snob of that subject. But fortunately, after thinking about it for a while, I think the answer is "no." I'm not a book snob. I think to be a snob about anything you have to have a fairly comprehensive knowledge of all the material of a subject, and there are just too many books.

But I will look down on you if you don't like Plainsong, except for Ben's Jamie, because I know she didn't like it.

I'll keep you informed on how "Eventide" is.

In the meantime, share with me what you're reading.