When I find a book that I really love, I read it very, very slowly.
Sometimes I take more than a year to read a book….soaking up every morsel, tasting every word, and taking in the sights and sounds. Sometimes the really good things in life need to be taken in slowly. Stopping as often as needed to rest, reflect, and enjoy.
My most recent book-love has been A Homemade Life, written by Molly Wizenberg (also of the award-winning blog Orangette). My sister gave me the book for Christmas, and I’ve been enjoying it page by page ever since.
Though I’m near the end of the book, I sometimes go back and read a chapter aloud to my husband at night. He likes for me to read to him…says Molly sounds just like me. I’m flattered.
A Homemade Life has been a faithful lunch companion. Molly’s tender honesty makes me laugh, and cry, but most often her words made me sigh.
As I was reading the chapter about slow-roasted tomatoes, I felt like I needed to call Molly, just as I might call my sister. I have an insane love affair with tomatoes. I especially love to throw them in an oven with parmesan, olive oil, fresh basil, and salt and pepper.
By the end of that chapter I needed to know how she got into blogging. How she became so comfortable sharing intimate details of her life, and how she knew where to draw the line between personal and too personal.
I opened the book again and began to read the next chapter. It began……”I’ve never liked the word blog. it’s kind of weird and lumpy…..” This is followed by how she got started, and the human-to-blog relationship some of us bloggers are coming to know….the rush, the fear, the intrigue. Somehow, she’d read my mind between page 193 and 195, and answered my questions. Molly has an amazing way of connecting with her readers.
It’s a book I’ll keep and re-read, chock full of stories and recipes. From her awkward first encounters with boys, to shopping with her mother and eating crepes in Paris, it’s a book that gives me fresh perspective on things that have happened in my life.
For right now, as I sit at my kitchen table enjoying a bowl of my homemade tomato soup, I’m ready to read the last chapter.
Books become friends, and I don’t like to say goodbye to the good ones. While I’m not ready for A Homemade Life to end, I’ll read the last chapter tonight, certain that I’ll sigh, yet again, when I close the cover. I’ll smile, and send gratitude to our friend, Molly, for giving me a peek into her life, and for the part she’s played in changing mine.
Thanks for sharing, Molly ~
Take good care,
p.s. Last night I read “High Points” to my husband. It reminded me that I still need to try that thing with the dishwasher ~
10 Comments