Don’t Judge a Book etc …
Every Day Encouragement (7/365)
We all do it, don’t we?
The “I don’t read {insert genre}” thing. That “I’m not really a {insert type of activity} person” approach. You know the sort of thing … “ooh, I’m not eating {insert regional variation of food}”.
We know what we like, huh?
I do it with books. I have a *type*. I just know what I like …
… or, do I?
I had author Maggie O’Farrell labelled … in my head, she writes all those ‘period drama, emotional’ books; for certain, I would mean that in a “I am not going to bother with that stuff” sort-of-a-way.
And then there’s ‘Hamnet’. Critically acclaimed. On the lists; you know the ones … ‘Best Reads of 2020’. Yep, I know, but it’s by Maggie O’Farrell … period drama, you know … it’s not for me. I don’t read ‘that sort of thing’.
Only … here’s the thing … I did … and, I do.
Incredible. Beautifully constructed. Imaginatively interpreted. Emotionally charged. Descriptions that place you right there. Did I mention the emotions? Descriptive. Power wrought out of every syllable; coupled with tenderness. Power and tenderness. Strength and subtlety. Historically placed. Of a period. Full of drama. But no flimsy ‘period drama’; this is literary … wordsmithery to blow you away … blown to word-smithereens. I cried. I literally cried reading a book. Yeah, so I don’t read Maggie O’Farrell.
Perhaps we should all stop judging the book by its cover.
Every Day Encouragement is a side project of feastsandfables Encouraging words, written and shared every day for 2021.
