Those Certain Books

I have many, many favorite books. (I was about to go into an semi-apologetic spiel about how my use of the word favorite is incorrect there because favorite is a superlative therefore there cannot be multiples but then I went and got my learn on and found out that favorite is not superlative. I don’t know why I felt the need to share this except that I am sometimes amazed by how my own thought processes work.)

Anyway, I think I am like many avid readers that I have many books that I love and can read multiple times. I have books that engross me or highly entertain me. There are authors I have read everything I can get my hands on or have series that I read like a starving man eats. I have series that I have read several times but I can’t read out of order because I might know what happens but I love the way things unfold that it just pisses me off to not read them in the order the author wrote them.  If given the opportunity to by all the books I loved, I would get Border’s Bookstores out of bankruptcy. But, with as many books as I love, I still have a few certain books that mean more to me than other books.

I know everyone has those certain songs that came a long at the right time in their lives when they needed to hear whatever the song was about. For example, Modest Mouse’s “Float On” came a long when I was going through a period of struggle and confusion. The song’s simple message of just keeping moving through the crap because sooner or later life is bound to get better was exactly what I needed to hear. Florence and the Machine’s “Dog Days” is an other example because certain lyrics remind me so much of what it was like to suddenly realize I was madly, insanely, deeply in love.

I have books like that. There are a few books to which I have a deep emotional connection. I am not going to go into great detail about them in this post because I think they deserve their own separate posts but I felt I needed to explain the difference between these books and my regular favorite books.

I love Robin Hobb books, especially the the books with The Fool in them. They are fascination stories. Her concept of magic is fascinating. Her characters are interesting and easy to get emotionally involved with. I think about the world she paints constantly. None of her books are those certain books for me.

So what makes those books become one of the pivotal books for me? I think it is because certain books either teach me something about myself or help me choose who I want to be. I can pick up these pivotal books and get something meaningful from them every time.  When I go to the library next week I will probably check out a slew of Brent Week’s  books and it will be like slipping into something familiar and warm but I won’t find the same meaning as I will when I reread “To Kill a Mockingbird” again. Scout teaches me something new and wonderful and horrible about people every time.

Does it make any more sense yet? It really doesn’t to me either but maybe after a few posts I will be able to make it clear.