Falling in Love with a Story

Ok, so I just finished reading Gifted Hands by Dr. Ben Carson (my thoughts here). Initially, and not uncommon, I had my reservations. I thought it was going to be an arduous read, certainly not a book that in mid February I was going to be prematurely claiming it’s sure to be among my top 10 books read all year!

Falling in love with a book (or story) is not much different than falling in love, period.

First there’s the cover, or title, or something right up front that catches your eye. There’s no telling what will catch my eye, but in the case of Dr. Carson’s memoir it was the blue scrubs, and those two initials tacked on to the end of his name, MD.

Except I opened the book, similar to meeting someone new for the first time, and thought... “ummm... no... maybe not.”

The funny thing is, especially in the case of a book, why wouldn’t I open the book when I first pick it up... like at the time of purchase?

I do this a lot when buying books in bulk... for a dollar. I’ll grab a book that appears interesting, and check it out when I get home. Sometimes I get it right. More often, particularly when grabbing books on whim, I don’t.

That’s another funny thing about falling in love, particularly in the case of a book. Like real romance, some readers aren’t easily infatuated. After catching my attention, that book must keep my attention, ironically how Dr. Carson’s memoir hooked me, actually doing ‘near’ the complete opposite.

Quite frankly, I was a little desperate before going back to read Dr. Carson's memoir. This happens too. We get a little desperate and so will extend the leash a minute longer. In this case I needed to read something that would chill me out, what led me to first picking up ‘Think Big’ by Jennifer Arnold, MD, & Bill Klein. Midway into reading their memoir I discovered ‘the famous’ Dr. Carson was once Jen’s surgeon! Instantly I connected the dots. This happens too. A good recommendation from a trustworthy source can go a long way. As it happened to be, I remembered I had the famous doctor’s book. It was sitting on my DNF bookshelf, where I made a beeline straight to it. A few minutes later, I was back in my chair with his book in my lap. Patiently, shutting out the outside noise and curled up with the book I gave it a second chance. That’s how the unexpected happened.

Let me put it this way. Every book I bring home, I hope is the one, which makes NOTHING sweeter than expecting things to go one way, only to be surprised ‘in the long run’ when things go exactly the way you had hoped. I fell head over heels in love with ‘Gifted Hands.’ Again (my thoughts here!).

#Reading #JustReadAnotherGreatMemoir #FallinginLove #CelebratingblackHistory365 #Justblogged