Taking the scenic route to the end?

Last week I sat by the pool and read a book. It’s my favorite vacation. Doesn’t really matter where the pool is. I don’t usually pay it much attention. But last week I found myself looking up from the book and gazing into the heavily chlorinated water. A lot.

The back cover copy and reviews from my friends who recommended the book convinced me this book was wonderful. I glanced at the upper right corner of the page: 135. Seriously.

The story was interesting. The characters, fascinating. The setting, exotic. I knew it would take me to an unbelievable place and I wanted to go there. However, this particular author chose to take me there via the scenic route. To be fair, I will write about this book more next week because I stuck with it to the end and I am still savoring it.

Recently, we drove a long and winding way to the top of a mountain and the beauty blew me away. We drove down the mountain the fast way and let me tell you, the scenic route is the way to go, every time. 

So when you pick up a book that takes you down the scenic route, how long are you willing to give it?

Do you throw the book against the wall after 50 pages? Worse, do you abandon it completely? For many years, I read with an unusual faith that if I held in my hands an official book, published and bound, it must get good by the end. And I finished every book I ever started in the first 25 years of my life because of that faith. Most of the time, the books ended well.

These days, I hate to leave a book unfinished, but if I am not enjoying it I will. There is a distinct difference between a story that is building and a story that is wandering in the wilderness. There is nothing so satisfying as a book that builds slowly and ends like a perfect dessert after an amazing meal.

All this to say, while there is a time to put down a book if you just can’t get into it, always be on the look out for those wonderful stories with a slow ramp-up that build slowly into an amazing, breathtaking, soul-jarring, life-changing experience.

Look for scenic routes . . . you won’t regret it.

Where's the beef?

“I ordered the beef.”

“I’m sorry ma’am, all we have left is the fish.”

Have you ever sat down at a wedding or some other type of banquet and run into this exact scenario? How did it make you feel? Disappointed? Frustrated? Angry?

I experienced the same sort of thing when I purchased a book by an author I’ve grown to love, only to learn the book is a far cry from her others. Unexpected. Not what I’d hoped.

Now that I’m starting to meet authors of all kinds, I’m reminded of my days as a waitress. Before I waited tables, I could be very hard on someone who failed to perform as I thought she should. After “walking a mile” so to speak, I began to understand that a waitress is one member of the restaurant staff, and sometimes things happen beyond her control. As a result, I’m more forgiving these days.

Can we apply this to authors? Maybe. Don’t like the ending? Maybe she had two weeks to write it because of a death in the family and an unforgiving deadline. Don’t like the title? She may not have chosen it. Is the book a complete departure from her other books? Maybe she wanted to experiment before she carved out a rut so deep she could never veer off course for the rest of her career.

Look at poor Arthur Conan Doyle. He tried killing off Sherlock Holmes several times, but his fans forced him to resurrect the character. He wanted to pursue historical novels, but the public wanted him to stay in his "box."

I don’t advocate reading a book you don’t enjoy. Life is too short. But I’m starting to see that life throws us all crazy circumstances and reading a book that is different from what you expected can sometimes give us the gift of something fresh.

I’m just saying you might like the fish, but you’ll never know if you keep complaining about the beef you thought you wanted.