Last week, I finished listening to The Road by Cormac McCarthy. After I listened to the last CD in my van, I did not turn the radio on and I did not put in another CD. I just drove in silence. I wanted to absorb every word the narrator had spoken. I wanted to hear the last emotions of the book in my head as I drove. I didn’t want any other sound to interfere with my reverie. The Road touched me in way that few books have or probably ever will again.
There are only a few books that have put me in this type of mood. The type of mood where I want to absorb every word of the novel into my skin as if that would pacify my intense need to examine every nook and cranny of the book. When a book touches me like this, it is like magic. Every book I pick up, I’m looking for something; something that makes me sit back and sit in silence and try to recapture every moment of the book.
This nostalgic aftermath is a result of timing, writing and mood. Two of these three things depends upon the reader and those two things cannot be depended on. People are moving through life and each life event brings about a new perspective. As for moods, sometimes mine is changing by the minute. Then when the right books hits you at the right time in your life, the perfect reading experience is formed.
Have you ever read a book that stayed with you long after you finished the last page?
6 Comments
Actually – this book has stayed with me! I read it two years ago and thought it was wonderful. It is a gloomy topic, but it really made me think . . . and I still think about it. To me, this is the hallmark of a great novel.
I love books that have this kind of effect.
Here’s my Teaser Tuesday for this week: TexasRed Books.
I love that feeling, and it seems so rare. It’s a quiet book, but I felt that way when I finished Plainsong, by Kent Haruf, and I feel that way every time I read The Secret History (and I’ve read it waaaay too many times).
Hi Laura – I think what we really stayed with me about this book is that it brought forth some of my own fears since having a child. The responsibility of raising other people has made me look at life in a whole new way and I think that’s why this book really hit home for me.
Hi Red – This effect is only too rare, maybe that is why it is so special when it happens.
Hi Priscilla – I’ve all ready reread my favorite part in The Road and I just finished it! I borrowed this one from the library, so I definitely will need to buy it.
I’ve never heard of Plainsong or The Secret History. I’ll have to check them out.