My Reading Community

" I can't remember the books I have read any more than the meals I have eaten; even so, they have made me." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

I remember clearly the first time a reader spoke rapturously of Toni Morrison. My wife and I were on vacation in Bermuda in 1980 and over dinner one night, a woman described Morrison's most recent novel Song of Solomon. If you're a reader, I'm sure you've had experiences like this, i.e. moments when you just know the author being spoken of is special; you know it by the glow on the speaker's face. Readers: When did this last happen to you? And which author did you discover as a result?

Upon our return from vacation, I raced to find Song of Solomon, thus beginning my multi-year love affair with one of our national treasures. I'm not sure when I then went back in Morrison's catalog and read Sula (1973) for the first time; no matter. As the Emerson quote says, when I picked it up for the second time a few days ago, I couldn't recall much about it; also no matter. Because I did know - as I've known with all of Morrison's work - Sula helped shape me as a reader. Re-reading it reminded me of Morrison's secure place in the literary firmament as well as the debt of gratitude I can never repay to that Bermuda dinner companion. 

How did you most recently find your way back to a pleasure-soaked re-read as I did with Sula? One of my most frequent blog commenters is a reader whose opinion I have come to value. So, when she recently recommended On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by poet Ocean Vuong to me, it went in my queue. Which means this time, unlike Bermuda, I can publicly thank a new reading soulmate. Thank you for the recommendation but a bigger thanks for bringing Sula back into my life. Of the many book references in Vuong's genre-busting debut novel, one harrowing scene he mentioned from Sula compelled me to pull Morrison's early book off my shelf.  I am grateful for these serendipities, thrills my reading community continually delivers to my life.