Those of you fortunate enough to have life partners who share your love of literature: When was the last time you & your partner were reading the same book at the exact same time? What was that experience like for you? How closely aligned were you in your views of the book?
Even though both of us are almost always reading a book, until quite recently when each of us got immersed in Rebecca - Daphne DuMaurier's 1938 classic of romantic suspense - my wife and I had never overlapped. Yes, we've both read many of the same books and later discussed our reactions. Yes, we've been close in time reading several books, a predictable circumstance given we've been in the same club since January 2017. But over our forty-three years of intense shared passion for literature, turning the same pages of the same book at the same time? This was a first.
On my first visit to Manderley, I extensively marked up our owned copy of the novel. On her second visit - the first taken when she was a young girl - my wife used book darts to note passages in her library copy. As we compared our notes on and reactions to the book, we also discussed our recent viewing of the 2019 film. And we quickly agreed the time is ideal for seeking out the 1940 Alfred Hitchcock original. Neither of us is quite ready to leave Manderley.
p.s. Of the many blog series I've created since 2011 to entice readers to return to Bartonstan, this one - devoted to "firsts" - has laid dormant for perhaps the longest period.
Reflections From The Bell Curve: Another First (With A Side Order Of Guilt)
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