The Delight of a Good Book

It’s been an odd week, but it ended well because yesterday was WAITANGI DAY (the birthday), which turned out quite nice, although I definitely ate too much. Let me know if you want leftovers! I’ll e-mail them to you.

Now I’m not sure how this weekend’s going to go, but I have high hopes. I’m just finished with season one of Fallout, in the short time that it’s on YouTube. And maybe I’m about to get into some good books this next week! We’ll see.

Generally, I’m fairly critical in these essays, but today let’s try something different. It is my birthday (or the day after) after all.

The Delight of a Good Book

One of the most delightful feelings in the world is discovering a good book.

This is not so easy as it sounds; I have often gotten book recommendations, or found a book that looked delightful, for one reason or another, and then started reading only to discover that it was not so. To be clear, most of the recommendations are things online, rather than people I know (most of the people I know have a better idea of what kind of books I like); it’s still disheartening, though, to go into a book expecting something brilliant because it was praised to high heavens, only to actually go through and realize that it’s not really your kind of thing.

But sometimes, you come across something that’s a surprise and a delight. I remember I picked up Here, There Be Dragons by James A. Owen on a trip; when I started reading, I could not put it down. And that evening, in the hotel, I could not sleep, so I picked up the book again and finished it, reading by the light of the bathroom so as to not disturb the rest of the family who were sleeping quite soundly. It remains my favorite book to this day.

And it’s fantastic to start a book that you did not necessarily expect much out of, and then discover it was much, much better than you ever could have guessed. I remember reading The Price of Freedom, which is a Pirates of the Caribbean novel, and being floored by how good it turned out. I’d seen that the novel had its own fandom, but that it was as good as it turned out? No, I had no clue. I mean, this is a Pirates of the Caribbean novel, after all, explaining some of the backstory of Jack Sparrow. My knowledge of Sparrow’s background was a vague notion that there were middle school mini-books about him hunting the Sword of Cortes, and it’s not as if the movies, aside from the original, are known for their great writing.

I also had a similar instance with Dark Rendezvous, a Star Wars novel that heavily featured Yoda. I picked it up because I liked Yoda (and also I bought it at the local bookstore because I mistakenly thought the library didn’t have it). I was incredibly impressed on how it worked to unite his characterization from the Original Trilogy with his role in the Prequel Trilogy, and create a story both dramatic and philosophically interesting.

There is something to finding a really good book that you don’t get out of finding a really good movie or game. Because a book you can open up to your favorite parts, and read it again and again, without having to go through a scene select screen or looking them up on YouTube or something like that. And you can carry it more readily, share it aloud with anyone by just flipping to the relevant section–and it’s easy to put a bookmark there. Having a good book near you can be comforting, too, because you know you can just flip to the best parts for comfort or excitement or whatever whenever you feel like it.

Good books are fantastic; I love finding them, coming across them, being surprised by them, and going back to them over and over again. They make wonderful companions, and they’re easy to share.

There’s nothing like reading a very good book.

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