Wonderful Novels!

I read this wonderful poem in Changing Hands e-mail to me, and just wanted to share it. It doesn't apply to me so much, as I only let my book's characters rest one night between each book (and sometimes I don't do that). I did this week though as I finished the wonderful book by Kim Edwards, The Memory Maker's Daughter (LOVED it!) and began last night reading The Cotton Queen, which takes place in McKinney, Texas, which I found delightful, as I have a good friend who lives in McKinney. I have no idea where my new novels take place until I begin reading them and Memory Keeper's Daughter was also a surprise, as it took place in Pittsburgh (where one of my sisters live). I find it fun when it is about a city I have visited and remember the places mentioned in the book. If my dear friend from McKinney does not read this blog, I will tell her about this.

Once Again I Fail to Read an Important Novel

Instead, we sit together beside the fountain,

the important novel and I.

We are having coffee together

in that quiet first hour of the morning,

respecting each other's silences

in the shadow of an important old building

in this small but significant European city.

All the characters can relax.

I'm giving them the day off.

For once they can forget about their problems—

desire, betrayal, the fatal denouement—

and just sit peacefully beside me.

In the afternoon, at lunch near the cathedral,

and in the evening, after my lonely,

historical walk along the promenade,

the men and women, the children

and even the dogs

in the important, complicated novel

have nothing to fear from me.

We will sit quietly at the table

with a glass of cool red wine

and listen to the pigeons questioning

each other in the ancient corridors.

George Bilgere from Haywire. © Utah State University Press..