Finishing a good book...

I just finished Madame Bovary which I am kinda surprised I got through, actually. It is a good book, but not much really happens. It has a lot of description, a lot of emotional complexity and a lot of "thinking person's sex" (i.e. you may read right over the good bits without knowing they were good bits).

What intrigued me about this book was Emma Bovary herself. Here is a woman who is caught up in a marriage she didn't really understand (I can't imagine she was the only woman ever to have gone through that). Anyway, she has two major affairs that leave her devastated and broken, and spends enough money to make Marie Antoinette jealous and meets a rather tragic (and grotesquely drawn out) end. But Flaubert lets the reader decide whether Emma is good or bad. Is she a victim of her circumstances, or a woman without conscience?

Well, it is an interesting book. And it made me think of all the books that I have read and loved at points in my life. Here is a list of the highlights:

• Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner. I read this book in college and loved it. The subject matter didn't initially appeal to me; Colorado history, mining, engineering, yadda yadda. But the way Wallace Stegner writes is so lovely. His descriptions of Leadville and the mining boom were so precise. He makes writing look effortless. There are places in that book that I can still picture in my mind. Excellent.
• By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept Paolo Cohelo. This book is hard to explain as are most of Cohelo's books. It is about a woman, a river in Spain, a man and taking risks. I read it before I went to Spain and although I did not find this river, Spain feels like this book.
  
• Crime and Punishment Fyodor Dostoyevsky. We read this in AP English my senior year of high school. I was captivated by the way Dostoyevsky wrote about moral conflict and the hard, icky questions of life. Again, not a book that would initially appeal, but I will never forget the scene when Raskolnikov kills his landlady. Hard to get into, but you will feel smarter after you read it.
• The Time Traveller's Wife Audrey Nifenegger (sp?). Is this a sci-fi book? Is this a romance? I think this is a beautiful love story that addresses not only the complexity of a relationship, but the added complexity of having a partner who time travels without warning. What controls his sudden jumps in time? How does he survive? One scene that stands out is when Claire takes Henry (the time traveler) to a party and he talks about music that he likes. It is one of those banal kind of scenes that actually says a lot. Sadly... tragically... obnoxiously...they are making a movie of it. With Eric Bana. Sigh.
• The Book Thief Markus Zusak. This is a book that all the students coming into my class have to read the summer before sophomore year. It another hard story to get into, but you will weep when you unpeel the layers of Liesel's life. It is about World War II and a girl who steals books. Read it with a box of kleenex, you'll need it.
• Outlander Diana Gabaldon. Okay, this is not for everyone. Scottish time travel historical romance. You won't skip over the good bits in this one ;-) It has mystery, romance, battles, passion, men in kilts... super cheesy fun. If Crime and Punishment is Grandmama's hearty beef stew, then this is a corndog from the mall.
• Persuasion Jane Austen. This is my favorite Jane Austen story. Anne Elliot should be a spinster at 27, but instead she gets a second chance at love and learns in the process of pining about herself and the measure of her own strength. Captain Wentworth's letter to her at the end is particularly compelling.

I think this list could be a lot longer, and I may think of some and add them later. But what about you? What is one book you will never forget?