The Kiss.

One never knows what they are going to come across once they go through old stuff. Like this poem from a Danielle Steel novel of the same title I read a couple of years ago. The unofficial book club I belong to hates Danielle Steel but I love her. I think that her novels make one aware of the tragedies of life and that it isn't a bed of roses.

A single moment,
etched in time,
shining brightly,
like a star in a midnight sky,
an eon, an instant,
a million years pressed into one,
when all stands still
and life explodes into infinite dreams,
and all is changed forever more,
in the blink of an eye.
                    -Danielle Steel

For someone who had an untroubled childhood (I read a bit of her memoirs) she is such a sad soul. I cannot honestly say that I have read a book of hers where I came away with the feeling of warmth and fuzziness in my heart, though the endings are usually as good as expected. My knowledge of literary works may not be so vast for me to say this but, it is rare to find an author of general fiction with most of her work steeped in sadness and sorrow.
I have had the pleasure of reading most of her work and going through the poem from ‘The Kiss’ reminded me of how long it has been since I read anything from her. The last books I remember reading were HRH (Her Royal Highness) and Bachelors. I should pluck up the courage and delve into some of her latest offerings and share poems I come across. I love that sort of thing.

Emotional Strife!

Before my burial in some of Johanna Lindsey’s work, I took a plunge and read The Best Of Me by Nicholas Sparks to my utter regret. There are traits we readers exhibit; some are selective that is only read particular authors, some read the ending before starting the book and others read particular genres. I fall in the first and later categories.
I am a selective reader when it comes to both authors and genres. For example the only mystery I read is from Jeffrey Archer, John Grisham and Sidney Sheldon. I hate detective, medical, thriller genres. I like to know what I am getting myself into before I start a book. Mental and emotional preparedness, baby.
We all know Nicholas Sparks is a master where romance is concerned. The man has 3 of his works in the top five most romantic movies in the world after all.
I had in my life, never read a Nicholas Sparks though I have watched some of the movie adaptations. Armed with the knowledge of how good he is from what I saw in the movies-I took the plunge and read my first and last novel from him.
Why first and last? Because it was sad and I don’t read sad endings as a rule. The essence of me reading is to enjoy the story, escape and sigh over it. Unknowingly reading a book with a sad ending is not my style and I regretted it!
Funny thing though; after reading the book and chatting about it with my friends, I realised that all his works have sad endings. One half of the couple in all his movies die if not both. They are all sad! A fact you realise once the book is done.
The only person out there that I read with sad stories and endings is Danielle Steele. I know people who don’t read her as a rule but I do with a lot of pleasure because I know what I am getting myself into both emotionally and mentally. And I am willing to let her get to the hardest part of me and bring forth the feelings hidden there.
Since I have had too much romance and sadness from Johanna Lindsey and Nicholas Sparks respectively. I feel the need to get out of this emotional strife so the the time is probably right for my attack on the realistic Paulo Coehlo. I have heard good reviews from my friends and the little bit of The Alchemist audio I listened to last year makes me think I shall enjoy some of his work. As long as he doesn’t play on my emotions…