I'm listening to the album Moon Food by Unbunny (sounds like Neil Young for those that care), and there's a lyric that goes, "you can't mend a broken heart with a library card." The intent I feel is fairly clear - books don't have redemptive power enough to console. I'm unsure whether I believe this to be true or not. No doubt, certain books could affect your mood, but conversely I don't reach for any in particular to cheer me up, or otherwise affect me. Your thoughts, and suggestions to mood-, if not life-, altering texts? And I'm not talking about religious texts for the religiously inclined - obviously they have power above the literal to those people.
oh yes Gervaise Phinn (how can you read him and not feel better - I have to get him in audiobook though - can't read through laughing, made mistake of reading one of his books when 8 months pregnant was not pleasant and my ribs hurt so much), Alan Titchmarsh (writes his novels like his gardening books), Alan Bennett, - all serve their purpose in helping sort me out when life is going badly wrong. I really, really enjoyed the God Box it went a long way to healing a long since understandably broken heart. John Barrowman's autobiography is good for a lighthearted not serious giggle. And I am waiting for Peter Sissons memoirs (long story but he was my very weird pin up as a teen lol) Robert Neill, Lian Hearne, Louisa May Alcott take me out of this life and usually allow me a good weep allowing me to feel better afterwards. Cadfael, Agatha Christie, Enid Blyton, Chalet School, Hardy Boys, CS Lewis, Jane Eyre, Heidi, Secret Garden, Tom Brown Schooldays, Just William, Harry Potter - are all real comfort blanket things I return to again and again. Something like a decent Mills and Boons/Sillouette is paint by numbers easy, fun and distracting. When i want a good fright it is Hound of Death (Agatha Christie) Kathy Reichs helps me work out some issues, before my illness stole it from me I was working towards becoming a forensic anthropologist (before it was a popular choice) I could go on but I totally disagree nothing can sort your problems out better than a library card
Can't mend a broken heart with a library card? I agree with Elgaisma. There is sooo much good stuff in the library, so many things you can just get lost in or inspired by. At least you can find a good self-help book!
If I'd really have a broken heart, I know that no book would be able to make me feel better. It might work with something less serious, but if we're talking about broken hearts I find the lyrics are true (well, with me).
Hm.... Octavia Butler's work was very changing for me. The questions she asks in her books about the human condition opened different ways of thinking for me. I began to ask questions that gave other people a perplexed and sometimes disturbed look. That's when I knew I was on to some interesting trains of discovery.
I think the lyrics are true. As much as I love reading, it's mainly to escape. I can't think right now of any examples of mood altering texts... hmm I'll think about it.
