Book

On Saturday Mike went to a booksellers' convention being held in Milwaukee. He came home with an armload of free books, which isn't unusual...at these events publishers often hand out copies of books that were published recently or are going to be published soon, so they can generate some publicity.

Mike handed me three books, informing me that "these are lady books" that I might enjoy. I'm not too knowledgable about "chick lit" as a genre, but those three books seemed to fit the label. I was pretty excited because I love reading as a pasttime, but during the school year I try to avoid anything too difficult, time-consuming, or depressing. I used to be ashamed of my affinity for light, fluffy books, but during the school year it's all I can handle. During vacations I like to dive into heavier stuff...for now, I'm just looking for the literary equivalent of television.

I glanced at the dust jackets to see what they were about, and snickered at a book entitled "Still Life With Husband" by Lauren Fox.

"I'm surprised you gave this to me," I said.

"I know, I know, it's a book about a woman who has an affiar," Mike said stoically. Lately he's been turning up his nose at TV shows and movies that glorify divorce or adultury, criticising them in the same voice my parents used when I was little to tell me that shows like "Saved By The Bell" and "The Simpsons" were a bad influence. "But it's by a Wisconsin author," Mike said. He believes strongly in supporting local authors.

Since I wasn't feeling well on Sunday, I spent a good chunk of the day reading and I raced through the first half of the book. It is indeed about a married woman who falls for another man, and keeps pushing the boundaries between "appropriate," "inappropriate," and "cheating" until she's finally sleeping with the guy.

I think Mike was slightly alarmed by my interest in the book, considering its subject matter. For me, though, it's similar to the times I see pictures of spiders or huge bugs on the internet. I'll spend long moments staring at them before recoiling and shreiking, "Ew, gross!"

Yesterday I managed to finish it, and while the ending isn't exactly happy, you get the definite impression that the main character is going to be okay. That kind of bugged me. By the end of the book she's thrown several lives into disarray, but she's going to be alllllllllright. I would have liked to see a little more repayment for transgressions, a little more repentance for her sins. As someone who is married and has been cheated on (the guy I married and the guy who cheated are two different guys, it should be noted) I don't have much sympathy for people who cheat on their significant others.

So yeah, Mike shouldn't worry about me running off anytime soon. But I do need to find something new to read.