Welcome to bookchat where you can talk about anything...books, plays, essays, and books on tape. You don’t have to be reading a book to come in, sit down, and chat with us.
You have found an interesting book on the shelf or at the bookstore and read the first few pages. You are home with some time to read. And, now, you dive into the story with the hope and expectation of being entertained or informed, inspired, or taught something new.
Diving into a story is the reader’s pleasure when a book invites you to do it or insists on it. The book pulls you into a new world with interesting people or characters who are trying to solve problems.
Diving in is opposed to dipping our toes into a story as if into cold water. We are not sure if this is the book we thought it was or if it is one we will be able to finish.
My favorite beginnings which have happened in eight or nine books is the space ship which suddenly hears a beacon from another ship that needs help.
Should they go to the rescue or will they get fired if they do? The Code of Space says go no matter what and what if it were you out there alone and needing help?
What if it is a trap set up by pirates to lure you there? What if you spend all your energy for nothing? What about salvage rights?
Once there was a man alive on board, but he was raving about impossible things. Once it was a ship of alien artifacts that caused a war. It is always exciting.
Where did the ship come from? What happened to disable it? Is there something dangerous still on board?
~chills~ but fun to find out.
It is the same with a non-fiction book. We dive into the story of the person who is exploring a life in a biography, autobiography, memoir, or essays. With Isabel Allende’s book, My Invented Country, I learned about Chile. With Julia Alvarez’s essays, Something to Declare, I learned about the Dominican Republic. In Daughter of Persia by Sattareh Farman Farmaian, I am learning about Iran. I dived in because these ladies caught my attention at once and were intriguing.
Would they be able to escape the tyrants who ran their countries and wished their families dead? Would they be able to overcome the stifling outlook for women whose destiny was supposed to be only marriage and children and nothing more?
Sattareh left Iran to come to America and study during WW II. Getting to India and to Bombay was a terrifying adventure. Her first ship that left Bombay was torpedoed. She was rescued and two weeks later boarded another ship. Could I be so brave?
Which books do you like to dive into?
I have to admit that I tip-toed into An Intimate History of Humanity by Theodore Zeldin, but it is going well. I have run out of the types of books that I dive into so I may do some re-reading of old favorites.
Diaries of the Week:
Note: Write On! Will begin at 7:00 PM EST for the winter. There will be guest editors, also, so SS says to click on the heart to be sure not to miss the diary.
Write On! Letting a manuscript rest
by SensibleShoes
http://www.dailykos.com/...
Kos Katalogue 2014 Holiday Mothership - HOTLIST THIS!!
by Sara R
http://www.dailykos.com/...
My first novel in 15 years...
by Mark Sumner
http://www.dailykos.com/...
Contemporary Fiction Views: 'When you're scalded, touch hurts'
by bookgirl
http://www.dailykos.com/...
Please read both diaries. Action is needed, today. We can do this!
Community Fundraisers: Wish Sara R Happy Birthday! And Help Keep the Quilt Sisters in Their Home
by peregrine kate
http://www.dailykos.com/...
For Sara R and Ann. For all of you and the magic you make. It's time to make some more.
by Onomastic
http://www.dailykos.com/...
NOTE: plf515 has book talk on Wednesday mornings early