Book ADD

I admit it. I am a book hopper, always starting and stopping some poor and unfortunate novel; always on the look out for that one book that will sweep me away. I blame it on my Book ADD (are there drugs for this?) that was triggered by my maternal hormones. In my premarital life, I spent long stretches of time lingering over a gut wrenching book…. Ah… an evening well spent. ( got married late, remember?) Now, if a book is to be read, it must be devoured in 90 second intervals….bit by bit….during those heavenly pockets of peace between baby screams and three year old whines; between poopy diapers and poopy pants; baby scrapes and bandaged knees.

The book must be fast paced and quickly engaging. It must take me away to an exotic locale, with heroes and eccentrics dancing around an intricate plot. I ‘d like to be challenged, the boundaries of my reality pushed with far reaching story lines, my attention captured with its spiral twists and hairpin curves, and satisfied by a heart warming ending. I am looking for a book full of charm and wit; a book that holds a mirror to your soul; a book that will suck you into another cultural context, time and place, toying with universal themes of love, passion and betrayal.

A tall order, yes?

On this typical morning, I was book hunting in Costco, scanning the stacks of books, both girls quiet and sticky faced from their cookie eating. I had no more than a handful of moments to make my selection before the cookies were devoured and the threat of whines loomed. My heart ached at the selections. Love in the Time of Cholera….Suite Francaise,…..The Glass House……Peony in Love…so many choices. I settled on The Secret Life of Bees, an older book that had been giving me the eye for years.

“It’s about time we met,” I said flopping the book into the shopping cart.

Maybe it will be a book that can be read 90 seconds at a time during those exquisite pockets of peace….