It's no secret that I love to read, but within the past few months my life has begun to resemble the literary version of "Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon". I know Donna, who is in the book club with Betsy who is reading (fill in title of book here), who tells me about it, then two days later Carol mentions the same book, and the next day out of the blue a person I barely know offers to lend me that book, and so it goes. The most recent instance of this concerned the book "One Thousand White Women". Betsy mentioned it first, the next day Donna raved about it, a couple days later I found a used copy in a thrift shop. I had barely started reading it when I told Mariette about it. She wanted to read it, but not at that time, as she had several new books to catch up on, but she owned "The Story of Edgar Sawtelle", which she had just finished, thought I'd like it, told me Jan had just read it, and would give it to me the next time I saw her. I was about half through "One Thousand White Women" when Carol asked me if I had heard of it. When I told her I not only had, but I had a copy and was currently reading it, she asked to borrow it. Then I came across a new Robert B. Parker paperback ("Now and Then") on our "lending library" at work (bookshelves where anyone can drop off, swap, or borrow used books)- I borrowed it for a quick bedtime read, and when I told Mariette about it, it turns out it was one of the books she wanted to read. And so it goes.
And a footnote- I caught about 2 minutes of Krista Tippett's interview with Mary Doria Russell on "Speaking of Faith" this morning while driving to work. Now I want to go back and re-read all her books. If you have never read any of her works, what are you waiting for? And thank you John M., wherever you are, for introducing me to her first novel, "The Sparrow".
