So, last night I surveyed all the books I currently have check out from the library. (For those of you wondering, the answer is 11. I have 11 books checked out from the library right now.) The thing I noticed in my survey was I don't have anything lighthearted or humorous or easy to read. Everything I have is heavy.
I love heavy books. I love dramatic books. I like books that make me cry and make me ponder life and make me view the world differently. I like books that make me sigh after I've finished them. I want to shut a book cover, stare into the middle distance, and struggle to reintegrate with the real world. I want to have experienced a new life and been moved to tears between the covers of a novel. I want to become a wholly new person throughout the course of a book. I want to have my layers peeled off and reveal this newborn being because of a book.
That's a tall order, right? Quick, books, restitch the fabric of the universe for me real quick.
I know, I know. I think that makes me a literary snob. In fact, I'm positive I'm a literary snob. There's just a sweet spot I want to exist in that movies and video games can't provide for me. (Not that I haven't been moved by movies or books. 5th grade me was in pieces from Final Fantasy VII for days.)
Last night, though, I was in the middle of painting and wanted to read something. And I surveyed my 11 books. Immigrant stories. Dystopias. A novelization of a real-life broken family. Sounds like a good time, right? I didn't want any of those. I wanted something light-hearted, something not too serious, something about Christmas. I realized that I wanted the novel-equivalent of a Hallmark Christmas Movie.
So I settled on Starry Night by Debbie Macomber. And so far, it's exactly what I wanted.
What's your favorite cozy Christmas read? What should I add to my list of easy, noncomplicated, nice reads?