I’m reading a book now that I’m only 40% thru so it is too early for a book review, only a musing on how this book feels to me.  The book is “A Gentleman in Moscow: A Novel” by Amor Towles.

This book is like a favorite desert, I want to have small bites and savor its taste.  Some books I read, I can’t put down because I want to see what happens next and I read fast to get to the next action or event, they are like a main course!  And some I read fast just because I’ve committed to it, and I want to find out how it ends, even though I more often than not have anticipated the ending, these are like fast food dining.

In this case there are so many ideas and fine imagery and careful, thoughtful prose, I have slowed down to savor every taste, to get its texture, it’s scent, and all of its flavor.  It may take me a couple of months to read this book, and that would just fine with me.  Some may not like this desert, some may want just the main course, and care not for desert… but I think that if you find the right flavors, there is nothing better than the journey a book can take you on… best expressed in a poem I like by Emily Dickinson…

A Book – by Emily Dickinson

There is no frigate like a book

To take us lands away,

Nor any coursers like a page

Of prancing poetry.

This traverse may the poorest take

Without oppress of toll;

How frugal is the chariot

That bears a human soul!