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The crossing guard at my kids’ school and I became book buddies over the last year. Ms. Linda, as she’s known to the students, shows up every morning and afternoon to shepherd families safely across the street. We started off making small talk, and then exchanging candy at Halloween and cookies at Christmas. After Kobe Bryant died unexpectedly in January 2020, Linda revealed it hit her hard because she had a son who passed away prematurely too. We shared a hug and transitioned from being acquaintances to friends, I like to think.
During the beginning of the pandemic, we had more time to chat because I’d see her on my way home from my morning runs. That’s when we discovered our shared love of books. I gifted her with one of my favorites, The Warmth of Other Suns, and she shared In the Shadow of Dora with me. It’s a novel inspired by true events, and I learned a part of history I wasn’t taught in school.
I generally avoid literature based on the Holocaust because even if it’s historical fiction, I know it’s rooted in truth. Reading about the horrors of that time feels all too present and real for me. This book did that, but it also illuminated an intersection between the Third Reich and NASA I never knew about. The thoughtful writing uplifted the pain of the reality, which is something I appreciate in any book. Another book she recommended, The Tattooist of Auschwitz, also fell into this category.
After I told Lisa how much I enjoyed the writing of the stories but needed something that didn’t make me cry or anxious, she brought me a “lighter” book with happiness baked right in. The Wedding Dress by Danielle Steel was my first foray into this author’s work, despite her being a world-renown bestseller. This next part reveals my snootiness, so bear with me while I admit the following: I’ve considered Ms. Steel’s work to be “airport novels,” and therefore not something in which I’d invest precious reading time. Don’t get me wrong – she gets all my respect for churning out as many novels as she has and for creating her empire. Who am I to judge the type of literature that built it?
So I stuffed my preconceived notions into the back of my mind and dove in with as much of an open mind as I could. (Secretly, I hoped I would fall in love with her writing and stories so I’d have a backlog of books to fall back on when I needed a pick-me-up.) Alas, dear reader, that was not the case. I succumbed to my bad habit of getting bogged down by the writing instead of the story. The editor in me comes out and starts critiquing what I’d tighten up or remove altogether. I am very aware I’m reading a work of fiction instead of mentally crawling into the story and being led wherever the author wants.
To be honest, that part didn’t surprise me. Maybe I even set myself up for that disappointment because of my earlier judgments; I’ve been guilty of confirmation bias before. I admit that might be the case here. However, I’m happy to report a positive twist in my reading of Danielle Steel I didn’t see coming – I enjoyed the story itself! The woman knows how to create an arc and develop characters you want to follow; it’s just the execution with which I take issue.
Which begs the question – can you truly enjoy a book if you don’t like the writing? I think you can, as evidenced by my actually finishing The Wedding Dress. But how about vice versa. Can you write a bad story but do it really well? Looking into my own archives, I see evidence of that aplenty. Jeff VanderMeer’s Southern Reach trilogy exemplifies good writing with a disappointing story for me. The Bone Shard Daughter by Andrea Stewart is another on my list whose writing I admired but the story I had little investment in.
Obviously, my favorite is to find a book with both quality story and writing. The kind I reference earlier, where I get sucked in so completely that I forget I’m reading a book. But we can’t always have our cake and eat it too. And there’s merit in experiencing all kinds of books, just like there’s value in experiencing all kinds of people. You can meet a nice person with very little substance or a rude person whose still waters run very deep.
That doesn’t mean neither isn’t worth getting to know or learning from. You probably need a little of everything to balance out your bookshelf and social circle, to be honest. I like the discomfort of being outside my comfort zone sometimes, because it gives me a different perspective and teaches me something about myself, more often than not. Even though I’m not a Danielle Steel fan, at least I gave her a shot and found out I admired her ability to create interesting stories.
Of course, I did feel bad admitting to Linda that I didn’t enjoy the writing. Fortunately, it hasn’t stopped her from sharing more books with me. Now I need to return the favor, and I have a couple in mind. (The Murmur of Bees by Sofia Segovia and The Star-Crossed Sisters of Tuscany by Lori Nelson Spielman, for curious minds.)