Indulgences

I spent all day reading Beloved yesterday.

I can't remember the last time I did something like that.  Maybe when I was in school back in the seventies?  It was decadently lazy and lovely.  Not the book.  It isn't lovely, but it is rich in a way that can take up a whole day and night and leave me feeling fuller because of it.

It may be the perfect book in some respects.  If you want horror, there is certainly that.  If you want love, it is right there in all its forms.  If you like mystery, or thrills, tension and adventure, Toni Morrison mixes it all up and pours out a satisfying read.

She speaks to me about concepts that are universal and timeless.  Frightening because they could be my own in some places.  Thought provoking because they are written about people who would seem to have nothing to do with me and my time.

And yet they do.

Beloved is one of those books that reminds me we are all more alike than we ever dare to dream.