Literary Chance

If you are like me, your list of books to read grows by the pound with each passing day. I gather titles like a bee gathers pollen in seemingly random patterns as I move about my day. But like bees, my randomness is more programmatic than chaotic as I tend to gravitate to the usual sources for interesting titles – general news and reviews, word of mouth from friends, and the bookshelf from favorite book shops, among others.

Every once in a while though, I find my choice of book almost by chance. In one instance I found a dog-eared trade paperback left at a coffee house that I frequent. It was old, and a first glance at the title suggested a work from the all-too-common hard-boiled detective genre. I found the copper-foiled embossing on the title art over the top but compelling enough that I had to give it a closer look. I decided to read the first chapter to sample it, and of course, had to finish it. I became fond enough of the protagonist to read the other dozen or so books that comprised the series. And, because the forward was by a contemporary author I had heard of, I was led to try his titles too that I have since come to enjoy. And so it goes.

Another time, I was drawn to a non-fiction topic so far from my intellectual comfort zone that I had to think twice before delving into the philosophy topic. It wasn’t my favorite read, but I was glad I had dug into it. The little I did comprehend helped me think about the topic in a clearer sense and informed my view greatly. I want to think I’m smarter for having waded into the topic more fully, if only by millimeters.

Most recently, a friend suggested I read Tan Twan Eng’s series of historical novels based in Asia. I was told I would like them not only for the World War II historical context in which they are set and which I enjoy, but also for the beautiful writing filled with evocatively picturesque metaphor and their emotional range. So, I decided to jump in and have recently finished the second of three. I have found them to be among the most enjoyable books I have ever read. Again, not an author I would have likely found on my own or considered worth a look had I seen his titles on the shelf of a bookstore.

Sometimes literary discovery is purposeful, as is the case when I mine the works of a specific author or the range of authors for a specific subject. But other times literary discovery, like all discovery, may not come when we are looking for it, but when we are open enough to try something new that comes our way.

You may find after only a few pages a new book is not for you. But you may also find a new avenue to enjoy the very thing we love most about books – their ability to nurture us or transport us to a new world, or new way of thinking about this one, or sometimes just for the shear enjoyment of letting an author take us on a ride we’ve never been on before, one that is sometimes foreign, sometimes new, but always exciting.