It is a long road of bumps, tight turns and marked up pages for one who reads and writes. When you are a reader, the world is yours and you may pick from it what you will, like passerby taking a plump apple from a tree. But when you’re a writer, you must plant the tree. You must water it and take care of it. When the time comes, you must harvest the fruit of your labor. Not all that bad, I tell you that in earnest. The confict that sneaks up on you is when you want to go out for a stroll and pick at the local fruit. I have been watching my own trees for the past few months and only read one book to show for it. For shame. So here is a fruit that I picked recently, only, I think I’ll have to put it in the fridge to keep it from rotting.
I was fortunate enough to find this beauty at the Prison Library Project in Claremont. Like many of my treasures, this book was donated by a previous owner who clearly did not understand the excellent read-to-be that is in this pages. Having skimmed over some pages and read some reviews, I discovered that The Barbarian Nurseries was considered one of the best books of 2011. And…I got my hardcover for $3. Wink. Grin. I don’t do too much modern reading. When I do, it is stuff like The Wise Man’s Fear and The Magician King, call me a fantasy nerd if you wish but at least I don’t read Star Wars novels (no offense). The Barbarian Nurseries excites my intrigue as it takes my most beloved city of Los Angeles and makes it the backdrop for this less than traditional tale of a hispanic maid and her employers’ sons. Anything unorthodox and takes place in Los Angeles is fine in my book (pun very much intended). I quote the great Ferris Bueller when I say, “if you have the means, I highly recommend picking one up.”
