unlocking the novel
a guide to modernism and postmodernism

Reader's autobiography: Elizabeth Stewart

I read because I can’t stop. To paraphrase Michael Douglas in Wonder Boys, I’m a junkie for the printed word. When I was a kid, my brothers and I weren’t allowed to watch TV, so I read everything in sight, over and over again - classics such as The Chronicles of Narnia, Tuck Everlasting, The Castle in the Attic, and Where the Red Fern Grows. There were always a lot of books in the house. Later, I got into Jack London, S.E. Hinton, Gone with the Wind, and All Quiet on the Western Front. These were stories about individuals struggling against social, psychological, or historical forces bigger than themselves, and in most cases, losing. These stories helped define my worldview.

As I get older, I find myself reading for aesthetic and emotional reasons. Through his individual style an author will speak to me, or he won’t. Character also fascinates me; the details that make a character pop on the page. I look for the moment when an author makes me go “Hey, that’s cool.” F. Scott Fitzgerald, Russell Banks, and John Steinbeck do it for me. A good story, the beauty of the words, the author’s ability to condense everything beautiful, sad, ugly, pathetic, and exhilarating about life into one phrase; these are the things that draw me to particular books. I am also attracted to melancholy; it’s part of my nature, I guess. The Sweet Hereafter and Plainsong - these are gorgeous books. 

When I read, I expect to be awed, knocked down, and blown away. As I read, I underline, highlight, exclamation point, and dog-ear pages. Whatever mood I’m in at the moment, I can always find a novel to complement it and therefore validate my existence. There are very few books I read simply for entertainment. (Jurassic Park is one.)