Books and Relationships

My husband passed along an article he had printed off from the New York Times entitled "It's Not You, It's Your Books." It's an amusing article about the pitfalls of dating someone whose taste in books is not yours.

We are both dedicated readers, but his taste is much more eclectic than mine. He also has a lot more time to read than I do, since it is his major interest in life--while I spend time gardening, knitting (well, not that so much lately), etc. I seldom recommend books to him. I don't exactly know why, although I think he wouldn't be that interested in most of what I read. I'm a big mystery reader--he's not.

He often recommends books to me, and although he's sometimes frustrated that I don't seem to get to all of them, I have to say that I almost always really enjoy the ones he tells me to read.Over the years he's recommended A.S. Byatt's Possession, Absolute Friends by John LeCarre,and The Sixteen Pleasures by Robert Hellenga.

There's never enough time to read, but it's reassuring to know the library has something to suit almost every reading taste.