Novella: "Two Hearts" by Peter S. Beagle
Feb. 12th, 2008 02:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
timepiececlockThere are good books, there are great books, and there are the rights books.
The kind of book, or short story, or poem or song, where when it finishes you smooth out dog-ears, fold the cover back to its original position, and sit on your bench/chair/bed with a wide, dopey smile on your face.
There's many books that I love. There's even more books that I like. But there's so very few books that I read and say, "That was it." No complaints between the good parts, no lingering nits over this or that, no rationalizing the fact that the okay parts don't matter because the parts that were good were so good. Sometimes a book doesn't make me want to pick it a part, make a list of pros or cons, or analyze it into pieces.
The Last Unicorn and its coda Two Hearts (an ending so right and perfect that I could shoot JKR in the boot with a nailgun and tell her to stay put while I show her what an epilogue is for) left me with such a happy sense of completion and wonderfulness that the absolute last thing I want to do is give it a proper review.
I have to say, the only other book that left me completely satisfied without any critical reaction was The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy. I'm sure any number of critics and readers are happy to dig into that one, but after listening to it unabridged at least six times in the author's British accent and laughing every single time, the first time when I was about 8 or 9, I really could never say anything about it except Je t'aime toujours, and shrug.
My mood icon is "content". Yes, I am content. Peter S. Beagle's story leaves me contented. Satisfied, inspired, and good. That's what books should do, even the sad ones.
Next: finish The Master & Margarita, then move to The Picture of Dorian Gray and learn to properly misquote Oscar Wilde
The kind of book, or short story, or poem or song, where when it finishes you smooth out dog-ears, fold the cover back to its original position, and sit on your bench/chair/bed with a wide, dopey smile on your face.
There's many books that I love. There's even more books that I like. But there's so very few books that I read and say, "That was it." No complaints between the good parts, no lingering nits over this or that, no rationalizing the fact that the okay parts don't matter because the parts that were good were so good. Sometimes a book doesn't make me want to pick it a part, make a list of pros or cons, or analyze it into pieces.
The Last Unicorn and its coda Two Hearts (an ending so right and perfect that I could shoot JKR in the boot with a nailgun and tell her to stay put while I show her what an epilogue is for) left me with such a happy sense of completion and wonderfulness that the absolute last thing I want to do is give it a proper review.
I have to say, the only other book that left me completely satisfied without any critical reaction was The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy. I'm sure any number of critics and readers are happy to dig into that one, but after listening to it unabridged at least six times in the author's British accent and laughing every single time, the first time when I was about 8 or 9, I really could never say anything about it except Je t'aime toujours, and shrug.
My mood icon is "content". Yes, I am content. Peter S. Beagle's story leaves me contented. Satisfied, inspired, and good. That's what books should do, even the sad ones.
Next: finish The Master & Margarita, then move to The Picture of Dorian Gray and learn to properly misquote Oscar Wilde
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Re: I read that book in original French in high school
Date: 2008-02-18 08:07 pm (UTC)I love that icon. You must've drawn/Paint'd those images yourself so it looks like it was a pain in the ass to make -- but where is that text from?? O_O
Re: I read that book in original French in high school
Date: 2008-02-18 08:19 pm (UTC)