bound

i've been on a reading binge.  i recently picked up an inordinate number of books from the borders liquidation, book sale at work, and by finally using up a birthday gift card to barnes & noble.  the stacks upon stacks of books have been piled in our bedroom, tempting me.

so after finishing fly away home by jennifer weiner, i decided to read the best of me by nicholas sparks.  i pretty much knew where the story was headed early on, but i guess i clung to hope that there would be an option for another conclusion, different from the one i was dreading.  but there was no choice, was there?  in true nicholas sparks fashion, and without giving too much away, he managed to break my heart... again.

which put me in the mood for a pick-me-up, much like when you're done watching a serious or scary movie and crave for a light-hearted one to follow so that you'll be able to sleep that night.  and so, i started sundays at tiffany's by james patterson and gabrielle charbonnet, clinging to the easy, happy-go-lucky prose.  before i knew it, i had breezed through 201 pages in one sitting.  i would have finished it, but my eyes had grown heavy, so the rest would have to wait until this morning.  the book had done its job; my heart was put back together again (even after shedding a tear) and i was floating again.

and now i have lisa genova's still alice in front of me.  i know what i'm in for, but i'm pretty sure this one will be unforgettable.  a story of a woman's life-changing diagnosis of early-onset alzheimer's... how could it not be?  i just realized how ironic unforgettable now sounds.

these books pull me into different worlds, different times, different emotions; i bond with the characters, feeling for them, rooting for them.. and sometimes, the best ones, stay with me long after i've shut the covers which normally bind and lock them between the pages.