Bookworm Does Not Wish To Be Judged By Camel Hair Blazer; Admits Cover Judging Is Wrong

This is the perfectly harmless
cover I have been judging.

I have been guilty of judging a book by its cover.  At least that’s what I think I did.  I always had a negative impression of Freedom by Jonathan Franzen.  For some reason I assumed it was a book for hipsters to display on shelves whether they read it or not.  Perhaps that is because I saw it featured in an iPad ad.  Or maybe it was the bird on the cover.  Either way I associated it with gluten allergies and bands I’ve never heard of, Things That Make Me Roll My Eyes. (I’m known to wear a camel hair blazer on occasion.)

Bottom line – I was dead wrong.  I loved this book.  It was a Big Thick Book with rich character development that reminded me a bit of a Tom Wolfe read.  The characters were interesting and complex, and Franzen definitely had a unique writing style.  I love the way the story was put together; it was sort of a book within a book since a main character – Patty – ‘wrote’ portions as if it was her autobiography.  Plus – and I know this is an annoying thing to say – I loved the last sentence.  It struck such a perfect chord, and boy do I love a book with closure versus leaving you hanging.  (I like specifics, Tony Soprano!  What exactly happened?)

This was a much needed book obsession after a couple of duds in a row.  It was the kind of book that I gazed at longingly before heading to work in the morning.  (Yes, I’m that lame.  Note camel hair blazer reference above. It looks sharp!)