Why We Love a Pleasing Read
Your answers to our survey about what y’all would like to see most on our shelves have been fascinating. Thanks for taking the time, by the way, to noodle on our behalf. By far, y’all want to see PPB Favorites more than “bestsellers,” I think, because what a lot of people across America BUY may not be the same as what PPB folk love. I’ll be taking a deeper dive later on into what makes a favorite most, but another survey takeaway is this: often, but by no means always, y’all turn to a pleasing read.
Me too. I find a pleasing read has the ability to lull. The characters needn’t always be pleasant, nor the location or era of the story. It’s more that we feel at ease picking the book back up after time away and feel satisfied when we finish the book — glad we read it because it was easy to like. When our life is demanding a lot of us go to books for some ease, looking to be reliably pleased.
You know what I’ve discovered about pleasing reads tho, friends? In that state of easy reading I am sometimes struck hard by something in the story that feels like an essential truth. In my lulled state of mind a concept pops off the page straight into my heart. Maybe because I’m not expecting anything life-changing from a cheery-looking novel … I have found forever moments of clarity in just those sorts of books.
Take Ready or Not by Cara Bostone … I mean look at that cover! And the slogan up top … love shows up when you least expect it. (It’s true, our hero Eve is expecting her first). Who knew that on page 275 an idea from Nurse Louise would strike me so hard. Louise is helping Eve come to grips with the fact that being a mother can affect how you think about the world:
Louise: At first it was just other children, the kids who’d play with my oldest at the playground. You see the grown-ups who push them on swings and you realize that each kid is someone’s whole entire heart. Soon it was the middle schoolers. And then it was the high schoolers. And then, eventually, it was the middle-aged people and the older people too. Once I started seeing it, I couldn’t stop seeing it, all the people who love all the people.
Eve: That’s what it means to be other-centered? To treat everyone like they’re somebody’s favorite person on earth?
See what I mean? What if we held just that in our heart all day, all week, all year? Treat folks like they are someone’s precious favorite, someone we know, too. And if Nurse Louise’s notion ever slips out of focus – remember “Ready or Not” and pull it right back in!
Never underestimate the power of a pleasing read, friends.
–Sandy
