Monday, February 25, 2019

Books read in 2019: No. 15 -- The Book of Qualities

by J. Ruth Gendler

Started: Feb. 24
Finished: Feb. 25

Notes: This is one of my girlfriend's favorite books and there are a couple of copies laying around my place, so I thought I'd give it a try.

Review: My girlfriend laughed at me when she saw I was reading this book, telling me I would probably call it "artsy fartsy." There might be a little truth to that, but I also have to say there's a little more to this book than that. Yes, it's the kind of book that is generally intended to make people feel better about their life, and there's nothing necessarily wrong with that. But the main potential I saw here was for beginning writers. Basically, this book is a collection of several score vignettes humanizing various emotions and trials of humanity. This might sound trite to some, might sound awesome to others, but the benefit I found here for those starting to write is that it provides excellent examples of how to use metaphors and allegory, and it shows one way to write from the heart without having to get all flowery, while remaining relatively down to earth.

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