Judgments

“If you’re a person who loves Alice Munro and you’re going out with someone whose favorite book is ‘The Da Vinci Code,’ perhaps the flags of incompatibility were there prior to the big reveal.”— Sloane Crosley

I’ve always believed that you can learn everything you need to know about a person by looking at their bookshelf. The problem with that though is that (a) they may not read at all and (b) even if they do read, they may not buy books because they’re on a pro-environment paper-saving binge, because they can’t afford them or because they’re miserly.

I read about people deciding whether to spend time on a relationship because of the other person’s taste in books the other day. As I read the write-up, it seemed a little far-fetched to me but a few minutes ago, I began to think of it after I almost unsubscribed from a blog which reviewed a novel which I’d like to read called ‘The Palace of Illusions’ by Chitra Divakaruni by saying that although it’s ‘not as good or as strong as Dan Brown’s ‘The Da Vinci Code’, it’s still very much worth reading’.

Judging people by their taste in books isn’t something I thought I did, but when I read that sentence, I almost unsubscribed from the blog. Dan Brown. Strong? I’ve enjoyed reading Mr Brown’s books but his writing is hardly great literature. If it weren’t for the subjects he’s chosen, I’m sure he’d be just another novelist in the list: John Grisham, Jeffrey Archer, Arthur Hailey, Stephen King.

Thinking about it, I realise that if someone told me that their favourite author was someone I didn’t think too highly of, I’d write the person off. Never mind that my own favourite authors are Beatrix Potter and A A Milne.

I somehow believe that a person’s tastes and choices reveal who they are with far more clarity than any of their assertions ever do. And those choices are not restricted to what they choose to read.

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About ‘The Palace of Illusions’ from Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni’s site:

“Relevant to today’s war-torn world, The Palace of Illusions takes us back to the time of the Indian epic The Mahabharat—a time that is half-history, half-myth, and wholly magical. Through her narrator Panchaali, the wife of the legendary five Pandavas brothers, Divakaruni gives us a rare feminist interpretation of an epic story.”

Read the first chapter at randomhouse.com/doubleday/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780385515993&view=excerpt