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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
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Posted by Racer on June 29, 2004, at 13:51:13
Certain books seem to be able to change my emotional state. For some, rereading them brings back the emotional state in which I first read them, but others just create it on first reading. Edith Wharton's "House of Mirth" is the book that I was reading when I figured this out -- it was profoundly difficult for me to finish. A friend of mine asked me, while I was reading it, if I was reading something by Edith Wharton? I asked how she knew that! (Wow, my own psychic friends' network?) She said she could tell by my mood, and I took a look at it. She was right, my mood had changed while I read the book.
Now, I know that I can only read most books by Edith Wharton once, so I've finally stopped trying to reread any of them. (Although I can reread "Ethan Frome" -- go figure, for some reason, that one almost cheers me when I'm a bit melancholy.) Other books, like Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice", usually cheer me when I reread them, and I'll take one as needed as a sort of prescription at times.
(And I'm posting this today because there's a specific book by Edith Wharton that's been on my mind that I'd like to reread, but don't quite trust myself to try. It's "The Mother's Recompense" and it suddenly reminded me of my own mother. For now, I'm resisting any such impulse, but it did make me curious about others' experiences with this.)
So, what about you? Does anyone else experience this sort of thing? Thanks!
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