The saga of reading the dusty books on my shelf continues! This time I picked up Gone Girl Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn.
I came across this book in sort of a strange way (ok, maybe not that strange). I hadn’t heard about it at all, despite the rush of posts about the upcoming movie, until my father gave me a copy. He had happened across it somehow and had no use for it, so he gave it to me, the Daughter Who Reads A Lot. It’s a hardcover copy which is missing a dust jacket, so I couldn’t check out the synopsis. Instead of looking up the book on Amazon I decided to start reading without any information.
This brings me to the topic of today’s blog post: the novelty of reading a book with no prior knowledge, and no assumptions. I can’t remember the last time I started reading a book without knowing the author’s work, or reading the synopsis, or finding some reviews online, or going off the recommendation of a friend. I don’t buy books without at least looking at the back cover to check out the synopsis, and I don’t think I’m alone in this habit. Even if I ignored the synopsis, it’s difficult to avoid the multitude of media entries that cover new books. It’s a wonder I managed to avoid the articles gushing about the casting for the Gone Girl movie, expected to come out in 2014.
Happily, your local library might be able to help you out. You might have heard of the blind date with a book, the trend that’s sweeping the nation!
The idea is, if you haven’t yet heard of it, to give brief details about the subject matter (e.g. thriller, non-fiction, history) and maybe a few quick facts. This won’t help you out with recognizing the book once you’ve ripped the packaging, but it might help you in your ambling search through the aisles.
As far as my opinion of Gone Girl, I read it in about three days. I started out hating the two main characters- which I believe is intentional, having now finished the book and looked up reviews- and certainly had no idea that the wife would suddenly disappear, something I would have known if I’d read the synopsis. There’s a huge plot twist which I won’t spoil, so if I were you I would check this book out! I’m also excited to see the movie when it comes out. The casting seems great so far. I’m especially excited about Niel Patrick Harris- of course, he’s always the right choice (well documented fact based on my highly esteemed opinion), and this role seems especially perfect.
I am now reading a crime thriller, as I seem to be on a thriller kick. This one is by Marcia Muller, who shares my last name. Did I buy it because we have the same last name? Yes. Yes I did. After I finish this, however, I think I will have to start digging into the top shelf on my bookcase. I affectionately call it the I Have a BA In English, I Should Be Reading These shelf. It’s not my favorite shelf.
-A Little Beau Told Me