May 12: Read this author

Last year my friend Deanna recommended The Wonder Spot, by Melissa Bank. I thought it was a pretty good book—an easy read, likeable characters, all that. If there’s one negative thing I can say about it, it’s that The Wonder Spot could easily fit into the category of chick lit, and I’m not a huge fan of the genre. However, the quality of Bank’s writing is what appealed to me most. She’s no trashy novelist.

Her first novel, The Girl’s Guide to Hunting and Fishing, was hugely popular, or so I’ve heard. I haven’t read it yet, but it’s on its way to me right now. Once I’ve got The Girl’s Guide in my hands, if it’s worth mentioning, I promise you’ll hear about it.

The reason I bring up this author is that today I found a quote of hers that I appreciate tremendously:

During chemo, you’re more tired than you’ve ever been. It’s like a cloud passing over the sun, and suddenly you’re out. You don’t know how you’ll answer the door when your groceries are delivered. But you also find that you’re stronger than you’ve ever been. You’re clear. Your mortality is at optimal distance, not up so close that it obscures everything else, but close enough to give you depth perception. Previously, it has taken you weeks, months, or years to discover the meaning of an experience. Now it’s instantaneous.  ~Melissa Bank

Bank’s father had leukemia and she watched him go through chemotherapy, so she knows of what she speaks. More impressive is that she was able to learn such an important lesson from this observation. I kinda like her now more than ever.