Why reading twaddle is good for you.

[Bang!Zoom!]

I think it's been about four or five months now that all I've done is read difficult non-fiction academic texts. Brain busting hurt you keep you up at night struggle stuff.

 

So yesterday, I waltz into this bookstore and pick up a total twaddle book named "Still Alice".

 

I read it cover to cover in under an hour and enjoyed that story more than anything in recent memory just for the twaddle factor alone. I was entertained, in suspense, slightly emotional about it and it didn't last very long at all.

 

This sort of reading in direct opposition to everything I've touched lately. It was like swimming in a warm pool. No hard words, no encyclopedia work, no backstory, just twaddling along and having a good time.

 

When it was over, I sat back in some sort of weird glow, patting myself on the back saying, "Wow, I can still really read! And fast!"

 

I didn't have to take any notes, no deciphering, nothing, just happy skippy la la reading.

 

I've been worried recently that ,I'm stupid you see. Menopause and all that.

 

Pretty good fiction story. I was laughing along with the storyline at some of the events in the early parts, finding reflections of myself (hey, where's my phone, it's in the freezer of course..) - or the overuse of the word, "thingy" for an object.

 

The story line itself is based in serious matters, but some connections and sympathy were present for me as I saw myself in there. (Hey, what was it I was doing? Am I supposed to be somewhere else today? Where are my keys? Did I unplug the coffee pot before I left?) That kinda stuff.

 

So that was pretty cool, see I can still read, that was a good wake up call for me. I feel balanced again.

 

Twaddle can be good for you. :)

 

That was a good flick - really enjoyed it on so many levels.

 

http://readinggroupguides.com/guides_s/still_alice1.asp

Edited February 21, 2012 by one*mom

[WTMCassandra]

Yes, a good dose of twaddle can be good for what ails you.

[Photo Ninja]

Twaddle has its time. It's kind of like junk food or dessert. You can eat healthy foods all the time, but sometimes you really want or just need a hot fudge sundae or piece of cheesecake. It's okay to have it once in a while, it tastes good, and it hits the spot. A steady diet of it is bad, but its okay to indulge sometimes. Same with twaddle. Sometimes I just want an easy, no-brainer book to read, just for fun.

[justamouse]

I'm saving up all my twaddling for the summer. I can't wait. :D

[LNC]

I don't think that book written by Lisa Genova (a neuroscientist with a Phd from Harvard) about someone with Alzheimers is exactly twaddle. I've heard excellent reviews of it. It isn't exactly a harlequin. ;)

Edited February 21, 2012 by LNC

[JumpedIntoTheDeepEndFirst]

I think twaddle can be great.

 

Trash is different though.

[Ottakee]

I love to read a lot of "no-think" books as my friends and I call them. We stick to ones that are more wholesome and not trash but they are nec. great literature either.

 

After a busy day with 3 special needs kids I just want to relax and NOT THINK too hard about anything.

 

I have found tons of great free books on Amazon's Top 100 Kindle list......some are total non think, some are just light reading and a few really do make you think.

[Bang!Zoom!]

She's got a second one out also, which I'll salivate to get. The title of her second book is Left Neglected.

 

Back in the day I think I read everything ever written by Oliver Sacks - Ms. Genova has said he is/was quite influential in her life and path.

 

There is something profoundly stab-in-the-heart about "Still Alice" - for me...in particular, she describes with fluidity the first signs of confusion that drop out of the clear blue sky when (in my case) menopause hits, and the very honest ice-fear thoughts I felt before I was diagnosed.

 

The character of Alice and myself split paths at some point in our commonality of experience as she wrote it.

 

I, in reality, walked out of the office with a clear diagnosis of menopausal FSH drop.

 

Alice wasn't so lucky in the story.

 

The scene where Alice is so formidable and matter of fact confident it is "just simple" menopause - to the interior dark doubt hiding just under the surface - was something that took my breath away.

 

I know that place. I know that moment. I know that fear.

 

What's weirder yet about it...if you've had anyone beloved to you with mental decline for whatever reason...those moments of Alice's character when she is momentarily lucid in the late pages - are entirely food for flashback, pretty powerful..and the writing becomes more than the writing of fiction.

 

There's a form of communication in the eyes that's transcendent, and even when that is gone - you breath the air of something beyond us, and a knowing, an exchange of peace and love that no words can capture.

 

Somehow, she gets around to the telling of that. Good stuff.