Brian has introduced me to a new author in the last few months. Leif Enger has written just a handful of books, but they're beautiful. They're very hard to put down, not because they're action-packed, but because of the way he uses words. Here's a sample from "So Brave, Young and Handsome" that really struck me in the last few days:
"... I was confronted again by myself in the window...The window both reflected me and rendered me transparent. My clothes and skin rippled like the surface of water. There was my shaved and thwarted face, which I looked straight through to the street beyond. Here was my morbid thought: What if I am forgotten already? Suppose I go home, and she does not notice?"
I think I stopped and read that passage two or three times before I moved on. I know I've seen that same phenomenon in a window - transparent reflection - but I have never put it into poetry like the above. And his sad question at the end, makes my heart hurt for him.
Anyway, if you have free time and you're looking for a really great fiction author, I recommend trying a little bit of Leif Enger. Great read! Here are links to his two biggest books:
Peace Like a River and So Brave, Young, and Handsome
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