Book Moods

"I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel." -Maya Angelou

I’ve heard that quote before, but I recently read it and got to thinking that the same can be said about stories. For the most part, we probably won’t remember everything that was said and done in a book, but we will remember the emotion it left us with.

This week, I’m going to take my inspiration from Maya Angelou and the “How Are You Feeling Today?” chart. While each of the books I list, no doubt, prompted many conflicting emotions, I’m going with gut reactions here. Here are the first six:

• Exhausted: London: The Novel (Edward Rutherford)
• London’s been around for awhile. Almost as long as it took me to read this book.
• Confused: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (J.K. Rowling)
• Good or bad, Snape? GOOD OR BAD??
• Ecstatic: The Two Princesses of Bamarre (Gail Carson Levine)
• Sisters, magic, adventure….awesome.
• Guilty: The Picture of Dorian Gray (Oscar Wilde)
• In the preface Wilde makes the point of noting, “It is the spectator, and not life, that art really mirrors.” Always made me wonder about the sins for which I judged Dorian Gray.
• Suspicious: Cinderella / Snow White (Disney Classics)
• Disney was my first exposure to these stories. The picture books were read to me before I saw the movies. From the start, I was convinced the two Princes were actually the same guy.
• Angry: Romeo & Juliet (William Shakespeare)
• Read this for the first time in seventh grade. When I finished the only character I could stand was Benvolio. To this day, the rest of them still make me angry.

The next bunch will be up tomorrow, but for now, let's here your books for these emotions.