I'm reading Alan Lightman's Ghost right now. Of course, I picked it up because of the book's premise about a modest, scientifically-oriented man who must come to terms with a supernatural encounter. Mr. Lightman's credentials as a theoretical physicist, MIT professor and celebrated novelist shed immediate light on the insight he would give his protagonist. Maybe, though, it was the fact that Salman Rushdie provided this quote of Lightman's work: "at once intellectually provocative and touching and comic and so very beautifully written."The opening is so first person, it's almost disconcerting. Rather like breathing in the exhale of a paranoid man. So much so, and so different from what I normally read that I'm simultaneously tempted to put it down and hole myself in the corner and keep reading. I guess the praise for the novel is what keeps me going with it. How can I deny myself a further look at the "allegory of the birth of superstition" and the "sympathetic picture of the kind of people who are often mocked or patronized in novels"? Am I really so uncertain in my own tastes that I'll adopt those of Joyce Carol Oates above my own? Do quotes really have that much impact on the sales and reading habits of our audiences?
Will I stick with it? I'll let you know. For now, it's a great study in character immersion.
When was the last time you picked up a book and invested time in it based on a quote?
To read a great Alan Lightman interview, click here.
