Looking for a good book? For every one I read, I copy favorite passages out longhand. Some encapsulate a theme; some resonate on a personal level; and some are merely beautiful. Penning this mosaic of ideas affixes them in my consciousness like a cerebral Mod-Podge while creating a record of my reactions and a springboard to original thought. Here, then, is the first installment in a series I will update weekly.
Safekeeping, a 2001 memoir by the consummately pithy Abigail Thomas, addresses events surrounding the loss of an ex-husband whom she befriended again in his final infirmity. Encompassing the forty years book-ending their brief marriage, she relates with confessional hilarity and wisdom the confusion of a promiscuous youth, the nostalgic depression of love lost, and the peace that comes with reconciliation and maturation. Told through shifting authorial perspective in which Thomas refers to herself sometimes as “I” and sometimes as the elliptical “she”, this tiny gem is beyond memorable. At 181 pages, with chapters varying from two poetic sentences to five pages, it can easily be read in one evening—and likely will be reread soon thereafter.
After thirty-six years of marriage to the same man, this quote reminds me that I don’t always have to be right—even if I am. Now if only I could get him to read this😉.
“He was getting on in years; she wanted him to be happy. She had learned by then it wasn’t necessary to keep setting the record straight.”