Thursday, October 12, 2006

The Stone Diaries

My book club chose The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields to read for October. I read it when it first came out 15 years ago and had a different set of reactions this time. One of the most interesting things to me was the list made for the protagonist near the end of the book of things she never did. Included are items such as oil painting, nude bathing, reading science fiction, oral sex, driving a car. It is a very sad list because so many of the items were ordinary and accessible and the last item was she never heard anyone say they loved her!
My "didn't do" list would include smoking pot, diving, learning a magic trick, skating backward, living along. The woman in my group talked most about the last one. Most of us had never lived alone--going right from our parent's house or a college dorm to living with a husband. We were all born in the 1940s and early 1950s.
What would your list include if you're old enough to make one?

No comments: