Windows and Reflections

I reread Eleanor and Park the first few days of this week and it felt just as wondrous as the first time. The same is true of my oft mentioned Gentleman's Guide to Vice & Virtue. Every read feels like the first read, and I find new things to love. I stopped to think about what these two books do that allow them to so completely enchant me.

I realized what it was as I drove home along the rain soaked streets. It’s the way they capture a feeling. That feeling of walking hand-in-hand down an Italian street with the sun dipping below the horizon. That feeling of standing in the lamp light dimness outside of your front door with the person that makes you feel bold and shy, assured and afraid, ravenous and full. That feeling of knowing that the strawberry gelato you just ate wouldn’t have tasted nearly as good if you’d shared it with someone else. That feeling of someone taking your heart in their hands.

That’s what they have in common—windows and reflections.