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April Fools for Love
April 1, 2008
True story: the first time I met Mr. Bethanne on an early April day long, long ago, we talked about a John Barth novel. (It was The End of the Road.) He'd been assigned the book for class; I had read it the previous year while on a postmodern binge. I loved it; he wasn't so sure. But instead of dismissing it, he actually talked about it with me, asked me questions about what I liked and why. Sigh. The way to a Book Maven's heart is through literary discussion. (Have I mentioned that Mr. Bethanne is very, very smart?)
Those were the pre-Internet days, when you had to actually engage in conversation or be inside someone's domicile to know their taste in books. Now you can judge a potential date by his or her covers before you ever get under any, due to the power of social networking sites. Rachel Donadio examined the role of literary taste as a dating dealbreaker in this past Sunday's New York Times Book Review. "At least since Dante’s Paolo and Francesca fell in love over tales of Lancelot, literary taste has been a good shorthand for gauging compatibility," writes Donadio. Now the shorthand has been shortened; if a Match.com hottie's Shelfari list looks lame, you can click "Next" faster than the time it takes to turn a page.
If you don't mind backtracking for a moment, let's revisit my date with destiny, above. Mr. Bethanne would never have put the Barth on his bookshelf -- but he was willing to talk about it. In my book (sorry, couldn't resist), that counts for more than a perfect library.
Posted by Bethanne Patrick on April 1, 2008 | Comments (3)
