You know those “I’d rather be ___” bumper stickers, like I’d rather be fishing, or I’d rather be driving a golf ball? Mine would say, “I’d rather be reading a 19th century work.”
This is not to say that I wish I’d lived then or that I ever plan to write historical fiction (actually, I agree with Elizabeth Barrett Browning in Aurora Leigh that I do distrust an author who cannot see the nobleness in his own time and therefore must turn to other eras for material). But insofar as reading goes, I have to make myself take a break from the 19th century to keep abreast of contemporary literature. For me, reading contemporary lit. is like having lunch with a friendly acquaintance but an acquaintance with whom I know I will never quite share the perfect naturalness of a best friend.Allegra Goodman’s The Cookbook Collector proved one such reading experience.
