Book 38

The Bridges of Madison County by Robert James Waller

Type: Fiction, Love Story

My rating: 5 stars (out of 5)

Why I chose it: This is book #3 in my Love Story Trilogy. If Book #1 (Notebook) was the appetizer and Book #2 (Diary) was the entree, then consider this one (Bridges) the dessert.

What I liked about it: A very loyal reader of this blog (hey, at least I have one reader) was overheard thinking recently that certain books that I have read would be considered "girlie" books. Perhaps s/he was referring to this Love Story Trilogy. I don't necessarily disagree with the comment because our society has conditioned us to believe that emotions associated with love and affection are not "manly" feelings.

Concerning this observation, though, I have the following thoughts:

First, you cannot have a traditional love story without both a woman and a man involved. It's not a one-sided arrangement. A love story would not go very far if only the woman contributed and it wasn't equally reciprocated by the man. So somewhere in that equation there must be passion and romance displayed by the human with the Y-chromosome.

Second, all three of the books in my Love Story Trilogy were written by male authors.

And lastly, the other day my daughter asked me if mermaids are real. My response was that I don't think anyone can prove that mermaids aren't real. Recall that the Velveteen Rabbit asked "What is REAL?" And then the rabbit became Real because the little boy REALLY loved him. I believe that there are people who believe that love is not real. They have not experienced sitting in a fancy restaurant for lunch and holding hands across the table, looking at each other in that intense way. And the waiter smiles, just watching you, hoping he would feel that way sometime. To quote Robert Kincaid, one of the last cowboys, "In a universe of ambiguity, this kind of certainty comes only once, and never again, no matter how many lifetimes you live."

If you liked this book, you might also like A Thousand Country Roads by Robert James Waller, which is the sequel to The Bridges of Madison County.