I started reading Jodi Picoult‘s novels a few years ago. I love how she captures the messiness of life with honesty and compassion. However, I found I needed to space out reading her books because they are so emotionally charged…that is until I developed Long COVID.
So far this year, I have read 21 of her books. As she has published 31 books to date, I am confident that I will make it through her complete works by the end of the year. Particularly when I feel like I am drowning and disoriented by the emotions of my life, I reach for another Jodi Picoult book. The intense emotional journeys of her characters, who experience the unexpected and unthinkable, gives me solace as I experience this part of my life that is unexpectedly and significantly derailed from what I thought it would be.
Her writing also inspires me. I hope that by reading her work some of the magic of her writing rubs off on me as I so very slowly work on my own novels.
Feature image credit: Book by Relona Creative from Noun Project (CC BY 3.0)
Carolyn Ristau 