two things i'd save from a burning building

flippin out

when i was younger i read differently; i was not touched by the celebrity of a book. sure some stories/characters were more intimidating than others, but that was personal. there was none of this sparkling aura of bestsellerness about a book back then. in my world, the author wrote this book for me. especially. i could slip into the story as if there was an invisble place the characters had saved just for me. when i joined them, the story became perfect and functional. i fit like a missing cog.

now more and more i come smack up against a wall. me, with all my preconceived notions and prehatched weariness, just can not get between the characters no more. when they take a bend, they have to drag me along like an unweildy punctuation mark.

so i'm back to reading the old favourites, the ones that worked for me. pratchett, ishiguro, wodehouse and back again. should i be worried that they are all british?