I'm indulging in what is becoming a yearly habit - I'm rereading The Stone Gods, by Jeanette Winterson. Despite it being my favourite book, I continue to forget how perfect it is. Every time I start reading, it all comes flooding back. The sentences are delicious. The plot is intriguing and the characters feel more real than some people I know. This is how I would like to write, to write something so brilliant that it can make another person feel this way.
Gushing praise aside, I realised why I relate to this book so much - but not really any of her other work (I have tried; at least three of Winterson's other books). It's because the main character, and the overarching theme of the story is very much in line with my own beliefs. To be honest, I wouldn't be surprised if much of the way I feel about the world actually stems from The Stone Gods, rather than simply reiterating my own perspective.
It also reconciles my pessimism with the human race, with a huge dollop of hope, and the idea that maybe it was always going to be this way. That's not to say I subscribe to fate controlling us, but as Spike says, "This is a quantum universe, neither random nor determined. It is potential at every second. All you can do is intervene."
It's that potential that makes me feel better about everything.
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