Burning Bright

I just finished reading Burning Bright by Tracy Chavalier, which is a new book by one of my most favorite authors.

It is the first book that I have picked up since reading and re-reading (and re-reading) the Twilight books, and it was a shock how normal the people and their interactions were. The characters in the Twilight books are way too passionate.

After I got over my shock, I really enjoyed the story of William Blake's London and his interactions with some neighboring families during the French Revolution. (The French Revolution seems to be all around me lately; I just watched Marie Antoinette, and the other book I am reading right now is set during this same period as well.)

Near the end of the book is a short little bit that I really liked:

"That was what being a parent meant, she had come to realize: Your children remained with you, alive or dead, nearby or faraway."

I think I like this passage because it articulates one facet of something that I heard over and over again when I was pregnant with Connor in a more specific and sophisticated manner: "Having a baby changes everything."