Words of Wanderlust

Stepping Out Of Your Author Comfort Zone

Over the years, I’ve belonged to a few book clubs. In one, while a clerk at my local mall B. Dalton Bookseller in college, I read my one and only Danielle Steel novel, called “Wanderlust.”

The club consisted of all the staff of the bookstore, and each month we rotated picking the book. The result of that usually ended up being that we’d read whatever that staffer’s interest was at the time.

On paper that seemed like a good idea, right? Everybody got a little taste of some genre they normally wouldn’t read. In practice, though, it didn’t work as we soon realized we didn’t actually want to read romance, or cyber-punk, or Russian history.

For the record, I’d usually pick classic literature. Nothing like forcing a book club to read Faulkner!

Anyway, Danielle Steel… Wanderlust, set in the 1930s, is the story of Audrey Driscoll. Orphaned young. Caring for her eccentric millionaire grandfather. Sheltered yet restless. You know the drill.

She decides to take a trip, shocks her friends, hops on the Queen Mary, meets a gorgeous dude named Charles who, if I recall correctly takes care of abandoned orphans in China. I want to say China, but it’s been a while.

I feel like the Orient Express is involved somehow as well. She ends up taking care of the orphans while Charles goes to war, maybe? Then she has her own daughter and come home a changed, more empathetic woman, something, something…

I do actually recall our book club discussion being about empowerment and a woman’s self-direction during a time when that was discouraged. Amazon called Wanderlust a “vivid novel of breathtaking scope.”

Anyway, it wasn’t for me and I haven’t read any Danielle Steel since. But, and pay attention to the following words - it’s ok to like Danielle Steel. Many, many, many readers do. Even after all these years, she still attracts a following at the library. And reading is reading, books are books, and her sort of writing presents a certain sort of comfort and pleasure for readers that enjoy those sort of adventures!

At this point, you all are likely asking me, why the heck is he taking about this? Well, something unique happened at the library the other day pertaining to Danielle Steel, and I’ll tell you all about it tomorrow!

Meantime, what genre / author / style is your guilty pleasure?