My favorite part of O Magazine is the section called “Books that Made a Difference to …”—by a celebrity of some sort. He/She picks five books and explains why they made the list. Do you ever wonder which five books you would choose?
I’m always forming a list in my mind—just in case Oprah calls. Except that she doesn’t know my phone number—or me for that matter. But before I bolted from Girl Scouts, I learned to “be prepared.”
I constantly revised my Top Five List, based on my moods, aging, re-evaluations, or what I had for lunch. I also revise because people in the magazine have already taken many of my favorite book selections, such as:
To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee — picked by John Cusack (possibly the best piece of fiction in the 20th century);
Wonder Boys, by Michael Chabon — picked by John Hamm (of Mad Men, best show on TV, IMHO).
Getting back on track here, or should I say the “race track,” a book that I would pick for my Top Five List is Seabiscuit: An American Legend, by Laura Hillenbrand. I am not aware if this book has been chosen by anyone for O Magazine—but it should be.
Published in 2001, the book was an immediate critical and commercial success. It was made into a movie starring Jeff Bridges and Tobey Maguire, an excellent film that received an Oscar nomination for Best Picture. (Plus you get to see the fabulous vintage clothes from the 1930s.) But like all movies adapted from books, the book is better.
This book is a page-turner/barn-burner. I brought it with me on vacation several summers ago while I was supposed to be having fun touring the Wine Country in Northern California. I didn’t want to go anywhere. All I wanted to do was sit in the hotel and read. Which I did.
This non-fiction book has the all the elements of a great novel: unforgettable characters (the owner, the jockey, the trainer, the horse); interesting setting; conflict and suspense; joy and sorrow; family sagas; historical background; and a story about an unlikely hero—a small, crooked-legged horse—that captured the heart of America. So inspirational. Don’t you love it when against all odds the little guy wins?
On Amazon.com, the book has 600+ reviews with an average rating of five stars. That’s an astounding endorsement.
But the most amazing part of the book to me is the effort it took the author to write it. Here’s the point of this blog: If you really want to write, you will find a way.
The guts and determination that propelled Seabiscuit to win his races was the same stuff Laura Hillenbrand needed to write this book. Why? Because she was devastatingly ill when she wrote it. (The book is extremely well written by an extremely unwell writer. How’s that for irony?)
The story of LH’s illness is a book unto itself. She contracted a severe case of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome as a straight-A college student at the age of 19. She was forced to drop out of college, move home, and give up her goal to earn a PhD.
The disease is incurable and produces debilitating symptoms, such as total exhaustion, mouth and throat sores, rolling of the eyes, loss of hair, vertigo, muscle pain, headaches, night sweats, partial blindness, dangerously low blood pressure, dizziness, and a raging fever. (HOLY COW!) She became bedridden for six of the next fourteen years—where she couldn’t feed or bathe herself—or sit at a desk and write. She wrote in bed. For four years.
Despite the inconvenience and discouragement of having CFS, despite having to deal with the pain and misery, LH STILL wrote. She knew that the effort of writing the book would take a physical toll on her already weakened body, but she persevered anyway. She said the writing gave her dignity; gave her a purpose.
As LH was writing an inspirational story about a horse, she was living an inspirational story herself. She is a testament of the human spirit to triumph over adversity—big time.
Since I have known the LH story, I cannot make excuses for myself about not wanting to write without feeling like a total wuss. Likewise, I am enormously grateful for my excellent health (knock on wood) because I am a weenie when it comes to discomfort, much less pain. Heck, I don’t even like to write if my pants are too tight.
TO LH: I hope your health is improving and that you are well enough to write. You are a gifted writer and I can’t wait to read your next book.
To the rest of us: NO EXCUSES!
Here is an essay by Laura Hillenbrand about her disease:
http://www.cfids-cab.org/MESA/Hillenbrand.html
