I am not a patient person. People who do slow, meticulous things like needlepoint and whittling amaze and bewilder me. This impatience applies to my reading habits, too: when immersed in a book I love, I can’t stop myself from reading faster and faster, eager to see the whole picture, to wolf the whole story into my head.
Luckily, though, Five Chapters exists to remind me that patience is a virtue. Five Chapters publishes one story each week, with one section of the story posted each day. It’s an old-fashioned exercise in delayed gratification, and as this week’s story is by one of my (and FWR’s) favorite authors, Aryn Kyle, I suddenly appreciate the enforced pacing, slowing down to wallow in each line of prose. This is like someone doling out chocolate mousse to you one very rich spoonful at a time, so you can relish every bit of it. Part One of “Take Care” is up now, but for the rest, you’ll have to check tomorrow, and the next day, and the next. Savor, and enjoy.
Also on FWR…
- Read more about Five Chapters and other serial fiction and why slow might be good for you
- Check out Elizabeth Ames Staudt’s review of Kyle’s debut novel The God of Animals
