There is a great philosophical debate going on in mind and it’s because I don’t know what to do with Rosemary’s Baby.

The first time I picked up an Ira Levin book, I was with my best friend, escaping from the city, in a wooden cabin on a farm on top a mountain range.

After I took a long bath, we ate outside. I spotted a few shooting stars but we went back in when it got chilly and played backgammon, which I didn’t know how to play but there was a fire and my friend so it didn’t matter.

At some point, warm and full and happily quiet, I noticed a bookshelf. It contained a motley collection but I’d recognised The Stepford Wives from the movie (that I didn’t watch). I didn’t know exactly what it was about, but I started reading it. By the time we left the next day, I’d been a quarter of the way in and couldn’t wait to read the rest.

That was on a Sunday and, on Monday, I got back to the life I needed a break from and nothing much changed. Reading was a luxury I didn’t have time for.

Then the pandemic happened and I was alone and locked down. I hadn’t stopped thinking about the Stepford Wives, and finally got to finish it. I loved it. I still love it. I’ve read over 200 books since then but Ira Levin reignited my love for reading.

I don’t know I didn’t read any of his other works, but Rosemary’s Baby had been on my list for a while (I knew it from a movie I’d also never seen).

I started reading it last night, in bed, and it was so good two chapters in that I had strange dreams. This morning, I read another chapter and put it down because it’s summer here. The sky has no clouds and the sea is looking exceptionally blue and it feels like it’s not bleak enough…

So, I’ve been having a debate in my mind about whether to read the book now, because I really want it, or to wait for the perfect dreary day to increase the creep factor. The first time you read a book you love is the best time – but what if I dropped dead tomorrow and denied myself the pleasure?

Anyway, I am sorry if this is self-indulgent. I wanted to work out whether to read it now or wait and that this might help me but I am more stuck than ever and expect I will read it now because it’s irresistible to me.

by jenna_grows