Finally, I have gotten back in the habit of starting and finishing books… and in under six months no less. I am liking this. Not only do I feel a little bit smarter and truer to my “I like to read” claim, but I just have a sense of accomplishment when I finish 500 pages of legitimate literature.
I finished two books yesterday, one of which I also started yesterday morning but I hardly consider a book — The Last Lecture — even though it’s for the church book club I pretty much turned down leading yesterday afternoon. I ended up turning it down because it was directly through the church and if I were going to do a book club, I just couldn’t feel comfortable associating it with the church. I’d want to do something totally secular, even if its only members were also members of the church. I don’t know if that makes sense to anyone, but that’s how I feel. I just don’t want to worry so much about offending people and having them associate that with the church or getting ‘talked to’ by leaders of the church about appropriateness. I know there are a lot of religious zealots that get offended by even middle school literature, so I just would be really worried about that.
Well, last night (after saying thanks but no thanks to leading it) I went to the club and actually feel a little bad about turning it down now just because I think they were looking for someone more to organize the actual meeting times and run the actual events as opposed to picking books every time, but that’s not how they were explaining it to me. Oh well. No one could agree on a book last night, and as I was skimming a list of classics, I said casually, “I’ve never read anything by Dickens but I’d really like to” and a lot of people seemed excited about that idea, so next time we’re reading Great Expectations and I’m in charge of leading the discussion anyway. Maybe I was worrying too much, but I guess it doesn’t matter now, and I still do think it would be more fun to have a club where I wouldn’t have to be so concerned about content.
Anyway, I read The Last Lecture, which was by that guy who was dying of pancreatic cancer and gave his last lecture. It was a big viral video, so I’m assuming most people know what I’m talking about. I never had watched the video but the book is at many times word-for-word from the lecture — he repeats everything he said in the video and then adds extended anecdotes, backstory, and advice.
I didn’t feel like I got much out of the book, to tell you the truth. It was interesting in that these were his chosen last words, but they didn’t do much for me as they were all pretty cliché (which he was well aware of — he even had a section about liking clichés). I think my favorite piece of advice he repeated in his book that he’d heard from someone else was to the girls: basically, if a man is interested in you romantically you can pretty much ignore every single thing he says and just pay attention to what he does. This is definitely something I learned in my dating years but didn’t put into so many words and something I’d stress to my daughters.
The other book I finished yesterday was Middlesex, which I thought was amazingly well-written. It was a really interesting story spanning three generations, but mostly I was impressed with the narrative style. Much in the same way I felt when I read John Irving, I found myself thinking as I was reading this book, How do people write like this?? It really was very good and I’m not surprised it won the Pulitzer Prize. As far as content goes though… I’d be pretty careful who I recommend this to because it is very sexually explicit — incest, hermaphroditism, sexual experimentation, etc. So there’s your heads-up.
Now I’m starting Catch-22 over again. At one point about a year ago I had gotten about 100 pages into it and then we moved here and I just didn’t get around to picking it up before I’d forgotten everything, so I started that again last night and even though I’m only about 40 pages into it, I can see why it’s such a classic. It’s so hilarious and quirky it makes me laugh out loud, and I really can only name one other book that made me do that, and I read that book back in 5th grade and still remains one of my favorite books.
Anyone have anything good they’ve read recently or anything they’ve been meaning to pick up?
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein It was recommended to me by my Dad who rarely reads fiction. The story is told completely from a dogs perspective (Enzo). I was skeptical even though I’m a certified dog person. Lovely, sad story, full of redemtion. Not just for the dog lover in you. I read Middlesex last summer. I also liked the narrative voice except when it woud slip into immediate action. Then I would just skim it. I love Dickens. Read Little Dorrit over April vaction. He can be very dense but his characters are timeless.
that’s because you have no soul.
Reading the Dalai Lama’s “The Middle Way” right now. Not fiction, though. I’m so swamped with reading law, I am unable to do any fiction. I am on fiction pause, but breathlessly awaiting a return. But I figured The Middle Way would help me regain some balance to my life.
Going back, Farenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury was a life changing book for me. It rewards multiple readings, and has impacted many, many others in a similar way.
loved “middlesex” though it was a bit explicit at times. sorry eric, found farenheit 451 a bother. not my style of literature. another fun book narrated by “the dog” is called “a dogs life” by peter mayle. funny read.