Even if it means two cooped boys and intolerable amounts of deflecting that's what she said retorts (getting a lot old by now), it's worth it to have a blizzard (free to read) day.
As an English major (someone who claims to write), I often feel guilty for not reading more. For a long time, I felt a bit like a fraud---as if my lack of commitment to full-time reading meant I wasn't a real lover of words. But over time, I've come to realize that I read like I do most things. All or nothing. I'm not a leisure reader. I don't start a book, read a few chapters, feel satisfied and come back to it later. Most often, I need to eat a book in one sitting (I put off potty breaks, meals, conversations). For that reason, I can't tolerate mediocre books. I'm too invested to stay put for crud, you know?
Anyway, today I finally started A Mercy---last year's Christmas gift from Danelle---, and even though I wasn't feeling tugged throughout, I pushed ahead anyway, operating under the assumption it would get better (after all, I love Toni Morrison!). And, sadly, in the end, I thought: if I had wanted to read a wannabe Faulkner...well, hell, why would anyone want to do that?
It was like a sad attempt at The Sound and the Fury, and no one--esp. someone who's already been labeled a Faulkneresque type of novelist--should mimic so closely the POV and narration. I hate to say this, because I do love Morrison, but in the end, to say that this "plot" is in any way artful and poignant in the way that Faulkner's novel is, well, it's just ludicrous. Okay, I'll stop. This is all to say now I need a new book to read, something to clean this icky taste from my mouth. Suggestions? Because they say this nameless blizzard may not be coming to an end.
And why aren't blizzards assigned names? According to certain sources, they get a name if the winds are upwards of 60 mph or the snow stacks to our waists. But not the blizzard of 1888, which plowed across the country, killing 200+ people and a ton of livestock.
For now, I say Gustav. We're probably to a G blizzard for this calendar year, right? And in Gustav's name, I already have followers: two boys kneeling in prayer at the bay window. They'd probably sacrifice a few cows and a cock for another snow day. Maybe a hen.
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6 comments:
I just finished To Kill a Mockingbird. Yes, just finished it. I'd recommend it on, but I'm sure you have already finished it, probably in high school.
Check out Nomina by Karen Volkman if you haven't. Some stuff in there that sounds like gibberish, but some stuff that will blow your mind.
Here's to blizzards! Here's to Gustav!
Word verification: partwit, which I thought an apt description of any comment I may ever leave.
A Private History of Awe by Scott Russell Sanders is currently knocking my socks off, which is problematic given the necessity of socks in these windy/snowy/Gustav-y times.
Tristan and Iseult
Out of Africa
Casey, Here's a shameful admission: I have started "To Kill..." 3 times or so...never finished. I assume this will be much like when I finally dug into _As I Lay Dying_ a few starts and stutters. I'll love it. Perhaps I'll put that one next (esp. since I own it, and the library's angry at me...I'm terrible at returning anything timely).
The rest, I thank you all for...they're on my list for winter-break reading. Here's my plan: read a book, ski 1 mile; read a book, ski 1.2 miles; read a book, ski 1.4 miles...
You get the gist.
Happy break to all!
*after a few starts and stutters. eeesh. How very schiffer of me.
Karen Russell's St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves. The end.
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