My current inability to finish novels

I used to have an inability to leave novels unfinished. I would start one, not enjoy it, and still plow through it, at least skimming, so that I would finish it. If I just put it down, I would feel like I had abandoned it, giving up on it before it had the chance to become something enjoyable.

However, once I got to college, especially this year when I was hit with major senioritis, I became more comfortable with leaving books unfinished. For one class entitled "The Bestseller in 20th Century America," I started reading Pet Sematary and the 3rd Harry Potter, and didn't finish either of them. I knew that we were only going to be discussing them for 1 or 2 days, that I wouldn't have to write a paper on them, and that I'd be perfectly capable of contributing to class discussion without finishing either of the books. So, I prioritized, set them down, and felt no qualms about it.

Lately, I've started books and put them down, possibly to never return to them. I started reading Jodi Picoult's The Pact (see prior blog entry), but when finals hit I was not able to stay engaged in such a tragic plot. I needed something light and amusing to counterbalance my academic stress. A friend then gave me The Illuminatus! trilogy, which is a science-fictiony/fantasy/humorous novel that is, according to the blurb, "filled with sex and violence--in and out of time and space"--this is proving to be true. It's nice because it's fun, but it's also easy to put down since it jumps from plotline to plotline so much. So, when my parents arrived for my graduation, my dad gave me Carl Hiaasen's Nature Girl, and I put down The Illuminatus! in favor of Hiaasen. He always writes hilarious novels that take place in south Florida, which to me is like a mythical place only read about in stories. He always creates these insane eccentric characters who you grow to love or to love to hate--either way, tons of fun.

So, I am not sure what to think (or, if I need to think anything at all) regarding this newfound inability to finish books. I figure I won't put too much pressure on myself, since I'm reading for pleasure, and when I want to finish a novel, I will. We shall see.

More from Jo: A Moveable Feast

Occupation: pre-service teacher

Currently reading: A Moveable Feast, Hemingway

Why this book: I have a friend who is deeply into Hemingway, and I finally gave into his pressuring and borrowed his latest fling so that I would have a basis for my previously-unfounded snotty criticism of the author.

Thoughts: Well, I was dead wrong. At first this was just a neutral read, gentle and occasionally witty, and good at evoking my nostalgia for Paris (as a side note, this book will be twice as awesome if you've spent some time there), but somewhere in the middle I found the 'sublime' in the prose that my friend kept saying was there. And by the end, I had been totally converted by the simultaneously layered and direct honesty of Hemingway's style. There may be a lot of technical and/or geographical description that my eyes tend to flit right over, but then you come to a sentence--"We looked and there it all was: our river and our city and the island of our city"--that says precisely what it needs to say, no more, and says it truthfully. So Chris, I apologize for not believing you before.

My Dad is very literate

Last book read:

Prague, by Arthur Phillips. It's about six twenty-somethings living in Budapest in 1990 right after the fall of communism. (That's right, Budapest. Why he called it "Prague" I can't tell. [Ed: wikipedia says "Prague represents the unfulfilled emotional desires of the novel's main characters: it is the city where – as the novel's characters perceive – there is more life, capital flows more freely, and there are better parties, than in Budapest."]) It's engrossing, but you have to get past Phillips' snide condescension towards his characters. The book did keep me going through to the end, but left me unsatisfied, for reasons I can't really pin down. Maybe I'm too old, but it feels kind of like a more serious version of TV's "Friends", picked up and deposited in Hungary. Still, it's a good read.

Now reading:

Pure Goldwater, by John W. Dean and Barry M. Goldwater, Jr. It's a compilation of the private journals, letters, and some other writings, of the late U.S. Senator and 1964 presidential candidate, Barry M. Goldwater, Sr. John Dean is the one of Watergate fame, and Goldwater Jr. has been a congressman. It's very interesting stuff. I disagreed with Goldwater about most political things, but he had great integrity and candor. I heard Goldwater, Jr. speak recently, and while he and Dean are both conservative, they are highly critical of the Bush Administration, saying that Senator Goldwater would never have agreed with the invasion of Iraq or the current government's attempt to confiscate our civil liberties.

Also re-reading the short stories of Ernest Hemingway. They're still great.

Marvin's Recommendations

I highly suggest everyone read The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. This global best selling book may change your life. I read it at one of the worst times in my life and it changed my whole way of thinking and it also change my life for the better.

When you follow the story of the young Spanish shepherd boy, imagine he is a symbol of the human race's search for the treasure trove of truth and its own destiny. -5KM