so about books, lately…

well that’s the sad thing actually. it’s more like, “so about this one book”, and not as much lately as “…that took forever to finish because i was sometimes busy, sometimes lazy, and sometimes fed up with reading this long book that wouldn’t end.” but the thing was by the end i really ended up liking it and so i felt like it was worth the weeks of wishing it was just over. this book is called the count of monte cristo by alexandre dumas and i’d say you should read it if you have more focus than i do and can finish it more promptly. it’s a good book if maybe a wee bit overrated. i bet it would make a good movie.

that was a joke, see?

now i’m reading one flew over the cuckoo’s nest and again not finishing as quickly as i would like because of finals. that shouldn’t bother me, except that last december i decided i was going to set an arbitrary number of books to try to read this year, and it’s looking like i will fail. now, i had no way of knowing how many books i would really read in a year, having never counted before. i knew that i go through spurts of furious reading followed by periods of video game tendencies (during which i still read, but less avidly i guess, for a little change of pace). but the thing was i started off really strong in the spring, and thought i could get to my number well before the end of the year and maybe set a nice precedent for next year. that didn’t happen though. i’m still around 10 books short. that’s awful!

i don’t blame myself though. of course i don’t. no one ever does. i say it’s the fault of two books of large scale that took much longer to consume than your average workaday book. yes, these culprits are at the root of my tardiness. they are the count like i said before, and this little 1100 page wonder called infinite jest, which was an enormous and bible-esque volume (i didn’t think biblical would be the right word to use in this case) but which was better by several times than the adventure novel. much better.

those two were so long though, they’re really like 2.5 books or something instead of 1, so really i’m only 6 or 7 short of my goal. and if i finish a few more before the new years, which should be cake, i’ll be right on track. and that doesn’t even count the graphic novels, which i think would just be cheating. right? yes, right.

oh and otherwise concering literature: a girl in my advertising class group was here in my place because we met here for a project with our group of 6. she said two things which roughly translate to, “brian, i’d make a great friend and you should totally talk to me more often so we can hang out some time,” and those things were, “oh, i love your books,” and, picking my copy of atlas shrugged off the bookshelf (alphabetically under R), “this is just the best book, isn’t it?” which implies she bothered to read it — another 1000 pager — and enjoyed it, which both say to me “yes, i am a smart and interesting person.”

not to say you aren’t if you haven’t read it. (or didn’t compliment my library). just that if you have…well, that’s a large stride in the exactly right direction.

time to stop geeking out and start sleeping in.

[now hearing this: the dismemberment plan – is terrified]