If you’ve checked out my “currently reading” widget, you’ll have noticed that at the moment I’m in the middle of both Atonement by Ian McEwan and The Post Mistress by Sarah Blake. Now, I used to have this rule that I wouldn’t read two books simultaneously. I also used to have a rule that I would only read right before bed. Well, times are changing.
Photo credit: good reads
This year I take grade 12 English, Writers Craft and Literature, so I no longer have such luxuries. Earlier this year I was reading one book for Lit., another for English and yet a third for my own personal pleasure. Some of my friends complain about such things. They also complain about the books we’re reading. They think books like Regeneration and Atonement are stupid and want to know why we can’t read “real” books, like the stuff by Jodi Picoult. I have no patience for such nonsense. They also complain that our teacher doesn’t give us enough time for the assigned reading. As if a month isn’t long enough to read a short book. Personally, that’s why I took three English classes, I LIKE to read. Reading is great. The books we read are great. (Except, perhaps, for Mrs. Dalloway, yes, I do understand its brilliance… it really is quite brilliant… but I didn’t enjoy it and I’m not really a fan of experimental works.)
So, now these rules seem to have gone out the window. It’s kind of post modern, the way I’m throwing away the rules and writing new ones. Rather experimental, you might even say. Okay, maybe you wouldn’t say that. And maybe I’m pulling connections out of the air just to finish up this post on a nice, tidy note. It’s kind of like English class, coming up with deeper meaning where there isn’t any. Maybe the author decided to kill that character just for kicks, not to emphasize some deep, insightful point about the randomness of life. On second thought, perhaps life is random and chaotic. Maybe there are no clear beginnings and middles and ends. No tidy conclusions. So maybe I’ll end this jumbled post on that random note (which was a major theme in The Postmistress, so maybe not that random after all) to emphasize that point.
A Solitary Ramble 