Book Report-the view so far


I am proud to announce that any day now I will pass the halfway point in the book I am currently reading: Against the Day, by Thomas Pynchon. I highly recommend this book. At over 1000 pages it is extremely cheap on a per page basis and even cheaper on a per minute basis. It is that much of a page turner.

I bought my son a copy for Christmas (at his request) and when I saw it discounted at BJ's I figured I should read it too.

The book is wonderfully well written. Since I started writing this blog I think I have become more appreciative of good writing, since I realize how hard it is to find the right word, or turn the right phrase. You can't fault Pynchon on either score.

I must admit, however, that overall, reading this book has been a humbling experience. I am almost five hundred pages into it, and have no idea what it is about. Is it possible that someone who writes so well has really very little to say? I do not lose hope, I expect that any day I will experience the delicious pleasure that every reader has experienced upon getting totally sucked in to a book. No doubt I am missing something, and I still intend to find it. If I can't figure it out myself, I'll Google the sucker after I finish it, and let some reviewer explain what I've just read.

My son, a genuine Harvard grad, gave up after 300 pages, but I soldier on. At my current rate, distracted as I am by my own much humbler literary endeavors, I expect to finish sometime around the 4th of July, meaning I will have two forms of Independence to celebrate on that day.

Posted: Monday - April 09, 2007 at 08:05 PM          


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