Hergest Ridge

Law of relativity: The weekend goes by at twice the speed of the week, by a wide margin disproportionate to length ratio.

Speaking of time, five years have passed since the start of the relationship with my current sweetheart. Like every other meaningful relationship in my life, it started discretely, a mere backdrop in days with focus on other things. As time passed, the other layers peeled away and that which was once part of the background is now - and for ever will be - a permanent and central part of my twenties.

For the first time in probably ten years, on Friday I’ve taken out a library book (Larry’s Party). While it has been about ten years since I’ve last held a library book, I’d say it’s not that unlikely that it may actually be fifteen years or so since I fully read anything from the library. With Larry’s Party almost behind me, I wonder what’s happening to me! Who is this person reading a second book in two months? Last time I read so much was while working at a gas station. One of the summer months while on the job, I read a total of 2,700 pages in a month (yes, I have a ‘thing’ for numbers and stats and figures). Books like “I Know This Much is True” (Wally Lamb), “A Confederacy of Dunces” (John Kennedy Toole) and a few other books not really worth the space in this entry.

As a kid, I read a lot. Got it from my mom I suppose. These days, there are too many distractions that keep my attention elsewhere, but I’m again making room for books. Had I been born 50 years ago, I’d likely be a Book Worm instead of playing the damn game (Deluxe!).

Larry’s Party is set in my home town (home as in present home - god knows I have no idea where home is, in the sense of the word that most people would use it in), and that ads some attachment to the book. Most places described in it, I could get to without picking up a map. Maybe that’s part of the connection I formed with the story. It’s a bit like watching a movie while under the influence of magical mushrooms (zoomers, as they are often rightfully called). It really pulls you into the story that much deeper. You feel it as if you were there.

Earlier in January, I read “The God Delusion” by Richard Dawkins (birthday present from my GF - yay for five year anniversaries!), and I’m making the book a main subject of a blog entry already started, but not yet complete and published.

Next up will be “The Plague” by Albert Camus. On the surface, the book is about a virulent plague that takes over a remote town. Underneath, it’s the story of the Nazi cancer coming to power and unleashing destruction that would make many deadly viruses envious of the death toll.

And then, I think I’ll re-read “A Confederacy of Dunces“, a book like no other I’ve read nor heard about. It’s a total comedy, bizzare and funny, and one of only two books credited to Toole, whom committed suicide shortly after completing it.

Of course, all this reading coming up is assuming I get through the last hundred pages of Larry’s Party, and stick with the reading habit instead of again getting distracted with other activities for a decade or so…