Honey

I am about to finish Kurt Vonnegut’s Breakfast of Champions. I checked out the book from the Multnomah County Library four weeks ago. I’ve never read anything by Kurt Vonnegut before. The book looks like this:

I’m enjoying the book because it feels easy to read. I’m not enjoying the book because parts of it induce discomfort. There are many things in the universe that make me feel the opposite of discomfort. One of those things is a lava lamp.

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A lava lamp emits light but also contains a bulbous wax that forms, rises, and falls with the help of heat provided by an incandescent bulb inside the base. The lava lamp reminds people of the 60’s, when life revolved around love. My lava lamp looks like this:

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Listen: On the base of the lava lamp is a sticker. The sticker is a picture of me and Agent in jail. In the picture, both of us stare out forever from behind bars. Agent and I are not actually in jail, but if we were, we’d probably be happy anyway.

Buffalo Girls : A Novel by Larry McMurtry
Rating: 4 of 5 stars

I can’t help it. I love Larry McMurtry. Ever since I fell in love with Lonesome Dove and as a result, old western novels in general, I have been a sucker for just about everything this guy makes up and writes about.

This was a sad book, mostly because the story follows the end of the wild west and the diminishing lives of adventurous, wandering old-timers. There’s a feeling of finality and conclusion that pervades the tale, bringing with it an introspective sense of change, and of course, death.

If there could be considered a main character in this book, it would be Calamity Jane, a trouble maker to the core, and a gender queer, just like me. It’s rare to find that part of my identity so clearly reflected in a novel.

I felt as though the book was too short, the characters already done with their lives, the story practically over before it began. That said, I can’t help but love the way Larry sets me down in a saloon in Deadwood, hands me a bottle of whiskey, and shows me quite clearly the way it was for a little while in the old west.

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It all started on my trip to D.C. Well, it actually started when I first knew I was going to D.C. Yeah, it was cool that I’d be attending the premier ColdFusion conference, staying in a hotel and eating out on the company’s dime, fraternizing with my buddies from work and a bunch of other nerdy types such as myself - I was pretty excited about all that. But the first thing that got me really juiced was the realization that I’d be spending seven hours on a plane. Both ways.

Why was I so thrilled, you may wonder, about the awkward and uncomfortable, stuffy and claustrophobia-inducing experience which is modern air travel? It’s simple, really. For the first time in many, many moons, I was going to have at least fourteen [mostly] uninterrupted hours of sweet, decadent, mind-expanding reading.

What is it about reading that fills me with such pleasure and satisfaction? Why do I crave these long sentences, luscious paragraphs, rich characters, unpredictable plot development, and thoughtful conclusions? How many times have chills run up my spine, through my skull, and caused tears to threaten my eyes at the final paragraph, sentence, or word on the last page of a pored over novel?

My loneliness is abated, my understanding is broadened, and my life is enriched by throwing myself into a worthy story.

Whatever my reasons, in case you’re not quite sure, I love to read very much. It’s been a long time since I’ve read consistently and I’d like to try again. Reading on my trip to D.C. only served to validate the longing I’ve always felt for a good book.

I got my first Multnomah County Library card last weekend while Agent waited outside with the bikes and the dogs. I revisited my account on Good Reads and added every single book I could possibly think of that I’ve ever read. I placed 15 books on hold via the Multnomah County Library website. I wait impatiently for the first book to arrive at my home library.

I’m excited to be reading again, and I’m also excited to write reviews on Good Reads. Writing book reports was always one of my favorite assignments in school.

Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson
My review
rating: 5 of 5 stars
Snow Crash was my favorite book for a long time. It was even the namesake of my very first email account. I loved this book because the premise was awesome: young guys living in a storage facility thanks to overpopulation and surfing the net via virtual reality (cool). It got a little slow toward the end but the setup was so worth it. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who enjoys futuristic science fiction novels.
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