"For Whom The Bell Tolls"

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Have you ever struggled through a book? What about a classic? I can only name two books that I have started and been unable to finish. One I am embarrassed to admit is a Terry Pratchett; the only author I have read as much as Heinlein. Maurice and His Educated Rodents was not the right book for me at the time I guess. I can’t really say why. That was recent, within the last year. More than 15 years ago I picked up a book by L. Ron Hubbard and found it to be so not my idea of science fiction that I only managed to get to chapter five.

Typically, I read so fast that even a bad start is behind me before I put the book down to go to bed. I have read a lot of books in these last few years of effective unemployment, but the one that took me the longest was For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway. I finished it last week or so, and so I now feel removed enough to be able to talk about it.

As I read the book I asked a lot of people what they thought of it. Multiple college educated people, including two with English degrees all told me the same thing: “I didn’t read that one, is it any good”? I’m not claiming to know a wide swath of America, but I do not a lot of smart people, and not one of them had read this classic. In fact, most people I talked to had only read one Hemingway; The Old Man in the Sea and told me that they had b/c it was the shortest book that was on the reading list for that particular assignment or another. Now my friend Russel has read Hemingway, and even took a class on Hemingway and Fitzgerald, but even he hadn’t read Bell. I think I have a reason for this lack of reading of this so called classic.

It is the worst book I have every finished.

OK that is a little harsh. The first four fifth’s of this book are the worst book I have ever read, but the last fifth is interesting enough to make a hell of a good short story. I don’t want to give anything away here for the billions of you who haven’t read this book (or to think of it another way, the five of you who might see this) but in the end… It Tolls for Thee… It Tolls for Thee…

"With a Little Help from My Friends"

I ride the bus and the Metro to and from work everyday. It’s a long commute, and with a mandatory “don’t eat lunch at your desk” rule, I have about 200 minutes everyday to read. I will be the first to admit that I lean heavily on Fantasy and Sci-Fi as it is mindless and easy. I do try to branch out; in the last two weeks I have read Passarola Rising by Azhar Abidi (OK technically fantasy in some way, but more like really beautiful steampunk) and Dirty Havana Trilogy by Pedro Juan Gutiérrez (intensely gritty “autobiography” told entirely out of order by a rum soaked unreliable narrator). Next on my “real book” list is Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe. But enough of literature snobbery, lets get to brass tacks.

I have just finished re-reading The Belgariad and The Malloreon by David Eddings. Don’t bother if you haven’t read them, they are quite possibly the most formulaic fantasy books ever written. If you don’t see every plot “twist” coming then you clearly have not been reading fantasy long. But I bring them up I because I just finished all ten books, not really for pleasure, but for comfort. I re-read books. Old favorite books and CDs are like warm blankets in front of the fire. I read Tolkien every two or three years. I read the Dark is Rising series every three or four. I have read almost everything by Heinlein at least ten times, some more than that.

I do like to experience new things. But I like to surrender myself to the memories of a childhood spent more in fantasy than reality. I still prefer Gaiman’s Sandman to whatever reality show is currently top of the ratings, and I’m more likely to quote Transmetropolitan than I am American Idol.

So I guess what I’m trying to say is: what are your favorites? Does anyone else re-read books? Got any suggestions?