I have been reading a bit more these days and greatly enjoying it. I finished not but a few weeks past "Middle Sex" enjoyed it a great deal. Then I stumbled for a few days with nothing until I came smack into the strange notion, inspired by Amy, of reading "The Wind in The Willows", my mind was blown out hard by this book. Never read it as a child, but it seems to be part of our collective children's stories, for I knew many aspects of it and seemed even to recall some of the art work.
I enjoyed my read for words alone, and the way they flow, but more attractive to my emotional self was the depiction of winter in all it's glory, yet further than the depiction of winter was the presence of cozy on the inside, surrounded by winter on the out, this stirs in me such a strong affirmative feeling that I associate with my child hood, further more with particular memories of our farm house, and looking out the windows at the cold outside, and feeling the cold on the glass and the warmth around me. I enjoyed feeling my self through the thought trains of the characters enveloped in warmth in small spaces, having just been a bit uncomfortable, only to find food and warmth to be a panacea within reach. I enjoyed the book so much that I started to read it again from the top upon finishing it, and got maybe half way through it before being struck by a whim on my way to the door where perched by the book case to see if any gems could appear which had not appeared before.
"A Separate Peace" jutted out at me in a way like it never had before. I've read the title when looking at the shelves many times, and even recall picking it up, but I cannot recall why I never chose to read it. Almost at once the character Finny had me eating from the palm of his hand. I enjoyed much about this fine story. I finished it the day after I plucked it from the shelf. I'm not one to go further into literary snobbery, so take this as a glowing review. If you want yet to to talk still of parables and meaning then join one of those priggish book clubs, if not I'll get to the crux of what is actually important to me about this exercise of reading.
I have been over it and over it, and I have certainly not arrived at my final thoughts on he subject by any means, nor would I like to have any final thoughts just yet, but I do think I'll share this with you. While on breaks from my readings of late I was thinking about reading for deeper meaning, and if maybe I should be trying harder at some of the more obscure symbolism and allegory of what I read, because there are at times thoughts in me that make me question if that is not where the reading being good for the soul idea comes from. In a word, No! I don't feel this to be the benefit of reading as part of ones life, I have another idea entirely on what I see to be of grave importance when it comes to reading. I'll take you now to the very root of where my idea did begin.
In "Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72" the recently relieved Doctor Hunter S. Thompson introduced me to a concept called "Rhythm Logic". In the book Hunter was covering a presidential campaign between George McGovern and Hunter's nemesis, Richard Milhouse Nixon. There came a point where Hunter was deep in strategy trying to figure out what Tricky Dick would do next, to do so Hunter employed what he called "Rhythm Logic". Hunter's theory was that in order to predict Dickies movements he had to be able to think like him, and in order to think like him he had to lock his mind into the rhythm of his thoughts, basically to be in his inner narration and dialogue. To do this with Nixon, Hunter employed drinking scotch and hatefully watching football, or something similar, truth be told it's been nearly 10 years since I've read it, but the point stood with me and was re-enforced by Hunter's own strong writing style. I would often find while deep in a HST reading jag that I would adopt the rhythm of his logic, and I would be in my own life relating to it through his thoughts, or my idea of what his thoughts may be.
I have carried this idea of rhythm logic around with me since reading "Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72" and as I have thought about it from time to time I have come to relate rhythm logic to what I feel to be a major aspect of the importance of reading as a part of life, more specifict than that would be reading novels (for non-fiction can at times become to staunhc of view). My thinking is this, people get to walking around pretty goddamn sure of themselves, and while there are times that this type of thinking can be effective and highly useful it can also narrow the point of view to a dangerous focus, and when view points narrow to far they tend to become much like the scope on top of a gun, and we all know what guns do. So my point is that frequent reading of novels allows a person to step outside of their own logic, and gives them the added benefit of relating to life through they eyes of a character in a book, thus adding depth and alternate points of views, and through doing so, maybe even helping people to not be so goddamn pig headed about things, and this could help us all to get a long with each other and ourselves and our world a little better. So please for my sake and your own lets all read a little more. k?
Today I started reading The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, watch out for my strange way of thinking in the coming days.
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