Reading all the books. And blogging. In tandem.

NerdBoy and I are on a mission!

Or rather, NerdBoy is on a mission and I'm tagging along for the good of the blog. We are going to read (and blog) a book a week for the next year.

Now I love reading and I enjoy blogging, but a few years ago, I completed a completely absurd (and self-imposed) challenge to read 100 books in  a year and since then I've had trouble reading for pleasure. Knowing that it would be a rough start, I thought it would be a good idea to start with something easy and fun, so while on vacation in the land of tapas, I read this lovely little book called The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh which a coworker lent me before my trip. Alas, it turns out that NerdBoy is a stickler for rules and when I announced my intention to blog about this book, he informed me that because I finished reading the book before the read-a-thon officially began (also known as thedatewhenNerdBoyinformedsocialmediaofhisplantoreadandblogallthebooks) I was not allowed to use it towards the project. So, having limited time (and an expired library card) to pick out a new book, I turned to a book which has sat on my shelf for the past three years...Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children.

Confession: I have tried to read this book before. Several times in fact. And each time, I found myself so frustrated and confused by the writing/narration style that I gave up and consoled myself with something easy from Heather's Picks. If you've read or have attempted to read Midnight's Children, or have ever tried to read while inebriated, you'll know what I mean. This is not an easy read. The writing is detailed, dense, and utterly schizophrenic in its construct with regular interjections, interruptions, and interludes. However, with time working against me and motivation/desperation/pride on my side, I committed myself to finishing the book...all of two hours before the post deadline.

STAYING FOCUSED. LIKE A BOSS.

I don't know what people expect when they read a blog about a book some dude just read. Thoughts? Feelings!? ALL THE THOUGHTS AND FEELINGS!? But I googled "book blogs" and it turns out that people (like you!!) will read just about anything in blog format because there are legit internet folks who make a living blogging about the stuff they read in the real world. They even get books to review from publishers! So, since the internet says it's cool (and potentially profitable), I'm going to share some very brief thoughts about this book...

Here goes...

I work in mental health and as such am never fully successful in shutting off my work brain even when reading. So of course, the real puzzle for me while reading Midnight's Children was trying to figure out whether or not the protagonist (look! book words!) Saleem Sanai had a mental health disorder and whether or not his narrative was an extension or expression of his delusions. Now I know that this book is an example of magic realism and that structures which govern and divide our sense of reality are purposely disrupted in this genre. But I guess it speaks to Rushdie's skill as a writer (and my rigidity as a clinician and reader) that I could not read the narrator's story telling without labeling each thought or behaviour as tending towards schizophrenia, narcissistic personality disorder, or some type of delusion disorder.  Over labeling things take some of the fun and escapism out of reading and to be honest, I'm not sure that at the end of the day, I "liked' the book...but it certainly is a good reminder that sometimes, we need to let go of our need to make sense of our world because at the end of the day, reality is just another social construct. Just like this MAGIC EYE IMAGE! WHAT-UP GEN Y!!

** I should probably warn you that I just pulled this off of the internet so I really have no idea what the MagicEye is of and NerdBoy is rushing me to finish this post so I can't even try and dilute my brain to test this image out. Now you've been warned. I apologize ahead of time if it is offensive, lame or non-existent.

It has occurred to me that you might actually want to know what this book is about, so rather than waste time re-writing what way smarter and articulate people have written already, I'm going to redirect you to this link. There's also a movie version of this book for those of you who don't read books (*cough*Britto*cough) but if that's the case you wouldn't likely be reading this blog now would you?

It has also occurred to me that you might be interested in reading NerdBoy's read'n'blog-a-thon. Mostly becuase he's sitting next to me going "you should post my link in your blog. have you done that yet? people will want to read this. look, here's my link!" so here you go internet world, the highly nerdy (and often funny) blog words of NerdBoy...