The Immortal Story

I managed to retrofit two entries this morning, because that five day gap was really bothering me. In my mind three missing days is a little more acceptable than five, but I really want to have a complete month so I might fill the remaining three days with some random thoughts.

Whenever I start to read a new book, there is a period where I struggle to adjust to what is being said to me. I have to adapt to the writer's style of prose. I have to start to think like the writer in order to fully enjoy the story. Some people are able to be drawn in by a few paragraphs, but I need to get past the first twenty or thirty pages before I start to understand what is happening. The voice doesn't get established in my mind until I reach a certain point. Once the voice is there the book flows in my mind and I can be completely immersed in the story.

When the transformation from me to the person in the book is complete, I feel fulfilled. Then again I operate under the belief that the written word causes empathy or understanding of how people think and feel. I could be wrong, but I don't think that I am.

No, I am not thinking about becoming an English professor. Its too late for that path in life. Besides if I did teach, I think that I would be a mediocre one at best. There were many times in class when someone else would start talking about a point in the story that I completely missed. I would just sit there, nod my head and think to myself did I read the same book as this person. Then for all that I know they might had read some criticism written by another professor and everything that they were saying was not their own thoughts. I know of more than one person who got through college by using something written by someone else. Its always easier to have someone else think for you.

At lunch I started to read, The Immortal Story, by Isak Dinesen. Yes, I have returned to the Out of Africa woman once again. Her stuff has been on top of the must read pile for a while now. Besides I said that I wanted to get back to fiction after my space stint.