Yup...over Copps. Grocery shopping and shooting the moon. On a Saturday night. If that shouts LOSER to you, I would not argue. Who grocery shops on Saturday night? I can tell you. No one. If there were others gazing indecisively at the Stouffer frozen dinners, or perhaps sampling the large selection of grapes - red, red seedless, green, green seedless, black, black seedless, red globe and organic - offered by our fine produce manage, Brad, I did not see them. I was alone. Not lonely, just alone.
Can't complain about the weekend though because Friday night was book group. Have I told you how much I enjoy and respect the women in this group? This month, we chose to watch a move, The Impossible, and had a solid discussion. At some point our chatter always drifts back to books we have read in the past, and generally settles on the titles we most disagreed upon - The Shipping News and The Life of Pi.
I can't even define for you why The Shipping News annoyed so many of us. For me, it was the over abundance of similes and metaphors. My preference is for more straightforward language. Symbolism is another story. For me, symbols provide mystery as well as giving each reader an opportunity to discover their own significance behind the words. That's why The Life of Pi worked for me. Even though we dealt with that title months ago, again last Friday, we found ourselves debating whether or not the tiger was real. Personally, it didn't matter to me; what mattered was that for Pi, the tiger was real. This is where it gets a little fuzzy though. Was he physically real, or just a reality manifested by Pi for survival? If the later is true, then was the tiger real or not? I suppose that all ties into where you, as a reader, are philosophically and/or spiritually. It's a great discussion and I guess we will return to it again at some point.
A new topic turned up on Friday, out of the blue - a worthy topic, debatable. How do you define a reader? It began with a comment about someone's colleague who finds little value in his college students reading Harry Potter and similar titles. Again, I straddled the issue, making a case for escapist reading, as opposed to reading for growth, inspiration and challenge. Is one purpose more valuable or correct than the other? Yes, 50 Shades of Grey entered this discussion. I won't revisit that topic; suffice it to say most people in our group have read it and have not sought out other mommy porn titles. Is that because they are "readers"? You decide.
What am I reading? I did not finish the 591 page beast as I had planned. My bookmark is currently nestled in at page 437. Night Film has taken a few twists in the last 100 pages, even referencing Stanley Kubrick who undoubtedly was the inspiration for the main (yet never seen) character Stanislaus Cordova. There have been secret ceremonies and allusions to ...opps...not going there. I don't want to give too much away. This book moves very quickly. If you plan to read it give yourself a concentrated amount of time time. You cannot walk away for even a day, and pick up without being a little lost. The characters travel fast, collect and compile information, and then jump right into another quagmire. I am having tons of fun with this book, but I will confess to being spooked by a few house sounds yesterday while I was lost amid mansions, antique shops, and underground fellowships.
Thanks for stopping by. I'll see you at the grocery store.
