She turned me into a Newt!

First of all, I am a HORRIBLE blogger!  It has been almost 20 days since my last post, and although I've read a book and almost finished another book since then, I haven't been updating.  Fail.  At first it was an issue of 'well, I haven't finished the second book yet.'  But then it turned into 'man I'm busy.  I am always running around.  I'll find time this weekend.'

It got to the point where I was laying in bed before falling asleep re-watching season one of Entourage for the second time (that means this is the third time I'll have watched season one, for those of you confused.  It took me a while to get it right, as well.)  Ridiculous!  From now on, before going to sleep it's some reading or blogging time.  Unless I have an episode of Dexter to watch.  Or season two of Entourage is onDemand.

From now on, my plan is to update at least once a week, even if I haven't finished a book in that time.  Since this project isn't just about reading 52 books, I need to remember what my other goals were; making time for myself, finishing what I start, and self-reflection.  I also need to start going to the gym and working with the weights.  And make a doctor's appointment.  And change my driver's license (weekend plans, I swear!).

My second book to cross off the list was Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut.  I read Slaughterhouse-Five in college in my American Lit class with Dr. Mary (that's a lot of prepositional phrases) and I loved it.  I found his style to be engaging and interesting, and the subject matter was just... well, it wasn't something I was entirely comfortable with, but I got used to it.  Cat's Cradle is similar in style and in subject matter.  Time is just a concept, narration is skewed and ambiguous, the plot, sarcastic and satirical.

Here's my problem; I have no one to talk to!  As an English major, I'm used to class discussion of books, professors offering opinions and information to help us along the way, and although I like to think I'm a pretty intelligent person, I miss college classes!  Vonnegut is great, but I don't think I got as much out of the novel as I would have reading it with a class or a book club of some kind.  Does this mean I can't enjoy books as much anymore, if I don't have anyone to talk with?  Does this make me less intelligent than I originally thought?

Or is Vonnegut just hard?

Call me Jonah?  Call me confused.  Chris Worthington, let's have coffee.  Explain Vonnegut to me, before I give up on being an accomplished reader.

I did really enjoy the idea of Bokononism, the religion of the city in the novel.  That's for another post, when I've gotten to wrap my head around some things.  My personal favorite idea is how Bononoists whisper 'busy, busy, busy' when something reminds them of how complex and unpredictable life is :)

Currently reading The Joy Luck Club.  Almost finished, loving it, can't wait to watch the film when I'm done.