The Ocean

Listen to the Richard Hawley album "Coles Corner". Fabulous and chill.

I e-mailed the boy today with my review of the Algren book club @ the Book Cellar last night:

The Nelson fest - OK. Well - it was interesting. I learned a bit about myself. Turns out I read differently than most people.

1. I read the book. I don't say "Well, I watched the movie and googled Algren." or "I don't like books that have dialects" (Dialect girl - U of C grad and writer for Gapers Block - classy).

2. I know entirely too much about Nelson Algren and Chicago. Movie dude tried to call me out on where Mike Royko grew up. What part of 'Above a tavern on Milwaukee' do you NOT understand?

3. For some reason I was the only person that knew he slept with Simone de Beauvoir.

4. I talk too much.

It's a hard book. I get that. Am I so weird that I get excited about the challenge? I know I didn’t read all of it yet, but I feel like I actually comprehended what I read. The girl who leads the discussion is a librarian for the love of god. She busted out questions from the web.

God, I am such a book snob. I will read the chick lit for next month and shut my mouth. 'Devil in the White City' is September though. That'll be fun.

I listened to this CD that I forgot I bought last night - Richard Hawley. You should listen to it. How do I do that fancy uploading thing so you can hear it? I can't figure it out because I'm too worried about people confusing empathy and sympathy. Sample sentence: Algren did not make the characters sympathetic in the least - but the genius is that you could empathize with them, they owned their choices.

Does that make sense?

How are you feeling today?