[me] and the old man

well i did it.

i read a book in one sitting.

i know that i shouldn't be particularly thrilled about making that statement, but i am. i'm just not a "book" guy. the trait that triggers one to pick up and read a book for fun, bypassed me. it's embarrassing to count the books i've read from beginning to end. now i'm not talking about the required reading i had to do in school, that was forced upon me. i didn't want to do it, i would have been perfectly fine in the dark room enlarging photos. i'm also not counting architecture books, that's just not fair...mostly pictures. i'm talking about books for leisure, cover to cover. the total is weak....i am however working on changing that.

while at the library, checking out dvd's, i decided to venture into unknown territory, the fiction section. i walked up and down the isle's, wondering aimlessly among the authors, lost in the lot of literature. i made it to the "h's". i stopped and picked up a copy of "the old man and the sea" by hemingway. i had heard the title and author before, so i figured, if i knew of it, it must be somewhat famous, and if it was famous, it must be good. not knowing anything more than that, i checked it out.

alright, honesty, it was 93 pages and had pictures. .....baby steps...

i took it home, but didn't read it right away. a few days passed, and then about 11:30 one night i was bored, picked it up and started reading. it took a while, but slowly i was taken from wichita to the shores of cuba. i continued. as i read, i got more into the story. as it turns out, it's about an old man and the sea! who knew!

without turning this into a book report, it's about an old man on a fishing trip. but not just any fishing trip, an epic fishing trip. an old fisherman, ventures far out into sea one day, and snags a huge fish, the fish of a lifetime. knowing what he's caught, he holds on, keeping the perfect balance on the line. the old man spends most of the book in this position. possibly a boring plot, but hemingway uses this situation to bring forth thoughts and feelings that reveal the character of the old man.


halfway into the book, i started getting sleepy, but i couldn't leave this old man out in a boat in the middle of nowhere holding this monster of a fish! it might have been my tiredness, but when the thought of closing the book crossed my mind, the old man would look and me and say "hey, where you going? don't leave me out here all alone with this fish!" so unlike howard roark who i've left at the drafting table or sal paradise who i've left on the side of the road, i kept reading. i had to know the outcome!

i don't want to give anything away.....in case there might be someone out there that hasn't read it, but the themes of the book are timeless. who knew a fishing trip could relate so well to countless situations in life.....


classic.

illustrations from the book, by c.f. tunnicliffe and raymond sheppard