Okay, I’m throwing down the proverbial gauntlet…at my own feet! Last night I purchased Moby Dick at the local bookstore. It come complete with neat maps and drawings and a tiny dictionary to help me understand the lingo of the high seas! My goal: read a chapter a day until I’m finished. I am thinking I may even do little updates on the blog each day.
I plan on beginning my siege of Melville after I finish Blood Meridian which, at the rate I’m going, should be around February (ha-ha-ha — actually more like next week.) Anyway, I’ll make sure to post when I begin the personal abuse. Of course some would say that going from Blood Meridian to Moby Dick is just a continuation of abuse.

Whatever, man.

Call me Ishmael.

….. the end …..

I enjoyed “Life of Pi” much more than “The Inheritance of Loss.” I had been put off of “Pi” because of the story when it first came out. A boy and a tiger lost at sea? No thank you. But I finally read it, and I’m glad I did.

I’m not sure which of Pi’s stories I believe. I prefer the Richard Parker version, but I’m afraid that wasn’t the “true” one.

And now, some quotes.

I chose the sloth because its demeanour — calm, quiet and introspective — did something to soothe my shattered self.

The presence of God is the finest of rewards.

Faith in God is an opening up, a letting go, a deep trust, a free act of love — but sometimes it was so hard to love. Sometimes my heart was sinking so fast with anger, desolation and weariness, I was afraid it would sink to the very bottom of the Pacific and I would not be able to lift it back up.

“The Inheritance of Loss” is really, really depressing. I heard an interview a few weeks ago with Kiran Desai, and the book sounded interesting. So when we were at the bookstore and my dad asked what he should read next, I picked it up and said, “I heard this was good.” It did, after all, win the 2006 Booker Prize.

I finished it today. I don’t think Dad will like it. I don’t think I liked it.

I’m reading “The Life of Pi” next. It also won the Booker Prize. It’s also about an Indian. Named Patel. Just like “Inheritance.” Oh boy.