A Moveable Feast-Ernest Hemingway

I finished A Moveable Feast in one sitting last night. I sat down in a recliner from 9:00-11:30 and just read straight through, occasionally responding to text messages and catching glimpses of the Suns Blazers game. But for the most part, I was transfixed. I’ve read books in one sitting before, but never with the same voracity as tonight. I had read Hermann Hesse’s Demian earlier in the afternoon and a short Murakami story as well. You’d think I would be mentally tired, but I just pressed through with ease. I have always been obsessed with Hemingway, ever since reading A Farewell to Arms, but now after reading Paul Hendrickson’s Hemingway’s Boat I am even more obsessed. I have developed a deeper connection with him and after reading Hendrickson’s book I understand his writing more. It has shed so much light on his work. One of my literary goals has always been to read everything Hemingway has ever written, and I believe I am on a sort of ‘Hemingway high’ now. I think now would be a good time to restart The Garden of Eden and reread The Sun Also Rises.

The chapters toward the end of the novel of A Moveable Feast are mostly dedicated to Fitzgerald and Hemingway’s interactions with him, which is really interesting to read. Hemingway is invariably witty and there’s a passage towards the end where Fitzgerald tells Hemingway that he is unsure of his dick size and they go to the back of the restaurant where Hemingway inspects the situation and assures him he is endowed finely. He proceeds to give him sex advice and it is an absolutely brilliant passage. It’s funny because this book is about Hemingway’s earlier years in Paris with his first wife and he is soft and has not turned into a prick yet. You also find out that they have a cat named F.Puss (brilliant) and that he is the child’s babysitter at times. Other things: Gertrude Stein is a pretentious bitch and evokes the same feelings Professor Umbridge does from me. Lastly, Hemingway mentions many Russian authors he has enjoyed reading (Turgenev, Chekhov, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Gogol) and it really makes me appreciate the Russian lit class I took freshman year of college and also makes me want to read the book of Chekhov plays I have sitting on my shelf.

Moving on to True at First Light tomorrow.

-elif

Take your last two deep breaths and pass the mic

Two of my favorite things in life are probably books and music. Things. Hobbies. Pastimes. Whatever noun you want to use. They are one in the same. And yet these things are the hardest topics for me to write about. I think it’s because when I engage in either, they engulf all of me. It’s so hard to put what you feel with all of your senses, with your entire body, into words. In the past it seems whatever I’ve tried to write comes out trite and flat, the exact opposite of the message I’m trying to convey. So this blog will be an experiment. I’m calling it a book club. But it is not a compilation of book reviews! Merely an outlet to share great reads with great friends. It will function mostly for books, but I want to be able to share good music finds as well.

I’m currently attempting to read a minimum of 50 pages per day, because the least I can do is carve out an hour of my day to read. I’m also trying not to purchase any more books until I finish what is on my shelves. (The latter is more difficult.) I read pretty often in college, but now that I am out of the academic world, I have placed a higher importance on reading because I view it as the greatest way for me to learn more and to better myself. I know few people who are as voracious of readers as I am. It’s not boastful, it’s a fact. My partner in crime aka the co-editor of this so-called ‘book club blog’ is one of the few. Truthfully, I don’t even know what these posts will entail or if anyone will even read them, but I want to be able to share what I’m reading because books have been and always will be an important part of my life. I hope these entries can encourage someone to go to his/her local library and check out one of these books. BECAUSE BOOKS ARE FUCKING GREAT.

I’m done. Passing the mic.

-elif