Stupid Wayne Booth. You go die now!

I didn't mean that, Mr. Booth. But I am glad that I finished your book. I enjoyed the first half on showing and telling, and the last little part on morality in literature; but frankly, the middle part was just you proving your points with novels like Tom Jones, Tristam Shandy, and Ulysses-- all of which I have not read. Sometimes, while reading, I would start to daydream about something else (like chocolate-covered pretzels), and before I knew it, I would have gone through eleven pages with no idea about what you'd just written. However, I'm glad we spent this week together, and because you have a sharp jacket design, I believe you have a long retirement ahead of you on my shelf.

The problem with not being able to read during the school year is that I start to think of summer as a small window of opportunity to read everything I possibly can, because the sum might just constitute a whole year's worth of non-classroom reading. As a result, I've been valueing quantity over quality and getting impatient with every book before I reach page 100. I'm not really exerting a lot of time getting intimate with every book. It's like I'm in a hurry to make it to every room in a whorehouse before I even know the name of one prostitute.

You know, I have no experience to back that comparison up.

I think I should also stop blogging about the news/politics. I'm always afraid to risk sounding uninformed about my opinion. That is, when I'm not trying to say ostensibly nothing remotely resembling a steadfast opinion... I just dislike offending people that much. And let's be honest, if I ran for president my platform would probably be something like "No More Hurt Feelings."

I saw a fantastic movie last night-- Crash, starring a cast with Don Cheadle, Matt Dillon, Sandra Bullock, Ludacris, Ryan Phillipe, Brendan Fraser, and lots of other really, really likable actors, including--- the blind guy from Contact! Because any friend of Jodie's is a friend of mine. Anyhow, the packaging/marketing of this movie makes it look like a rather boring, two-bit drama with maybe some obscured narrative/time gimmick that's been overexposed since Pulp Fiction. However, the movie itself is nothing of the sort; it's exactly the kind of movie that is so good it makes itself impossible to sell. I recommend you rent it this week against all your better urges to get something with a more accessible cover art.

And while we're on uncontroversial topics like movies, I'd like to go return to the topic of the Bible. Ashleigh, I've read the New Testament--well, at least the gospels and that kick-ass Revelations one--but I've never read much of the Old Testament beyond Genesis and Exodus. This despite being raised pretty consistently in a Lutheran church and going through sunday school and confirmation. I should also mention that we were never actually encouraged to, ahem, *read* the Bible beyond selected short passages out loud. Apparently it was more important for us to go Cosmic Bowling than to ever be taught the Book of Job, which I still have never read.