The Month-Long Read

While my job search continues, I came across one employer who had listed under requirements: blogs.
And then other employers casually mentioned that blogs are good ways of showcasing talent, promise, work ethic, blah blah zzz...

There are some plus sides to living with one's parents and having no job. I have lots of free time. Now, here's the catch-22. I can't manage 24 free hours. I can manage one free hour, maybe three. But all day? For weeks on end? Not much has been accomplished. Yes, I've cleaned my room several times. I've written letters (I don't want to out-live the post office). And I've tried to tackle my Epic Book List.

Several years ago I compiled multiple book lists to create the Epic Book List. Books to Read in High School, in College, to be an American, a Good Person, Banned Books, Classics, to be an English Major, to be a GOOD English Major, to be a Well-Read Human...

This list is over 300 books. If I ever make it through the A-D category I'll be happy.

"Absalom, Absalom" by William Faulkner was my latest read. I finished it this evening, and it's taken me a month to read. Normally books don't take me a month. Of course, there are exceptions, like "The Aeneid" by Virgil which took me a year. But back to the point.

(Warning: the following paragraph really spoils the book's surprises)

I have read two other works by Faulkner, "The Sound and the Fury" and "As I Lay Dying." The latter was my favorite and by far the easiest to read. Faulkner is a beast and I don't recommend him. I love his work. I think it's brilliant. My brain hurts when I read him because I have to think that damn hard about what he's saying. 'Cause he's saying a lot. In "Absalom, Absalom," how do the sins of the father affect generations? And not just of Sutpin's offspring, but of his friend's offspring? How can Henry think to let Charles marry his sister, and what does his father say to change his mind? (That may actually be answered in the book, but I didn't fully catch it.) The book also raises questions about race and incest and love...the idea that Judith finding out about Charles' negro blood will make her stop loving him, that it was okay for Henry to shoot Charles because he was a negro going to sleep with his sister, that it was his negro blood, not the familial blood, that made it wrong and yet no one but perhaps Sutpin fully agreed. And how all of this hate, the hate that boils in Faulkner's south like his descriptions of the hot air, how this hate ends up destroying Quentin completely. Shreve isn't from the south; he won't get it. He doesn't feel it. He doesn't roil in it.

Luckily, neither do I.