I picked up a library card the other day–a first for me–and decided to get a few books in an effort to alleviate the boredom that comes with having absolutely nothing to do for a few months.
Which brings me to a bigger point. Who even knew you could go to a “library” and that you could “check out” books for a specified period of time. Does Barnes and Noble know anything about this?
First up was The Moviegoer by Walter Percy. It’s the story of Binx Bolling, an almost-thirty stockbroker from New Orleans who tries to find meaning in much of life’s meaningless events. His attempts to avoid “the malaise” involve flings with his secretarys and frequent treks to the …well…movies.
But don’t look for some overwhelmingly page turning plot. Percy did not construct that type of novel. He must hate Dan Brown. What you do find is a beautifully written narrative of eight days in the life of this almost “Southern Gentleman”–a character study, if you will. It’s existentialist in flavor, but Percy delves a bit deeper. Bolling spends his time searching for an escape from the ennui (yeah, I had to look that one up) rather than accepting it–I just cannot picture Bolling murdering a man on the beach a la The Stranger.
I’d recommend this book to anyone from the South and anyone looking for a more thought-provoking read. It is truly well written.
And oh yeah, Walker Percy went to medical school. Heh.
April 13th, 2007 at 2:21 am
Love your blog
Thought you would get a kick out of this…
http://www.putbobthroughmedschool.com
April 13th, 2007 at 4:40 pm
Sounds like some smart folks have been making book recommendations to you. I just updated my blog roll to add you.
April 13th, 2007 at 5:00 pm
Heh…you’d be right…
Partisans and Redcoats is already started. The World According to Garp is after that.
The library…it was always so simple. And cheap.