Well, I finished Chabon’s The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay and actually wept at the end.  Not because of the specific details of the ending — it was as happy as could be expected — but because it was over.  Despite taking three weeks to finish it, I was sorry to turn the last page, and I wish I owned it.  Not that I will reread it anytime soon (it is over 600 pages after all), but just because I am so glad it exists in the world.  I look forward to reading Chabon’s latest this summer. 

Since it took me most of Saturday to finish Adventures, I was only able to read about 60 pages of Elizabeth Noble’s The Reading Group, but so far so good.  At first it felt very British, but I have already adjusted to the differences in idiom and no longer notice them.  If you enjoy ensemble, character-driven, relationship-rich fiction, then I recommend it.  Again, I’m only 60 pages in, but I imagine it will continue on in the same vein!

I also finished chapter 8 of The New Earth.  Here are my favorite selections:

Nonresistance, nonjudgment, and nonattachment are the three aspects of true freedom and enlightened living.

Once you see and accept the transience of all things and the inevitability of change, you can enjoy the pleasures of the world while they last without fear of loss or anxiety about the future.

Whenever you are upset about an event, a person, or a situation, the real cause is not the event, person, or situation but a loss of true perspective that only space can provide.

Being aware of your breathing takes attention away from thinking and creates space.  It is one way of generating consciousness.

Since I downloaded and read the first web-cast, I watched last week’s meeting while I was working Friday.  I enjoyed listening to Tolle more than reading a transcript (except for the annoying Chevy commercials…).

Last, I am half-way through my latest kit book: The Good Soldier by Ford Madox Ford.  I think it must have been very difficult to be a contemporary of Hemingway, but Ford does experiment with narration in interesting ways.  The title is ironic, by the way — his publisher didn’t think his original title The Saddest Story would sell (during WWI), so Ford flippantly suggested The Good Soldier and it stuck.  But don’t expect a war story…  This is another character driven novel focused on the betrayal and naivete of the narrator and his wife.  Interesting so far…

That’s it for this week!  I just picked up Ian McEwan’s Atonementfor this week…

Welcome back!