I've been told my last post was a little odd--apparently I should stick to books and keep musings like that for my journal. Ah well.

Fortunately I have several books to mention--I've read some good stuff lately. Last night I finished Richard Wright's Native Son, which perhaps I shouldn't categorize as "good stuff"; however, I read it in two days. I hated it, first off: the story was grim and depressing and the main character unbelievably awful; and yet I found it strangely compelling. At the beginning I expected it to be one of those books I'd have to force myself to read a few pages of each day, spurring myself on with competitive thoughts of crossing it off my list, but instead I was drawn in, reading great chunks at a time in a disturbing eagerness to learn what might happen next. Odious said he put it down in disgust at the first gruesome occurence; perhaps I'm more bloodthirsty than he! Whatever the reason, I found Bigger Thomas's story an interesting one. I was going to say his descent into madness, or corruption, was interesting, but since his entire life was one of corruption and degradation, the crimes he committed were almost an ascent. Through the guidance of Mr. Max he became aware of himself and his reasons for doing things, and though that certainly didn't help him much, the story is effective in a way I wouldn't have supposed.

Now, the other book I was going to discuss is too different to include in the same post, so I'll return to it later. Thanks to the weirdness of our new work schedule, I'll be spending a lot of time in the Lake Oswego Public Library, which has excellent computers, so posting may be more frequent.

Before I go, however, here's a joke I read this morning, courtesy of Elle Jay, who got it from someone else. I just love jokes like this.

A neutron walks into a bar. The barkeeper says, "For you, no charge!"