We Are All Terrible Bloggers

Right.

This lady I know once told me that if she made a movie, she would want it to be like BIG FISH. I knew what she meant in theory, but in practice it didn't really hit me until this afternoon when I finished THE SUN ALSO RISES.

I've read Hemingway before, sure, but only in short stories and short story collections. This is the first novel I've read, and I picked it up at the airport, on a whim, because I had four days of Ohio staring me in the face and I was feeling a little more melancholy than DAVID COPPERFIELD requires for a healthy reading. Annie and I had been talking about Hem the night before, and she's all about SUN--so I picked it up.

It was a bull-fighting novel, I figured. That's what I heard, and that's what is on the cover. And it has bull-fighting, sure. It also has the Lost Generation and fishing and Paris. But it also has a girl, and goddamn, isn't it always about a girl, one way or another? And Brett Ashley does indeed make a grand entrance, and I did indeed think she was going to be at the heart of the story. And she is at the heart of it, if more in spirit than in person. SUN is sad and melancholy and it must have taken a Hemingway-sized nutsack to publish it in 1926. It doesn't follow a traditional structure, and I read today that the first two chapters, which told of Jake and Brett falling in love, were cut out at the suggestion of Scott Fitzgerald. But it's just a beautiful, beautiful piece of work, and like things of beauty, I suppose you either love it or you don't understand it. I imagine the book itself is a lot like Brett in that way.

Some Ohio pictures are up in the usual place. Chris and Tina, I didn't manage to get back over to take pictures of your cats--hold onto them for a few months longer and I'll get them next time, for sure. Or better, use some of that money to pick up a digital camera and you can start your own website. If the internet needs anything, it's more cats. The 24Hour project is still kicking, but I'm having some trouble uploading today's picture. I'm still taking pictures, but it might take some time to sort out what the problem is--I'll load all of them when I figure out what's wrong.

As a special treat, one day this week will unload Corey-Mania onto y'all--an all-Cory blog, all day long. So if you have any thoughts on any kind of Corey's, do send them in. I'm all about guest-bloggers. And a Happy Anniversy Yesterday to Jenny and Corey, while we're on that subject.

I'm sure there's something else I should report, but I'm at a loss right now. My head is still in Spain, y'dig?