As an avid reader, the requirements for this class have been
manageable. I would rather read a book than….well, just about everything. As a
kid I used reading as a way to avoid chores. Mom never made me stop reading to
make my bed or do laundry. Reading was more important. As an adult, I have
followed that philosophy. Many a day I have spent reading while the laundry
piles up and dishes have gone unmade. I could even confess to children (my own)
begging me to put down a book and cook supper...PLEASE!!
So now after all this reading for class, I am craving a good
book. Not one for class, not one that I have to write a review or summary for,
not one that connects to anything. Just a good book—one I can fall into and let
the laundry pile up again. Well, I think I found that book. It is waiting for
me. Even though it is waiting patiently, it leaves me little reminders. At the
theater I saw a trailer for the movie it has become and Saturday I saw it
sitting on a shelf. Yes, just sitting there waiting patiently for me on a shelf
in Room 137. And, since it was the 10 minute break during the ACT test I was
monitoring (another story) I decided to pick it up. In ten minutes I fell in
love, I almost even fell into the story, but the timer went off and I got back
to work watching fresh faced high schoolers search their brains for answers to
many of life’s important questions. I had to leave the book because it wasn’t
mine but I am coveting it. I want it for my own. It is the carrot I hold out as
I push through these final weeks of the semester. It will be my graduation gift
to myself.
I only had time to read the author’s notes before the timer
rang. I read it so quickly I don’t even remember the words, just the feeling it
left me holding. The author told of writing a book that didn’t work. Each
element perfect alone. Each element refusing to blend with the others. The
author told this story of failure with such clarity that I wanted to share his
words with my students so they would know that all experience failure. To know that
this deep failure results in a novel that has become a movie brought wonder to
me. I fell in love with this forward.
As I began to research this book for this assignment I have
begun to have doubts. See-- I have now lost my book to just read…it is an assignment
now! Upon searching the web for this book I have learned that the author is
Yann Martel. I have also discovered naysayers, negative Nellie’s, and spoiler
alerts. Apparently this forward I had fallen in love with is indeed fictitious.
Really! I am not for sure if I am taken aback or just taken in. According to
numerous reviews this story, Live of Pi,
is about a boy shipwrecked with a Bengal tiger…or maybe not. Perhaps it is a
story about discovering God or some form of spirituality. Or perhaps it is just
a good book. A book I can fall into. How many days until graduation?
