Today's earworm.

Usually, Today's earworm is a song or a line from a song, usually quickly replaced by another hopefully less obnoxious snippet of song. But today, we have a guest 'appearance' by a line from A&P, a short story by John Updike called 'tragi-comic' in one description.

The whole story is well worth reading, but the line that really sticks with me is

I look around for my girls, but they’re gone, of course.

I don't know why the last five words have the impact on me that they do, but I've carried them with me for a long time. It's of 'of course,' of course, the whole sense of destined to fail.

Describing so many books.

George Saunders, in an interview, is asked about his recent reading. He replies, I just read [Alice's Adventures in Wonderland] and it was amazing. I don't know what he's trying to say, but it's hilarious, and there are really deep truths in there that I'm still trying to figure out.

Sale! Sale!

We just received a new shipment of previously owned buzz words. Most are lightly used, trendy only for a year, eighteen months tops, now remaindered! Some examples:

• synergy
• world class
• industry leading
• paradigm shift
• overstock on 'team' set: building, work
• thinking outside the box
• winning
• leadership
• blue sky thinking
• forward thinking
• multitasking

But now you have the chance to be the first one on your block or in your office to use these classics! Astound and amaze your friends!

Sympatico.

I just finished Jeff Goins' How I Fell Back in Love with Reading, which contains this statement: It’s somewhat embarrassing to admit as both an author and ghostwriter that I have largely lacked the attention span to finish most books I’ve ever started. I don’t think this is particularly rare these days, but for me, it was not a matter of will—I just couldn’t do it.

Unlike Goins, I usually finish books I start, but there are now longer gaps between starting and finishing books. I'm totally in agreement on the embarrassment, though, not as an author or ghostwriter, but just as a reasonably intelligent person who is well educated, curious, likes to read and learn, and simply enjoys words. I am embarrassed because there was a time in my life when, if I wasn't in motion, I was reading. I'm not moving nearly as much, but I haven't seen a corresponding uptick in my reading. I read things on the computer (like Goins' articles), but the three stacks of in process/to read books and magazines get material added, but aren't shrinking. I could plead fading eyes, doing more writing, napping, poor book selection, cat distractions, or who knows what-all. Still no excuse.

Goins' article is in reaction to another article, Matthew Walther's The One Hundred Pages Strategy, whose basic thrust is to set yourself a goal of reading one hundred pages a day. On the one hand, it seems reasonable, but then he starts adding all sorts of strictures and rules. The reading has to come from books, and not include collections of essays where you can skip around, no frivolous books, and you are not allowed to skip a day. Walther is also deeply committed to the book artifact–Kindles are actively discouraged. He is ambivalent about poetry and other writing that does not fill a page. In short, we're back in college lit class.

In more short, reading is not supposed to be fun in Walther's world. I don't even know if it's supposed to be a learning experience. It's like the jogger who passes the house every day. He pounds the pavement, it seems, not because it's healthy or fun, but to 'get in the steps.'

Me, I see books as a form of sequential dialogue, with questions and a context. How does the book change you? Do you recommend it? Or think about it well after you finish reading it? Want to discuss the book with someone else? Buy another book by the same author or one covering the same subject? Think about it? Let it drift into long term memory until you find a reference to it or find the book again on the shelf?

Or nothing?

Jeff concludes with a thought that I keep forgetting, if I ever really thought of it: Reading is a discipline. I know that's true for writing (even though I'm not as diligent as I would like to be), but don't think about reading quite that way. I don't know if helps, but we'll see.

R.I.P.

Related to the Sympatico article (I think).

I just saw a headline announcing the death of the 'mass market' paperback, which will no longer be made. You know—what was also called pulp fiction, or pocket books, or mind candy (my term). You know them—smaller format, able to be carried in a pocket, cheaper paper, consumable and disposable. I suspect the reasons are many: fewer readers, rising costs of even cheaper books, but really, the reason is the rise of alternate entertainments such as streaming video and social media. Social media also allows a chance for interactivity or to respond if you want.

No matter how good it is, no book can compete against that. Of course, a book gives you great opportunities to create your own fantasy worlds, but that requires digging in a little more, do something beyond reacting.

A total waste of time.

I am always surprised at the uniformity of shows where people go places rumored to have ghostly activity. First, the shows all happen at night, even if the ghosts are active in the day. Some investigators stand around and act cool until they 'hear' something, at which time they look started and say fearfully, 'what was that?' if not run away.

Others, of a more professional mien, show up with a SUV full of electronic gear, and try to establish contact with the dearly departed. They set up lights, deploy beepers and all manner of detecting gizmachies, and then tell ghosts from the late 17th-early 18th century to respond and do something, just presuming that the ghost can understand modern American English.

If the 'researchers' hear or see something that they can interpret as a response, they will often amp up the requests. 'Can you turn on the flashlight?' Even a wanting-to-be-helpful 19th Century ghost is not going to know what a flashlight is, much less how to turn it on (sometimes I can't find the switch on an unfamiliar flashlight). Or the hunter will suggest knocking three times to make their presence known, not hearing the ghost reply, 'I have no knuckles and cannot knock.'

They might as well ask them to bake a cake.