Monday, June 30, 2008

Lunchtime with Cormac McCarthy

It used to be that a dear friend of mine (previously a literature professor at a local university) and I would get together on the pretense of drinking over-priced coffee and talk about life. I have no lack of friends but lately I have found myself more and more pressed for time. My friend tells me that our coffees together were good for him but I'm sure that I got the better end of the bargain. Because of one of our conversations, my friend gave me a copy of "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy.

Seriously, if you haven't read this yet and you need a good read go get this book.

Also, if a book that I might enjoy is being made into a movie, I try to read the book first. So I had no trouble when my wife called me up (both of us acting like I didn't know that she was shopping for my birthday) and she asked me to "tell her a book title". No Country For Old Men (also by Cormac McCarthy). This book now goes with me to work and I leisurely read a few pages on my lunch hour. I learned my lesson with The Road - I couldn't put it down and I was done *too* soon. I'm gonna take my time and savor this one.

"Work really cuts into your free time." - I honestly don't remember if I heard that somewhere or if I made it up myself but its very true.

"What does not kill me makes me stronger." - This one keeps getting attributed to Nietzsche but it was originally said by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. I know that "Johnny" beat "Freddy" on this one because Goethe died twelve years before Friedrich Nietzsche was born.

I guess Nietzsche had a better agent.

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