my practice of posting about the books i read is an exercise to help me remember the books. not simply a reminder that i’m smarter than you – my entire blog serves that purpose.
my last three book choices were mindful of the fact that i have a very limited attention span. all three novels, survivor, choke, and no country for old men, are excellent reads and i highly recommend them to everyone. except my parents. my parents definitely shouldn’t read choke.
both survivor and choke are written by chuck palahniuk, the author of fight club. he keeps his books short and sweet. they’re equally morbid and funny, or satirical as the critics would say. survivor is the story of the lone survivor of a religious cult that is telling his life story into the black box of an airplane before it crashes. choke is about a guy who goes to several restaurants each night and has a complete stranger save him from choking on his food. the idea being that they will feel like a hero, be forever responsible to him, and feel obligated to send him money when he writes them letters asking for support.
palahniuk always come through with some great quotes. below are two i pulled from each that i found interesting for one reason or another.
survivor-
not that i’m crazy or anything, i just want some proof that death isn’t the end. even if crazed zombies grabbed me in some dark hall one night, even if they tore me apart, at least that wouldn’t be the absolute end. there would be some comfort in that.
choke -
we can spend our lives letting the world tell us who we are. sane or insane. saints or sex addicts. heros or victims. letting history tell us how good or bad we are.
letting our past decide our future.
or we can decide for ourselves.
and maybe it’s our job to invent something better.
it took me quite a long time to actually finish no country for old men. john williams gave me the novel for my birthday earlier this year. i got to it towards the end of the summer. about 50 pages in, bunny ate it. the second time i picked it up, i didn’t make it much further before putting it back down. i’m pretty excited i finally finished it so i can watch the movie. anton chigurh is a complete beast. seriously, look at this guy. he’s absolutely invincible in the book. i hope his portrayal in the movie is accurate.
remember that time pants cooked the food you like, hosted the tailgate, let you stay over night, visited you too often at school, learned how to text, took you to practice, made you feel uncomfortable when asking you about a gf or bf, cried when you left home, loved you more than should be possible. you probably do. cause it happens everyday.
your first two sentences of this blog are perhaps the best I have ever witnessed upon juplife. i think it should serve as the new slogan for the blog… should i grow the stache too?
that’s high praise coming from the greatest toledo hockey player ever. i think you have a natural ability to grow a mustache as a hockey player. coupled with the fact that you are not an amato and have gone through puberty, it will make you a front runner to win this contest. keep me posted with photos of your progress.
you mentioned that john williams gave you one book, but nothing was said about the fact that the other two were taken from James Williams’ book source.
alright – i am growing it out – but i got a late start – it is going to look pretty bad though – i will send you pics along the journey.
you’re an outlier chris. someone who does things out of the ordinary. i have absolute faith that you’ll be able to compete.
that was a terrible oversight on my part gym. let it be known, i have borrowed more books from your library than anyone else.