Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Holden Caulfield Boards the Train

I don't really have much to report, as I continue reading Possession. I'm still going at a rather slow pace, which I continue to blame on small print, italics, and the rather boring prospect of reading what others are reading. But a slow pace is better than no pace, and I am making progress. I'm probably about 60% finished.

In other news though, something finally happened this weekend that part of me thought would happen more often; I saw somebody on the train reading a book from The List. This weekend, taking the train downtown, somebody sat down across from me, pulled out a copy of The Catcher in the Rye and began reading.


While I was excited to see this, it wasn't as exciting as I think it could have been. The reader in question, was probably no more than 18, and was likely reading the book for school, not because of a desire to read classic literature. But, he was reading it, so I suppose that's a win.

The reason I'm expecting to see more people reading these books must be because I've discovered so many great books reading through this list, and I expect there to be other people reading them as well. Surely others are doing the same as me (maybe not reading this list, but discovering or revisiting some of these classics). I can only imagine how happy it would make me to see somebody reading Lucky Jim or I, Claudius. I'd probably say something to them and let them know what I thought of the book. And then watch them change seats.

Whenever I'm out and about, usually with a book in hand, I always wonder if people are looking at what I'm reading, and wondering why anybody would be dragging Rabbit, Run around with them. The cynic in me then imagines that person thinking I was reading a pretty dull book, as they flipped to the next chapter in their Clive Cussler thriller.


No comments:

Post a Comment