a book to read?

A voice inside my head is telling me to go find a book to read. This isn't an easy task for a literary troglodyte.

Sure I normally read Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit and perhaps this makes me one of 'those' (whatever 'those' are).

But the voice is saying regular fiction about real things.

My most recent attempt to read serious fiction was Jean-Paul Sartre, "Nausea". This failed dismally, I managed a few pages but his words carry no meaning for me. When this happens I have quick naps during sentences. I'll start with good intent but before the arrival of the first full stop, I'll have nodded off. Usually sleep reading for a page or two then something will happen, a car might go by, a change in tempo of the rain, a lawn mower snagging on a root, causing me to wake and realise what's happened ...

Managed it!!! This Lilliputian speck of insignificance is an achievement. My spell checker's cheering because it saw me write 'happened' the right way first time. It's fine when I handwrite but the two-fingered, keyboard tapping autopilot produces 'happended' every time. Even when consciously thinking about it, it comes out wrong. Why is that? I've taken a half hour timeout now to type it out 50 times. Well maybe not 50, but lots, and its paid off. Got 10 wrong then 40-ish right. I've treated myself to half a square of Fruit and Nut chocolate.

... realise what's happened and have to go back and find the dreary sentence where I lost the plot and begin reading again, each sentence twice.

Oops, I'm rambling ... anyway, you get the message that I'm struggling with Sartre. In my favour though, I did read and enjoy Andrey Kurkov, "Death and the Penguin" and even managed Albert Camus' "The Plague" and I love reading small snippets of Milton's "Paradise Lost". But the last thing I really enjoyed reading was a blog ... oh, what ... hmm it seems the voice is telling me that's not allowed, it has to be a book. Okay then the last book I really enjoyed was Philip Pullman's "Northern Lights" because it's got layers, different but complimentary stories woven between the words.

I need something that makes me think. It's your fault. If you're reading this and have a blog and if I've been there, then you've made me think. I hold you completely responsible for waking me from my brain-dead slumber.

It mustn't have lots of complicated sub-plots or too many characters because I can't remember things like that. Politics, science or anything 18-19th century (Jane Austen is out) are a struggle. I like stories and people and gritty things rooted in the today.

So now I have to find this book and it's quite hard because there are lots of books and most of them ... no offence to the authors ... but they send me to sleep ... and I can't spend more then 4 hours in the bookshop choosing ...

Listening to: Janis Joplin, "Mercedes Benz"
Wondering: why there's no Fruit and Nut left ?