There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old’s life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs.
Prior to teh interwebs and online gaming - there were books. Well, there were still computer games and arcades and such.. but I read a lot. I didn't read a lot of the right sort of books that expands a person's mind and builds a broad and solid knowledge base. Ya.. I think I read every Stephen King novel up until about 1995 or so. My mother loved reading also, and I used to dig into her stack of paper backs, but they weren't usually anything more than either trashy dramas or the occasional romance novel. I did read a bit of history, but not nearly as much as I should have.
The last trip we took, I brought a Clive Barker book. I can't remember the name. It was about a demon. It was really bad.
I have vast amounts of free time because I "work from home" and I really don't have to do much at all. I'm really lucky. I should either write a novel (that nobody will publish), or record an album (that nobody will release). Both appeal to me viscerally.. but then World of Warcraft has an expansion coming out in a little over a month.
I swear that game is robbing the world of many fine works of art and literature.
No comments:
Post a Comment