For some reason I wanted to watch TV very much this week. I wanted the noise and the "company" that TV could provide, especially yesterday and today. It was like a craving - no reasoning to it - just WANTED it.
I knew that the TV would be full of AFTER CHRISTMAS SALES & LIQUIDATIONS commercials. I reminded myself how annoying those would be. Still wanted TV. I tried to analyze this craving: did I associate TV with Christmas? I was unable to dredge up any memories of TV and Christmas - no parades or events that I would miss. Still wanted TV.
I finally decided I was tired. I had hosted dinner for my family Christmas Day and, even though we all had a great time, I was beat. TV would be so EASY...just sit there and click click click my way into numbness. Nothing (besides sleep) is as EASY and as MIND-NUMBING as watching TV. And when I say "watching TV" I was not thinking of any particular show. I still like certain TV shows and look forward to watching them in the future. When I craved "watching TV" I craved sitting in my big chair with the remote and staring at the TV and tuning out.
Instead of watching TV I cuddled up in my big chair with my new Sue Grafton mystery, and read. What a pleasure to read something as well-written and intriguing as U is for Undertow. Unlike so many writers today who take a formula and just basically "fill in the blanks" as they crank out book after book after book (can anyone say James Patterson?), Sue Grafton crafts each and every book the same way an artist creates a painting or a sculpture. She experiments with point of view, she is attentive to detail, she creates living, breathing characters who you care about - even if they end up being the "bad guy".
I start a new Grafton mystery by allowing myself a chapter or two at a time, but I always end up devouring the final chapters as the suspense builds to a surprising climax. I finished this book last night. I was sad for a few minutes - sad and satisfied - and then decided it was time to read the series from beginning to end again. The series is so good that you can read and reread the books and enjoy them over and over again.
I've been reading a huge collection of Flannery O'Connor stories and I'm ready to be finished. What a tremendous talent! I've learned a lot about writing, but I'm ready for something ... sunnier. Not a lot of laughs in Ms. O'Connor's stories. Same for Eudora Welty...another Southern writer with a very twisted way of looking at things. I have The Tin Drum by Gunter Grass waiting for me at the library. I may release my hold on that one - again, not a happy funny novel - and start rereading A is for Alibi.
I agree about Flannery O'Connor, but what a great writer and what a great NAME! Didn't you know all Southerners are a tad twisted? We blame it on the states war but I think we were twisted a long time before that :)
ReplyDeleteAh yes...the unpleasantness back in the 1860's caused all this weirdness. Recently I've read some Faulkner, too, so I really think it's just a genetic thing passed down...I'm only 1/2 Southerner, but the other half is Irish-American Boston Catholic. I do LOVE Flannery's name, too! Thanks for posting, Ax. It's nice to have another Southerner in the loop (even if you are clandestine up there in the NW...)
ReplyDeleteI think Sue Grafton followed me one time and desribed me so completely in one of her books that my jaw dropped. Unfortunately, it was not flattering, so I will not tell you which one. Sometimes now, when I'm singing out old standards with Michael Buble or harmonizing with the Eagles, and the top is down on the car, and the wind is blowing through my hair, I glance around to see if she is taking notes.
ReplyDeleteWait a minute. Ax is a southerner?
ReplyDeleteTwo of my favorite days in my whole life were the two times I met Sue Grafton. If ever I get my pictures transferred from my old eMachine hard drive to my Shutterfly account, I will share pics of me and Sue. Together. Like this. Oh yeah.
ReplyDelete(oops, sorry, Ax...didn't know it was a secret)