Books

Books.  Books are keeping me from having a real life.  Or maybe books are real life.  Either way, I like to read.  I mean, I really like to read.  I never, repeat, never, go anywhere without a book.  Oh, you may see me in a friend's house without a book in my hand, but you can bet it's out in the car.  Even if we go to get an ice cream cone, I take a book.  It is my security blanket.

Sometime I think my reading so much keeps me from thinking about things -- things such as the state of education in our country, ditto for health insurance, politics, the economy, religion, just about anything that is disturbing.  In other words, reading is my panacea; it keeps me sane.

What started me on this track was one of the funniest books I have ever read -- A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole.  I just finished rereading it, and I very seldom read a book twice.  For thirty years, I have been telling anyone who asks what my favorite book is, about this one.  I decided I should read it again to see if I think it is still as good as it was way back when.  It is.  The story takes place in New Orleans sometime in the 1960s, but I couldn't help but notice how relevant some of the themes were for today.

The main character is Ignatius O'Reilly, a 30ish boy/man who still lives with his mother.  His jottings on everything are one day going to let the world see what a brilliant mind lives in his bloated body.  For now, though, he must get a job to help pay some debts, even though he is sure his mother could do something so that he would not have to lower himself to work.

That's as much as I'm going to say here about Ignatius.  He is a brilliant, ignorant, arrogant egotist, who discovers life in New Orleans.  The author, John Kennedy Toole, never wrote another book.  Soon after he finished this one, he committed suicide.