Books Left: 94
Current Book: Under the Net by Iris Murdoch

I’m taking a break from writing about Under the Net because today is May 23, 2010. In other words, it’s LOST Day. I started watching LOST about halfway through the first season, partially because my family said it was good, and partially because my favorite TV show at the time was ALIAS, also created by JJ Abrams. I was instantly hooked and caught myself up through the first half of the season.

Second and third season I would occasionally watch at huge lost viewing parties that my friends put on back in Michigan. I remember watching the last episode of season two with them and how we all freaked out when we saw that giant, four-toed foot. I still want to know why the foot has four toes, and they’d better explain that tonight!

Fourth and fifth season I watched on ABC.com and Hulu, as those were my years without a television.

One of the things I love about LOST is how if you meet another person who watches the show, you instantly have a conversation topic. It’s a cultural phenomenon; it’s a story that has captured so many of us. I think it’s called “LOST” because after tonight we’re all going to be a little bit lost without it.

To celebrate LOST Day, I’m posting a few photos that were sent to me as an HGRB submission. If anyone brought sexy back to reading, it was this guy:

(Thank you, Lupatrian!) If that’s not enough, here’s a great article about Sawyer and his literary preferences. There’s more pictures, too!

Books Left: 94
Current Book: Under the Net by Iris Murdoch

Last weekend I went on a business trip to Michigan. I was there for four days, and for some reason on the very short plane ride from Grand Rapids to Detroit, I got sleepy. This plane ride is so short, it takes about as long to get to the airport, check in, wait to board, board, take off, fly, and land, as it does to drive between the two cities. (Don’t even get me started on flying from Lansing to Detroit.) I felt sleepy after I’d read a little of Under the Net by Iris Murdoch and put it in the seat pocket in front of me.

You can guess what happened. I no longer have the book.

Of course I’ve been enjoying the book so far. I would have liked an excuse to take a break from Sophie’s Choice.

I’ve filled out the form on Delta’s website for missing items, but I’m doubtful that I’ll get that copy back. Paying full price, even with my Border’s member discount, seems too crazy to do twice so I’m looking for a less expensive way to obtain it. I’ll check the library and the used bookstores near my new job which starts on Monday. If that fails, there are used copies on Amazon for $3.75 plus shipping.

In the meantime, I am working on a redesign for the blog and I’ve been thinking about opening it up to other topics I’m interested in, such as crafting, technology, and writing. (I think Drunk Literature is a good example–it’s a book blog, but she writes about other things, too.)

What do you think? Would you be interested in reading about other topics on the blog, or would you prefer The Displaced English Major to be only about books?

I’m almost finished. I’m less than 100 pages from the end, and I’m actually anxious to find out what happens. (Although I inadvertently was spoiled of the ending while reading a blog comment thread where someone likened “a Sophie’s Choice” to choosing between watching LOST or Glee if they air at the same time.)  I’ve even come to terms with the drawn-out writing style, because it reminds me of the way people tell stories to each other.

Imagine you’re talking with a new friend and your new friend wants to tell you about her husband and how they met. She starts talking about how she ended up meeting her husband, and where she was in her life before she met him. While telling this story she remembers this story that he’d told her when they were dating and how it really affected her, so she jumps in and starts telling that story as well. She also remembers the other people she was dating at the time and so she might tell you a little about them as well and how awful those dates were compared to those with her husband. While she’s telling this story, she might get to a certain point, realize there’s an important detail she missed, and have to jump back.

When you’re reading a novel, you usually expect it to go in a specific order and have a beginning, middle, and an end. Sometimes novels jump between past and present, but it’s usually done very methodically. But when you tell a story to a friend, it’s unpolished. You don’t plan it out before hand, write drafts, edit, and revise. An exception might be stories you’ve told many times you have them memorized, but with so many stories in our lives we cannot memorize them all.

I’m not saying I necessarily enjoyed reading this particular style. I still thought it could use some editing. I mean editing in the Project Runway sense–getting rid of unnecessary pieces. That said, I appreciate what Styron did and I see the parallels between slavery in the American South and the Holocaust. I just think he could have accomplished this in a novel about half the size.

(And just if you were wondering, LOST gets preference over Glee.)