I always seem to find my next book to read right around when I am halfway through a good book. Sometimes it helps me read the current book faster and other times it derails me all together and I forget about my current book and move right on to the new one. I can not even count how many books I have only half read.
Anyways, I suddenly find myself with a reading backlog. I was about halfway through “An Underground Education” - which is a great bathroom reader that fills in all the scandalous and violent parts of history that you don’t learn in school books - when I ordered a bulk lot of 44 “Sci-fi” books off eBay for like $20. Of course when I got the box of books I was disappointed to find that 2/3rds of them were fantasy not sci-fi - oh that irks me!
But I did find a book called “American Gods” by Neil Gaiman in there so I started reading it right away. Leaving my “Underground Education” with about 2 chapters to go.
And now that I am halfway through this very bizarre book I have already purchased 5 more books! (Apparently I forgot that I already had a box of new books sitting unread.)
I purchased the four novels of John Updike’s Rabbit Angstrom series. I remember reading the dirty parts of “Rabbit, Run” as a teen and thought I should go back and read them all.
And then the book I am really excited about is “Magister Ludi” by my favorite author Hermann Hesse. I have read 10 of his novels and yet somehow I just discovered that his last book is not only considered his magnum opus, but has a sci-fi premise too. How in the world did I miss that one?
If you are wondering why the attraction to Hermann Hesse, it goes like this… I was going away for the summer to live in a cabin and someone gave me “Siddhartha” to read and I loved it! I still remember the moment I finished reading that book, it was one of the best days of my life.
I lay in bed and read the last words. I closed the book and walked out to the kitchen to get something to drink. It was about 4am and the birds had just started to sing. I was living out in the woods in the middle of nowhere, and I could have set a clock by the time the birds woke up it was so regular.
Anyway, before I could even open the fridge door I looked out the window at the lake and through the morning mist hovering over the water I could see something odd. Splashes. Splashes everywhere across the lake. I walked out there to see what the hell it was - I was so mesmerized by the sight, that I didn’t even bother putting any clothes on - not that anyone would be within a mile or two to see me.
When I got to the shore it turned out it was fish jumping - Bass most likely. I assumed there was some sort of mass bug hatching or something going on that was making them go crazy and jump in the air, over and over. I sat down with my feet in the cool water and watched the strange show for a long time before going back in to get dressed.
Afterward, I decided I was going to walk to town. I had not been into the small town yet and thought I would go check it out. Not sure why I didn’t want to drive, but I am sure the thought of walking Buddha-like was the real appeal.
So to make an already long story a little shorter. I spent all day walking to and all around the small town. I ate breakfast and lunch there and bought some very cool items at a little antique shop before deciding to start the walk home. About a mile out of town my knee got pissed off at walking 20+ miles and gave out. After a couple minutes of sitting on the side of the country highway, a young couple picked me up and drove me home. It was a very zen day - very fitting for Siddhartha.
Then a year later when I returned to live in the woods again, this time I stayed in a different cabin and discovered a bookshelf full of Hermann Hesse novels. Until then I had not even bothered to see if the author of my then favorite book had even written anything else. So I decided that I would not only read them all, but I would also do so in chronological order. (You think things like that when you live alone in the woods.)
So that summer I made it through 11 of his 13 books, and for some reason never bothered to follow up on the last two until now.
Each of Hesse’s books explore an individual’s search for authenticity, self-knowledge and spirituality. So I can’t wait to read what the literary community has deemed his finest work. Part of me hopes it can have an impact on me like the very first Hesse book I read. Apparently he spent 12 years planning out this last major work, so maybe its fitting that I let 19 years pass before discovering that I hadn’t read my favorite author’s “best” book!
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