March Came Quickly, and...

Trying to Save Piggy Sneed was an interesting memoir penned by John Irving, back when he was my age.  It's actually a compilation of memories, short stories, essays, and anecdotes from his life.  The title of this work lets it masquerade as a novel, and I must confess it tricked me. (Even its spine classifies it as fiction!)  Piggy is a cruel nickname for an unfortunate man Irving knew in his childhood, whose life comes to a sad end.  Since this collection of stuff starts with him, I expected it to end with giving Mr. Sneed a better ending, because that is what writers do. If I were to put my hand up in Mr. Irving's class and say, but what about Piggy Sneed, weren't you gonna save him? He'd peer at me over his half-specs, suppress an eye roll, and tell me to use my imagination.

Well, my imagination says that Piggy was way smarter than he let on, and those bones you found after the fire weren't his. He'd been stashing cash somewhere else forever and retired to a warm place, way way out of Maine, where people don't make fun of him. The End.

This is why I am not a writer. But still, I must persist, it would have made for a nice symmetry to end it all with Piggy Sneed--not ending it all.

Seriously, though, I stand in wonder of how Irving is able to effectively proselytize* about any subject that strikes his fancy; I know nothing about wrestling, it all looks like rolling around to me, but his wrestling stories are great, especially the ones involving refereeing. Yes, the famous author refed, and got screamed at by some of the strangest people I never want to meet. Great material...

Another subject Irving proselytizes about is literature. Yes, yes, it's true. He's part teacher. After reading his rhapsodies (the h filled in for me, love that) about certain authors and books, I picked up The End of the Affair, my first Graham Greene book. I know that we saw the movie years ago, but it's not memorable. This short novel is. The whole of this sad narrative is told in first person, takes place in one mind, and it is riveting and thought provoking.

After the end of  The End of the Affair, I picked up a novel that's been in my queue for awhile, one that's gotten a lot of buzz. It's called The Nightingale, by Kristin Hannah. It's a tall order to follow Irving and Graham, and at first, I thought her style seemed thin, but that might be me acclimating to  different prose. Readers have to do that. I am getting into the story, which involves two very different sisters. Lately, I feel as though the two-sister theme is a strong one. Another book awaiting me is Homegoing, by Yaa Gyasi. I'm digressing. A much more common theme is World War II. The End of the Affair and The Nightingale both take place during WWII.

WAIT....I forgot to do a Rabbit Rabbit post. March came so quickly, hopped right in after what must have been the warmest February ever. We are experiencing cold and windy sensations right now, but this shall pass very soon. And California has gotten multiple inches of rain. I remember watching it rain from the porch or "the old old house" with Granny, that's how unusual it was (Pasadena, long ago).
I do not have anything to report that would be exciting to anyone else...to me, it's exciting that I'm not working this weekend, and I get to sit and bask in the fact that I get to bask. And feel well. My parts are feeling better than ever, even my tendonitis seems to be gone, I can do the snow angel thing, and I'm sleeping better. Not to brag.

Yeah, yeah.

So. Whatchaupto? I'm all ears!



*Mike and I recently watched a spelling bee. That word did not come up. I was so far off that Blogger had nothing. I love google.