“Reading anything interesting?’ The elderly gentleman on the metro asks me.
Now, I am not only engrossed in the novel in my hands, I also have headphones in. Yet, apparently I seem approachable. I couldn’t begin to tell you why.
I respond by showing the cover of The Three Musketeers.
“Now, that is interesting,” he says. “Not many young ladies read that one anymore.”
This conversation felt odd while I was in it, since I tend to have these out-of-body conversation experiences where I see myself having the conversation. That being said, recapping it makes it seem even odder. I mean, did many young ladies used to read The Three Musketeers? Do young men read it now, or did he really mean young people? Gah, I’ve got nothing.
Anyway, I sort of smile dubiously. I’m not really sure what to say to that.
“Are you reading it for a seminar?”
Now, this would be the point to tell all about my exciting list project, right? WRONG. I merely say that I thought it would be fun and that I’m enjoying it. And I breathe a sigh of relief that my metro stop is here.
This experience was in no way as awkward (and uncomfortable!) as when I was walking home from the library (again with headphones) with a large stack of books, and some creep in a car pulled over to try to use my books as some sort of entry pick-up line. That was really awkward. I have a low trigger threshold, though, for being hit-on or for street harassment.
In other news, I actually really did enjoy The Three Musketeers. Young ladies may not be reading it anymore, but they don’t know what they are missing out on. It was a super fast read (about two days for 600 pages), since it just moved so quickly. I was a bit disappointed by Lady de Winter, but other than that I thought it was excellent. Athos was easily my favorite character (which is interesting, considering how I felt about the Milady situation). It feels modern in many ways, and stands the test of time quite well, though overall the female characters are a bit thin. In all, I prefer The Count of Monte Cristo, but for fun, it’s hard to beat The Three Musketeers.
I finally finished Watchmen as well. Graphic novels aren’t easy for me, so I was glad that I knew about the plot ahead of time. I had forgotten some of the pieces for how it fit together, but it came back to me as I read it. I found it hard to read, though. I do not think of graphic novels as childish, per se. I’m not one of those people who sees superheroes as juvenile.
At the same time, for me, they are tied in many ways to my childhood. I think of them in terms of watching the Batman animated series in our house in Germany or in Phoenix growing up. I think of the ridiculous X-Men talking game Sarah, Josh and I played. I don’t necessarily want them to be dark and dystopian; I want them to have that nostalgia (no joke intended there, really) of childhood memories. Of course, Watchmen ultimately has a (fairly) happy ending, but it still rips at the security of superheroes.
My favorite quote is from Dr. Manhattan (who wasn’t always blue!): Come...dry your eyes. For you are life, rarer than a quark and unpredictable beyond the dreams of Heisenberg; the clay in which the forces that shape all things leave their fingerprints most clearly. Dry your eyes... and let's go home.
No comments:
Post a Comment