Mea maxima culpa

The list Frank and I were so passionate about six months ago has gone, admittedly, untouched for half that time.

I think I speak for both of us when I say the list has not lost its importance to us, but life does have the habit of getting in the way.

Since our last posts, a lot has happened in our world. I relocated to Washington, DC to take on a position at a neighborhood reinvestment nonprofit. Frank followed a few weeks later, desperately trying to find employment. He settled in at an internship, but was then offered an opportunity to campaign in Wisconsin.

With moving out, moving in, starting new jobs, getting used to living apart from one another, among other things, reading just didn't take much of a priority. I think Frank's been reading "Frankenstein" since June.

I am enjoying DC life as much as I can, considering a slew of financial and health issues and a separation from someone I love so much. Being in a new city alone, without many friends and much money, has been an invaluable learning experience for me.

I reinvested myself in the book list about a month ago and picked up "Anna Karenina." I finished the behemoth book yesterday and I'm glad I will no longer have to lug it on the Metro every day. Expect a post on the book soon.

So, dear readers (if you're even out there), please take this post as a heartfelt apology for having neglected A Novel Experience for so long. I promise a little more activity, at least on my end. Frank's a different story, as we aren't quite sure what he'll be doing as of mid-November.

Thanks for reading,
j

Frank Book #2: On the Road by Jack Kerouac

Now Playing: A Love Supreme by John Coltrane

During my freshman year of high school, my band director approached me to gauge my interest in learning the alto saxophone. A member of the school’s jazz band was one of the best alto saxophonists in the state and was graduating in a few months and the director needed a few people to step up and replace her in the jazz band. At this point I had only played the clarinet but the jump to alto saxophone was supposed to be an easy one. However, I had no desire to learn a new instrument or to play in the jazz band. Jazz was old fart’s music anyway, why should I want to learn it? Upon hearing this, my director handed me her copy of John Coltrane’s A Love Supreme and told me to listen to it. I did. The next week, after surprisingly little begging, my mom bought me an alto saxophone and put me in lessons. I since have learn the tenor saxophone in order to attempt to play some Coltrane tunes. In my opinion, jazz is quite possibly the greatest genre of music ever.

Jess Book #2: Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut

So, Frank beat me to the end of another novel. In my defense, he spent hours reading while I slept.

Let me first say, the structuring of these responses is difficult for me. I'm not a particularly linear thinker, just as Slaughterhouse-Five is not a particularly linear novel. I find myself struggling to find a form to present these responses in, so that they'll make sense to any readers. But I'm very much an extrovert in the Myers-Briggs sense. I feed off of others and develop my ideas verbally and collectively, cooperatively. It's quite the challenge to put together an initial response without prior discussion or ability to fully develop my ideas by bouncing them off of others. But I suppose we didn't expect this adventure to be easy. I guess this is my attempt to justify what might follow as a shoddy attempt to describe what I find great about Slaughterhouse-Five. My apologies in advance.

Jess Book #1: On the Road by Jack Kerouac

I'm one one-hundreth through the list. I think I'm going to approach this first book blog post by giving general thoughts and some themes that struck me the most. I'll let comments drive the discussion from there.

Initial impressions
I have mixed thoughts on the book. At times, I was captivated and completely enthralled with the characters and their adventures. at others, I was bored by what felt like the repetitive nature of Sal's back and forths across the continent.

Frank Book #1: Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut

I have finished book #1 of 100, Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut. It is a moral victory for me. For one, I finished the first book from the list. For another, I finished a book before Jess, for possibly the only time during this entire endeavor. Granted, her book, On the Road, is much longer than mine, but who needs to know that?

Embarking

In my youth, I never had a tan in the summers.

Unlike other children, I was not outside running, playing, getting dirty or creating my own adventures. In almost all cases, I was curled up somewhere in my house reading about others' adventures.

I certainly enjoy a good roller coaster

Whew. What a whirlwind the last 2 ½ days have been. While driving to Good Tequilas out at Grand Prairie in Peoria on Friday night, I was thinking about how excited I was to see Hannah for the first time in months. I never imagined that simple Mexican dinner would result in me embarking on a journey that could very well take years.

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