“The Old Man and the Sea”

I had in mind the blog post I was going to write for today, but I believe I will have to go to Plan B and this is why.

I had picked up a copy of “The Old Man and the Sea”  by Ernest Hemingway, at our favorite bookstore for a very good price.  I knew it was a classic, it had won a Pulitzer prize and I had always been curious about it. My plan was to read it and then write a post about what I got from the story. I had little doubt that it would be good, for it was a classic after all. There had to be some nuggets of gold in it.

I may very well be in the minority but I have to say I just didn’t get it. I kept reading thinking that something would jump out at me, but no, the only thing that jumped was the fish jumping out of the sea.

Ernest Hemingway is a good writer, I have seen very good quotes by him, but I guess I missed something with this story.  If any of you have read it and want to explain what you got out of the story, you are very welcome too. What did I miss? I do believe there was more to it than just a story about a man fishing, but what? This wouldn’t be the first time that I totally missed the point of something.

There have been other classics that I have read that I have enjoyed, and ones I haven’t. I never could grasp what everyone liked about “The Scarlet Letter” either, in fact that book was one I couldn’t finish, which is extremely rare for me to do! Again, I may be in the minority and just because I didn’t like it doesn’t mean its not a good book.  The book just wasn’t my type. We are all so different so is it any wonder that with the vast array of books out there that there will be some we are drawn too and some we aren’t.

With that being said if you don’t like J.R.R. Tolkien’s books well then I may have to enlighten you. I am kidding! Yes, I really like his books, but I do know not everyone is a fan and that is okay!

But now if you don’t like Pooh Bear or Dr.Seuss, that may be a real problem. They both have wisdom to impart and make you smile. Who can’t like the willy, nilly, silly old bear?  Maybe I can just identify with Pooh Bear easily. He can get confused rather easily and he impulsively does things like rolling in mud, trying to fool the honeybees into thinking he is just a little black rain cloud. Silly old bear!

Oh yes, the world of books! It is a wonderful world to live in. We are privileged to have so many books right at our fingertips, we can read and read and read. Not everyone has such easy access to books and sadly not everyone can read.

I am very grateful for books, they have taught me many things and taken me on many adventures. Even if  “The Old Man and the Sea” wasn’t quite the adventure that I expected, at least now my curiosity is solved.  Now I can open the pages of another book wondering where the story will take me.

What is next on your reading list, what books have you read and loved and what ones perhaps did not grab you as much?  Feel free to share below.