I have to really start packing and clearing out junk from the room (and also file my income tax return, but hey I still have a week) because ohmygoodness June is speeding towards me in full throttle and I'm panicking. So I took baby steps and started with the book cabinet... and discovered Catch-22, the book I borrowed from a cousin during Chinese New Year. I know this book is supposed to be a classic satirical history fiction, one of the great literary works of the 20th century, but dammit it's so hard to read. Very, very different from my usual Stephen King and the likes.
I'm still stuck at the first quarter. I don't feel like reading it at the toilet (too heavy), I don't wanna read it to wind down after a hard day's work (too much concentration required)... just can't find the time and mood. And my cousin has since flown to India for her dentistry course. But hey, now I know what's a catch-22. It's an idiom meaning "a no-win situation". Perhaps an excerpt from the book (yay I've read the most important part!) would be more enlightening:
"There was only one catch and that was Catch-22, which specified that a concern for one's safety in the face of dangers that were real and immediate was the process of a rational mind. Orr [a character] was crazy and could be grounded. All he had to do was ask; and as soon as he did, he would no longer be crazy and would have to fly more missions. Orr would be crazy to fly more missions and sane if he didn't, but if he was sane he had to fly them. If he flew them he was crazy and didn't have to; but if he didn't want to he was sane and had to. Yossarian [the story's hero] was moved very deeply by the absolute simplicity of this clause of Catch-22 and let out a respectful whistle."
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...
...
Now you know why I say it's hard to read this book, right?
Of course, there're still the 24 books I bought at Payless's sale last year. And more from Bangkok. So many books to read, so little time... ah life!
I'm still stuck at the first quarter. I don't feel like reading it at the toilet (too heavy), I don't wanna read it to wind down after a hard day's work (too much concentration required)... just can't find the time and mood. And my cousin has since flown to India for her dentistry course. But hey, now I know what's a catch-22. It's an idiom meaning "a no-win situation". Perhaps an excerpt from the book (yay I've read the most important part!) would be more enlightening:
"There was only one catch and that was Catch-22, which specified that a concern for one's safety in the face of dangers that were real and immediate was the process of a rational mind. Orr [a character] was crazy and could be grounded. All he had to do was ask; and as soon as he did, he would no longer be crazy and would have to fly more missions. Orr would be crazy to fly more missions and sane if he didn't, but if he was sane he had to fly them. If he flew them he was crazy and didn't have to; but if he didn't want to he was sane and had to. Yossarian [the story's hero] was moved very deeply by the absolute simplicity of this clause of Catch-22 and let out a respectful whistle."
...
...
...
Now you know why I say it's hard to read this book, right?
Of course, there're still the 24 books I bought at Payless's sale last year. And more from Bangkok. So many books to read, so little time... ah life!
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