Alarming Dearth Of Fiction, A Soldier’s Story, Monthly Goals, And Other Topics

As I reach the end of my long slog through Omar Bradley’s A Soldier’s Story (and resist the temptation to draw a parallel to the long slog of the Allies through Europe) I find myself facing a serious dearth of fiction to read. In Bradley’s defense, his book was well-written and interesting; my former boss gave it to me and told me it was one of his favorites, and that by itself was enough to make the slog worthwhile. Bradley was indeed a great manager of people, be it the front-line troops or the egos of the high command. I can see why his voice appealed to my former boss, who was a great manager. I had trouble understanding some of the details of the myriad maps Bradley showed of various troop movements and strategies, but I came away with a much finer appreciation of all the things involved in such a massive undertaking, as well as with a better understanding of some of the events in the European part of the war. One thing I liked about the book (at the same time it was a bit frustrating for someone like me with only layman’s knowledge about World War II) was that Bradley knew precisely what he’d set out to do with the book and didn’t attempt to do any more than that.

With respect to fiction, in searching my shelves for what to read next I am finding an abundance of interesting nonfiction just waiting to be read (and many of them thick tomes like Bradley’s that will take me a while), and little in the way of fiction besides some long and difficult reads like Thomas Mann and Dostoevsky. So far, the books I’ve read this year have been evenly split between fiction and nonfiction; I don’t know, however, that I would unreservedly recommend a single one of the novels, whereas I’ve read several excellent works of nonfiction.

Seeking to remedy this situation, I turned to my Amazon wishlist. I routinely use this wishlist as a holding place for books that catch my interest. Some books stay on the list merely for hours; others for for five or more years. Some never get bought. But it’s a place where books that sound interesting stay until I make a final decision about them one way or another.

Of the approximately 90 items currently on my list, less than 20% are fiction. Another 10% or so are writing about writing of various sorts, but even then 70% of my list is nonfiction. Sure, I could head down to the nearest used book store and fill a big bag with fiction, but most of the new stuff is not appealing to me. So I think the only solution is just to keep reading the nonfiction. When I need a break, I’ll know it. Meanwhile, why not go where my interest leads with respect to reading for pleasure? My day job is beginning to involve lots more reading (including several books that I will not list on this blog for fear of self-identifying), and so it’s logical that I’d want to break it up with fiction. But if no fiction is currently calling my name (and plenty of nonfiction is), then so be it.

I also wanted to use this post to assess progress on my September goals and lay out goals for this month. Last month I said I was going to avoid artificial sweeteners and cut down a bit on caffeine. While at home I did a nearly perfect job of this. At my new job, as it turns out, coffee and sodas are free (as is clean water). This would have been a dream come true before I decided to cut back; now it is a serious test. So far I’ve been less than perfect (I’m being kind), but still better. I’ve been drinking a lot more carbonated water and less soda (either the regular or the diet kind) and less iced tea. I’ve also been drinking more water. But some days are better than others. I have to keep working on it.

I set myself the goal of writing 10,000 words on the novel and exceeded it slightly, ending the month with just over 70,000 words. With respect to scenes, I am working on the seventh of 24 right now, and my expectation is that the eighth will be unnecessary. So plugging along. I hope to hit 80,000 words by the end of this month, and perhaps be halfway through my 24 scenes.

I set a goal of 12 weight and 12 cardio sessions for September. Now, I had a problem with my back and skipped a week of weights. I’m back at it (no pun intended) and have done weights twice so far with no problem – I’m just being extra careful on my form. I think the issue was exacerbated by sitting for long periods at a high desk at work. I bought a lumbar support pillow last weekend and so far it has made quite a difference. Though it sounds silly, I think a footrest would also be a good idea to ensure that I have proper posture (and proper weight distribution) while sitting at my desk at work. Anyway, with respect to the gym, for the month I managed 10 weight workouts and 14 cardio workouts (and I wonder if I may have actually forgotten to write one or two of the latter down – I feel like I did a lot of cardio this month). So a few less for weights (thanks to the back issue) and a few more for cardio. Let’s go for 12 and 12 again this month…hopefully, I can exceed it.

Well, the family issues I mentioned last time appear to have been subsumed into larger excitement about the wedding. (To be precise about what I’m saying, I don’t mean the larger issues. But the smaller issue of my grandmother’s gift and the nonsense that accompanied it.) I, as you might have expected, decided not make a huge issue out of it and when I spoke with my parents last weekend the conversation was positive and wedding-focused. So far, I will give them credit: they have been pretty low-maintenance about the wedding. I even broached not inviting an “aunt” of mine who I cannot stand (and aunt is in quotes because she divorced my mom’s brother when I was a small child and then disappeared – I did not see her again until I was a postdoc…though why I can’t stand her has little to do with this) and did not get any immediate pushback. Not sure if the issue is totally settled yet, but I think my decision to invite every single other relative besides this woman of my own volition surprised and relieved my parents. I don’t know who else they thought was on my shit list so that they wouldn’t be invited…but anyway, who I invite and who actually shows up are two different things.

I have a new idea for a short story. I don’t want to spell it out in too much detail here now. I want to sit down and give it a try and see if it works. I’m still not 100% sure about point of view or even about all the details, so it may require a little more thinking. But right now I think it could work.

It’s fall, finally, and even though I’m still sitting here in shorts the days of sweating my balls off walking up to the Metro should be over for a while. The days have been beautiful, the leaves are beginning to turn…this is the part about living in D.C. that I enjoy.