"Hello Insomnia, Can't Say I'm Pleased To Meet You."

I can’t sleep.

I’ve never been an eight-hours a night kind of guy. I function pretty well on six hours or so. But, and this has been ongoing for a good long time, I can’t seem to sleep more than three or four hours straight anymore. Maybe I’m too light of a sleeper. Maybe I snore and wake myself up. Not sure. But it’s just past 2:00 am, rest seems distant, net-surfing has left me cold, my iPod is circling through Matthew Sweet, XTC, Elliott Smith, Bob Mould and The Who, and I’m now up reading.

Reading.

I’m almost done with The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. I still don’t know what to make of it. Comparisons to Pynchon (I’ve read one or two of his works) seem pretty accurate. There’s a detachment from reality that pervades the majority of this novel. It’s referred to as dream like but that’s too simple a term. It’s bizarre without being off-putting. I’m not convinced that anything in this is meant to be real. It has fleetingly interesting characters. But it’s not a page turner. It doesn’t make me leap to the next chapter wondering what is going to happen to our hero next. Well, because he’s no hero. He barely exists. Maybe that’s the point.

Regardless, reading is a good thing. I think it helps my writing. It certainly gives my mind plenty to think about and work through. This actually may not be good for the insomnia. Might have to re-think that. It’s a good thing I don’t have to work tomorrow/today.

But, what this really means is that I’ll need to start on a new book. This one has taken me much longer to complete than I originally expected, but it’s the second longest of the books on the list. The next should go quicker. Unless it’s that gigantic sci-fi tome on the shelf. Why are sci-fi and fantasy books almost always 900-plus pages? And my brother wonders why I don’t choose to read those…

So, dear readers, I need each of you to comment on this post with a number from 1-8. This will help determine which book is next.

It’s up to you.

B!