Coincidences

I decided it was time to use my Kindle again, so last night I downloaded a sample for The Marriage Plot, by Jeffery Euginides. I read Middlesex years ago, and it's one of my favorite books. The Marriage Plot is a new novel that traces three college students' post-grad lives. I started it this morning (though the relentless rain made it still look like 3 a.m.) and was enjoying it enough that I decided I was going to buy it (I was also considering Stephen King's It). Then, something came up that really caught my eye. It came up when Maddy, one of the graduating college students, despairingly tries to think about what she is going to do after graduating. She remembers why she decided on being an English major: simply because she loved to read. This is exactly my situation. I do not want to be a teacher, or a journalist, and I probably won't go to law school. But I want to be able to learn about classic literature, study all the greats that I have yet to read. I love that I started this blog because it gives me a clearer picture of what I want. A lot of what goes on in my head when I read fails to get written down though, so I hope I can one day do even more with all my thoughts and ideas.

On another note, I want to talk about a pretty coincidental thing that happened to me on the way to school this morning. Before I say what actually happened, a little history: I'm sure everyone experiences a lot of coincidences, but they happen to me all the time! Or maybe I just see them everywhere. Anyways, they happen often and a lot of times these coincidences have to do with books I'm reading at the same time/close to each other. This type of coincidence hasn't happened to me since I read The Raw Shark Texts by Stephen Hall and After the Quake by Haruki Murakami, which were as unrelated as can be, except maybe for that they dealt with the supernatural. The Raw Shark Texts was one of those books that puts quotes before different sections, and one of the quotes was from Haruki Murakami. Another thing before I say what actually happened- in Breakfast of Champions, Vonnegut mentions a lot of freight trucks with only one word painted on their side (like "Pyramid"), but I had never really seen one of those. Obviously, I've seen many trucks with things painted on them, but never one, solid word all across. Driving to school I drive through an underpass for a highway, where a light intersects with an exit. While waiting first in the red light, a huge freight truck turns off the exit onto the incoming lane to my left, thus completely exposing the side of the truck to me. In huge, white letters on a red background, the word CROWLEY was taking up the whole side! Crowley, like the demon in Good Omens! It was awesome.

I'm off to go continue The Marriage Plot :)