"Last Night, I Fell into a Book"

Last night, I fell into a book. If you have no idea what that means, then I honestly feel sorry for you. Falling into a book is an amazing experience, and one that I wish every person could experience. I had not fallen into a book for some time, and, let me tell you this: I missed it.
For those of you who are rading this and wondering what in the world I am talking about , what this weird "falling into a book" business is, let me explain as best I can. When you fall into a book, you lose yourself in whatever piece of writing you have been lucky enough to pick up and dive into. It might sound a little Alice in Wonderland, down the rabbit hole, and that is not inaccurate. When you fall into a book, you get lost in the world that writer has created. Time becomes something that the rest of the world might notice, but for you, the ticking of the clock has been lost in sounds and speech of some alternate reality that wells up from the pages before you and pulls you in, sometimes like the razored hand of Freddy Kruger, snatching you into a dark world of screams and dreams, mightmares, at other times like the silken gloved hand of a porcelain-skinned angel who leads you through starlit nights, and at still others like the gnarled hand of an other teacher, guiding you through trails toward knowledge you never even knew you craved. Yeah, it's pretty cool.
Last night, I lost three or so hous in this mundane existance, but experienced weeks and months in a world I found shocking, intriguing, enlightening, and troubling, all at the same time. I won't argue that the book was all that good, but it snagged me and I fell. The book? A little piec eof light reaiding titled Fight Club. It is the novella that spawned the movie 15 or so years a go. The film starred Edward Norton and Brad Pitt. It fascinated me, partly because it is a perverted, dark "Walter Mitty"-type tale, partly because I watched it backwards. That is a whle diffeent story that I can tell later. For now, let's just say that the film intrigued me, and I have wanted to read the original ever since seeing it. Yesterday, Heidi and I were in Hastings and I saw a copy of the novella. I started reading it reading shortly after 8 pm. Suddenly, I glanced at the clock, and it was just after midnight. I had fallen intot he book. I had not planned it, and I was not diving in because my life required me to. I was just reading because I wanted to, and I fell in.  It was something I had not done for quite a while, and I loved it.
I once heard a bit of inspired truth: "If you say you hate reading, you just have not yet found what you love to read." I agree with this wholeheartedly. So, since this is New Year's Eve, and every channel will have a 'list' of some sort going tonight, I have decided I will throw together a list of my own. A list of books I have fallen into. I know I have had lists of books and movies and the like before, but this may be just alittle different. These are not the most inspirational novels or classics that every person must read. These are just books that I have had the pleasure to fall into for a little while. So, in no praticular order, here you go; maybe there will be something here you can fall into as well. Who knows?
Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk. This little pulp fiction novella is not what I would call a classic, but it is intriguing and revealing. It was written in 1996 and examines the rift between the expectations of a generation of men and the contradictory value systems that society presents. The narrator is dissatisfied with his white-collar life and IKEA lifestyle, until he meets Tyler Durden, who eventually leads the narrator into a world of social rebellion invovling insomnia, making soap from human fat, and Project Mayhem. It is not the most hopeful story. as Tyler Durden says, "On a long enough timeline, everyone's survival rates falls to zero." It is confusing, captivating, and, well, adult. After falling into the novella, you may eventually climb out feeling a little itchy, possbly craving a shower. But that is ok, every once in while, write?
World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie Wars, by Max Brooks. This novel was released in 2006, and it has recently been made into a feature film starring Brad Pitt. The movie was good, but it does not do the book justice. It is a collection of episodic tales from the Zombie Wars, tracing the origins of the disease to patient zero, examining the various reactions to the spread of the disease and rise of the zombies in various countries around the world, analyzing the individual and military attempts to fight the coming apocalypse, and recording the aftermath of the wars that are fought worldwide. Brooks pulls in everything from racial prejudice and nationalism to personal and government responsibility, from modern military feasibility to emotional, ethical, and intellectual reactions to crisis. I have written about this work before, so I obviously like it. Last Christmas, I fell into the book and scrambled through scenes left completely out of the movie. Can't trust Hollywood to do the job our minds were built to do in the first place, can we?
When Pride Still Mattered by David Maraniss. This is a little different work than the previous two selections. It is a biography of Vince Lombardi. I received the book about 10 years ago as a Christmas gift, and once I fell into it, I could not put it aside. Everyone knows Lombardi as the head coach for the NLF's Green Bay Packers. This biography looks all the way back to the man's childhood, through his playing days, on to his time as a high school coach a St. Cecilia's. The events and experiences that influence and impacted the man, not just as a coach, but as just that, a man. It spotlights the courtship of his wife, his struggles to move up through the coaching ranks, and other life events that do not always paint Lombardi in positive light, but are sincere and honest. It even examines Lombardi's impact and influences outside of football in business and in politics. I learned that this man was once approached by both political parties to measure the possibility of the old coach becoming part of each parties presidential ticket as a vice presidential candidate.
I Am Legend by Richard Matheson. This post-apocalyptic novella has been made into several movies; most recently Hollywood bastardized the piece into a film starring Will Smith. It is a great movie; it just is not a movie version of the novella written by Matheson. The novella is about one man's attempt to survive in a world ravaged by a disease that turns all of those around the narrator into vampire-like creatures who try to draw him out of his house each night, sometimes violently, sometimes through grotesque seduction. The most significant difference between the book and the film is the examination of legends, and why we as a society believe or at least hold on to certain legends, and what the very existence of those legends tells us about us and our society. Religious dogma, the necessity for hope, the fear of what is different all play a role in the novella. The plot drew me in, and I felt both empathy and hatred for the narrator. I had to see what he did, question why he would do it, and wonder how I might be different, or the same, if I were in his shoes. That is the great thing about falling into a book: you are taken to places you most likely will not have to go. I hope not, anyway.

I have a few other pieces I have fallen into. Some are more academic; others are guilty pleasures. I came out better for the dive into some, and I came out filthy on the other side of others. However, it is New Year's Eve, and it is my birthday, so I believe I am done with this post for now. I may break out a part 2 at some point, but for now, I leave you. Have a happy New Year, and may you also fall sometime soon. You will enjoy it.