October 18, 2009
I have 100 pages left. As I do with most books I have fallen in love with, I tend to delay the finish. There’s part of me that wants to put my life on hold and race till the end. Devour words and sentences in a quicken pace. Sure I do that exact thing some of the time. But for the most part I fart around. Putting the finish on hold, so it won’t come to an end. One of the things I do in my procrastination to finishing a novel is flipping to the back cover and rereading the books summary, or the little write up this author or that newspaper said about the book. Kavalier and Clay’s back cover has a ton going on. I knew Chabon won the Pulitzer for this masterpiece (yes my upcoming book review will be GLOWING with praise) but as I flipped to the back I realized he didn’t win every book award on the planet that year. I was dumbfounded. How could that be? I had to look into what books took the top prize while Chabon was a finalist. The only award I could understand him not winning top honors for is the PEN/Faulkner Award. Human Stain by Philip Roth was your winner in 2001. I have not read Human Stain and to be honest, I’m not a massive fan of Philip Roth but he must be a favorite of the committee. He’s won twice since 1996. Chabon was again a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Award. Mary Robison wrote Why Did I ever and won top honors. I have never heard of the author or novel and that doesn’t make in less of a book. I will have to find it one day to see for myself, how it compares to the masterpiece (there I go again) of Kavalier and Clay. Finally there was the National Book Critics Circle Award. W.G. Sebald wrote Austerlitz. A big time author some say underrated. I Googled Austerlitz and I have to admit it sounds pretty powerful. I hope its breath taking and moving and wonderful and epic and unforgettable and a book you want to keep under your pillow just so you know its there. Thats what The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay is, to me anyways.

I have 100 pages left. As I do with most books I have fallen in love with, I tend to delay the finish. There’s part of me that wants to put my life on hold and race till the end. Devour words and sentences in a quicken pace. Sure I do that exact thing some of the time. But for the most part I fart around. Putting the finish on hold, so it won’t come to an end.

One of the things I do in my procrastination to finishing a novel is flipping to the back cover and rereading the books summary, or the little write up this author or that newspaper said about the book.

Kavalier and Clay’s back cover has a ton going on. I knew Chabon won the Pulitzer for this masterpiece (yes my upcoming book review will be GLOWING with praise) but as I flipped to the back I realized he didn’t win every book award on the planet that year. I was dumbfounded. How could that be? I had to look into what books took the top prize while Chabon was a finalist.

The only award I could understand him not winning top honors for is the PEN/Faulkner Award. Human Stain by Philip Roth was your winner in 2001. I have not read Human Stain and to be honest, I’m not a massive fan of Philip Roth but he must be a favorite of the committee. He’s won twice since 1996.

Chabon was again a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Award. Mary Robison wrote Why Did I ever and won top honors. I have never heard of the author or novel and that doesn’t make in less of a book. I will have to find it one day to see for myself, how it compares to the masterpiece (there I go again) of Kavalier and Clay.

Finally there was the National Book Critics Circle Award. W.G. Sebald wrote Austerlitz. A big time author some say underrated. I Googled Austerlitz and I have to admit it sounds pretty powerful. I hope its breath taking and moving and wonderful and epic and unforgettable and a book you want to keep under your pillow just so you know its there. Thats what The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay is, to me anyways.