Ostomy Memories Keeps Reading

MY TAKE ON READING DIFFERS FROM Pat Conroy who wrote in ‘The Prince of Tides’:  “People who like to read are always a little f**ked up.”  I’m not saying we disagree; I just come at it from a different angle.  It seems to me that reading, which I do every day, is what helps me maintain an edge of sanity in this otherwise insane world.  All one has to do in order to recognize how absurd life is in its basic, common, everyday B.S. craziness is watch the daily news.  The loudest newsmakers are the ones who are the most bonkers, the ones bouncing off the walls of their own inadequacy and desire for power.  So I escape into a good book.  It may be fiction, a genre which has the benefit of not being an imminent threat to human life.  Or non-fiction, such as a memoir or a travelogue that takes one to a place one might not ever otherwise see.  Especially now that I have been incapable of keeping myself away from checking on the news of the day, I find that I need some counterpoint to make sure that my mind doesn’t overindulge upon the dystopian prospects of our times.  So, if Conroy’s right, and reading makes me “a little f**ked up,” then the good news is that I’m not as bad off as I would have been without it.  

**NOTICE**  On Saturday, March 4, 2023, Turner Classic Movies channel is showing two of the most wonderful comedies ever filmed:  at 5:45 PM, Some Like It Hot; and at 10:15 PM, It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World.  

Escaping into a good book is the best thing ever to maintain our sanity living here on planet earth. LOL

Reminds me of the song I'm A Stranger Here by the Five Man Electrical Band.

Whenever I wish to escape from this mad-mad world, I try to do so via the medium of my own books that are as yet unfinished. This way I feel I am writing my own version of the world as it is according to 'B. Withers'. This means I don't have to take too much notice of the many deceptions and misconceptions which seem to be portrayed by others on the so-called 'news' programmes. 

At least when the chosen communication genre is rhyming verse, nobody is expected to take it too seriously!

Best wishes

Bill 

Henry, don't forget about the 1960s movies of the Pink Panther. Inspector Clouseau cracks me up.

Peter Sellers was fantastic.  My favorite of his many films is 'Being There.'  It's based on the novel by Jerzy Kosiński, where he plays Chance the Gardener, a simple man who knows little of the world, and what he does know, he learns it just from watching television. Chance is such a blank that those who come in contact with him see only what they want to see. It’s a beautifully modulated performance by Sellers, one of his very best and earned him his first Golden Globe Award and his third Oscar nomination.