Free But Tied Down

Posted by goodthinkingbatgirl on May 14, 2009 · 1 Comment 

Final exam done, first year of university is effectively finished. The thought is rather odd. Now I technically have nothing to do until September. I say technically because I have a lot of reading to do for next year (including some brick-like novels including Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children which I have read about 20 pages of) and applying for a boring part time summer job… and what else? Ummm…

Thinking of a basically free summer is initially a great thing but then there’s that moment when you think, well what am I actually going to do for all that time? Having nothing to do is only great for a certain amount of time, then it gets boring. I must think of things to do. Of course I shall be reading a hideous amount and nattering on about it on here and to anyone who will listen to me.

Today’s Book: Midnight’s Children, Salman Rushdie (1981)

So I have started Midnight’s Children. I went into it only having heard of it but not knowing anything about it. The plot, as I have come to expect from our Mr Rushdie, is not exactly simple. Our main character, Saleem, was born at the stroke of midnight on the day of India’s independence. He is then somehow connected to 1,000 other ‘midnight’s children’ via telepathic powers. I haven’t quite gotten to all this yet in my reading. Thus far, on page 38, we are back in the time of Saleem’s grandfather and learning about his adolescence and marriage. He is currently on his honeymoon. I have never previously read Rushdie, but his prose is easy to read and likeable for two reasons. Firstly it is beautiful, absolutely lovely to read and flows nicely; secondly he throws in some very everyday phrases that any of us might say and this makes the work seem infinitely more human and natural. Though high prose may come to some of us, no one speaks it all the time. We all lapse in colloquisms and a bit of bad grammar here and there. As I am sure I have here. Though the book is 647 pages, I am not overly daunted and am looking forward to ploughing through it and discovering some depth of beauty that I have not yet met with. Hopefully Mr Rushdie will enlighten me just a little bit more.

Batgirl xx

Filed under Featured Book/Author, Studies, Summer · Tagged with Holidays