Silent Sustained Summer Reading

      So I've been barraged by requests for my summer reading list. The requests have proceeded as follows: "Willie, what the heck are you reading this summer?" and "Good, dear, sir, what are you reading this summer?" To the first, I answer, "Good question!" To the second, I answer, "You are a little too formal. Tone it down!"

Read:

• Finished the inner chapters from The Zhuangzhi
• God and Philosophy--Antony Flew
• Ecclesiastes---King Solomon?
• Gospel of John---...John?

Reading:

• Breakfast of Champions--Kurt Vonnegut
• God in the Dock: Essays on Theology and Ethics---C.S. Lewis

To Read:

• "Culture As Disability" (essay)--Ray McDermott and Hervé Varenne
• Finish "The Critic as Artist" (essay)---Oscar Wilde
• Woman in the Dunes---Kōbō Abe
• The Ego is Always At The Wheel: Bagatelles---Delmore Schwartz

      Maybe I should read something newer. But there are so many good things to read from, you know, before. From the times of LPs. From the times of horses and brick-paved streets. Rainbows.
      Anyway,  I knew I would enjoy the rest of Zhuangzhi because I like his philosophy and writing style. And I did enjoy it, even if it was a bit heavy and convoluted for just after school ended. God and Philosophy was interesting, as it was the first kind of athiest argument I've read. Flew is not a good writer--here's my Amazon review: My Reviews: God and Philosophy.
      Reading Ecclesiastes this time, I didn't get as emotional as, well, the first time I read it. Because I was looking at it more critically, I was more confused. Are we supposed to frown upon The Teacher's findings? Are we, in the epilogue, supposed to look back and say, "No, this existential kind of guy wasn't right: what we have to do is fear God and keep His commandments"? Or does fear of God stem from The Teacher's findings? Does living in the moment require fear of God, somehow? There is a difference in translation which also baffles--the version I read (from Jewish Publication Society) said something about the findings as harmful. The other three versions of it I have, though, say that it's harmful to go beyond the findings. That is, the findings are all a person needs. If you have any insight to these questions, please comment.
      Gospel of John was the first New Testament text I've read from 'cover to cover,' so to speak. It was interesting. Jesus was the Son of God, apparently.Who knew? Although a bit laborious and repetitive in its philosophizing, I'm grateful that there even is philosophizing--the metaphysics of the Word and the Light and all that. While I do not recommend the Gospel of John for those unsympathetic to the Christian faith, for the other camp, this gospel is odd in a good way. A final note: I liked how John was like, *spoiler alert*, "you know the guy who I was mentioning the entire time but we don't know who it is? That was totally me."