Big Sur

Many of my more hippie-inclined friends have admonished me for never having read any Kerouac. I admit, it's a shameful truth. Still, there are an awful lot of demands on what an English teacher should have read. Namely, everything. I remember admiring a teacher I had in high school because he could give you a specialized list of authors and books you should read based on who you were. I thought that was absolutely great. Now, I am frantically trying to read everything old, everything classic, everything under and overrated, and everything that's just coming out this second. It's hard work. But I have started my Kerouac portion of that list with Big Sur. Now, I'm only about 70 pages in or so, but Good Lord Almighty. Yes, yes, we all know that I tend to fall in love with every author I read, but I can't even love him because I admire him so much. I can't get over how perfect his writing is.

I mean, it's not actually perfect in any way. The thing that is perfect about it is the way it so perfectly explains how I experience life. I wish that from now on when people want to get to know me, I'll just say, "Read Big Sur. Yeah, that's me. That how I feel about... well, everything." Granted, I think it would disappoint everyone, not the least of which would be me and Jack, if I stopped trying to explain my world around me and rather used his words to do it instead. But seriously, I've never read anything that was so much like what I think.

I frequently say that what goes on in my head is pretty interesting and rather different than what comes out of my mouth, but I never really knew how to bring what was in my head out. Well, Kerouac did it. He made it into concise (or as concise as you can make your thoughts) easy to understand words. And I, for one, am in complete and utter awe. I still think that Dave Eggers and I are soulmates (I'm only slightly kidding), but I don't even think I could handle Jack Kerouac. Too intense because it's too perfectly correct. And if anyone dares tell me that he is overrated, I will cry a thousand crocodile tears because I will feel that you've personally attacked my psyche. No pressure.