Reflect

I liked when she put her hand over her face. I’m generally not a January Jones fan (especially when compared to everyone else on this show), but I thought the hand over the eyes was a nice touch.

walkwhilereading:

tumblr’s when did it happen…? Can you remember the moment you fell in love with the writing of Ernest Hemingway. Was it in a cold library during University? Or was it in front of a fire after picking Hemingway off your parents bookshelf? I’ve fallen in love with Hemingway three times while reading The Sun Also Rises and I haven’t even finished it yet. Has it ever happened. Have you fallen for Ernest Hemingway?

I’m a bit late to this party, but I’ll contribute an answer. Afraid I can’t do it succinctly.

I came to Hem in college. It’s possible I read “Hills Like White Elephants” or “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place,” in high school, but if I had read them, they didn’t make an impression. For a 20th Century Lit course, we were assigned In Our Time.

The book completely blew my mind.

The wacky structure of the book. The subtle power of the Nick Adams stories. The irony… oh the irony!

Having been hooked by the short fiction, I was worried I wouldn’t like the novels. In my experience, writers are rarely genius novelists and genius short story writers. The next semester though, in a class with the same instructor, we read The Sun Also Rises. That solidified my respect for Hemingway and erased any doubts I had. I can think of probably 30 books that could’ve been saved by the last line that only Hemingway has been smart enough to use: “Isn’t it pretty to think so?” Reading those final pages still creates that heavy/hollow feeling in the middle of my chest. You know what I’m talking about?

(Also, I’m sure some part of my love of Hemingway is rooted in the way so many women frown and say “oh… him?” when he comes up. But that’s a completely different post.)

walkwhilereading:

Ernest Hemingway passport photo before he became well Ernest Hemingway. 1920’s. [via]

alldirections:

Dear Student,

Your composition assignment is handwritten on notebook paper, it looks like you did it right before class, and let’s face it…it’s a vagina. So, A+.

Thanks,

Professor Barrett