Nature Girl by Carl Hiaasen, author of Tourist Season https://realini.blogspot.com/2020/12/tourist-season-by-carl-hiaasen-nine-out.html - 8 out of 10

 

Nature Girl by Carl Hiaasen, author of Tourist Season https://realini.blogspot.com/2020/12/tourist-season-by-carl-hiaasen-nine-out.html

8 out of 10

 

 

This is one of the few times when I disagree with The Economist, on the matter of the most amusing novels, albeit they are spot on with Lucky Jim https://realini.blogspot.com/2023/03/lucky-jim-by-kingsley-amis-author-of.html by Kingsley Amis, with Nature Girl, they may strike the right cord with some readers, but not the under signed

 

The Loved One https://realini.blogspot.com/2018/08/the-loved-one-by-evelyn-waugh-10-out-of.html by Evelyn Waugh is on the same short list, where Waugh is praised for other magnum opera, such as Scoop, or Decline and Fall, the journalist explains that this is a compilation of what he prefers, and two out of five may be good enough

Tourist Season by Carl Hiaasen was included on the 1,000 Novels Everyone Must Read list, and that opus was not my cup of tea either, good enough as it was, it is not memorable and this is what I am looking for now, the standard ending has included some of the quotes that guide me, one is from Malcolm Bradbury

 

In To the Hermitage https://realini.blogspot.com/2022/09/to-hermitage-by-malcolm-bradbury-author.html we find that ‘Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life’ and this is what I am looking for, characters that excite, exhilarate, and if Sammy Tigertail is interesting enough, he is not outstanding

He is half-Seminole and perhaps the most likeable in the narrative, but the confusion, detective, and the rest of personages do not bring about the pleasure I am seeking, next on the list would be the Umberto Eco lines “The person who doesn’t read lives only one life…The reader lives 5,000…Reading is immortality backwards.”

 

I would like to connect this with Seneca https://realini.blogspot.com/2023/09/on-shortness-of-life-by-seneca.html and his On The Shortness of Life, in which the philosopher and ancient tycoon explains that ‘life is not short, the problem is how we treat time, if we pay attention, then we are fine, but if we waste it, life would really be short’ – words to that effect, he did not really say that, it may be close enough, or just off

Hence, it is crucial to read about lives, people that bring something meaningful, if they just chase around in Florida, of all places, then this could well be a bad use of my time – I do not know about yours, but incidentally, you should leave this space, it is not conducive to a meaningful use of this scarce resource, time…

Positivity https://realini.blogspot.com/2015/05/positivity-by-barbara-fredrickson-life.html is a classic work of psychology by Barbara Fredrikson, wherein the conclusion is that there are ten paramount elements that give you pa positive state amusement, interest, awe, inspiration, pride, hope, joy, serenity, gratitude and love

 

Ergo, the tests for a read would be ‘are the lives, characters compelling, is time with it a gain, or a loss, and then does it bring the aforementioned ingredients’, and if amusement is the first on the list above, it is because this was supposed to be one of the funniest books you could find, which I am afraid is not the case, for me anyway

It is more of a case of the mountains have separated and there is a ridiculous mouse, which is also in the ending paragraph that would like to summarize some beliefs and also hint at self-deprecation, the mouse and the mountains are generally an explanation of the pages here, so many lines to extract such a ludicrous result aka mus

 

Flow https://realini.blogspot.com/2016/10/flow-by-mihaly-csikszentmihalyi-this-is.html is another classic of psychology by the co-founder of positive psychology, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, who has offered these rules that would lead you to Optimal Experience, Being in The Zone, or Flow – you are in control, it is an autotelic experience…

Next, it has to be exclusive, nothing else matters, you have clear goals, time becomes relative -Put your hand on a hot stove for a minute and it seems like an hour…Sit with a pretty girl for an hour, and it seems like a minute…that is relativity, according to Albert Einstein’ – you have constant, instant feedback and finally, the challenges meet your skills, or else you can get into burnout, or else it is the boredom, losing time domain

 

‘Happiness Activity No 10: Committing to Your Goals-picking one, two or three significant goals that are meaningful to you and devoting time and effort to pursue them’ this is from a glorious book The How of Happiness by Sonja Lyubomirsky, a magnificent book, if you want to learn about merriment, how to be happy

The question then is if Tigertail and all offer a worthy trip, is this conducive to Flow, as explained above, reading this would be a ‘significant goal’ – the answer is no – would you say that ‘nothing else matters’, the same answer applies here, it does not seem autotelic, after a while and then it brings Florida to the forefront

 

Alas, America, Florida are now connected in my mind with Orange Jesus, Desantis and exaggeration, silliness and worse – evidently, it is stupid to generalize and say you live there, then there is nothing to be said, when you take 100, 1000 people, you will have some fools, a few erudite, some weirdos, and mostly hoi polloi

But the majority there plums for Orange Jesus, Desantis, and in other words, prejudiced, biased as I am, it means that I avoid most of those living there, I hate the god damn OJ, Desantis too, and that is for me a cult of the most abject being there is now, with some exceptions, Putin and the like

 

Now for my standard closing of the note with a question, and invitation – maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/unique-in-world.html?q=unique+in+the+world – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the befits from it, other than the exercise per se

 

 There is also the small matter of working for AT&T – this huge company asked me to be its Representative for Romania and Bulgaria, on the Calling Card side, which meant sailing into the Black Sea wo meet the US Navy ships, travelling to Sofia, a lot of activity, using my mother’s two bedrooms flat as office and warehouse, all for the grand total of $250, raised after a lot of persuasion to the staggering $400…with retirement ahead, there are no benefits, nothing…it is a longer story, but if you can help get the mastodont to pay some dues, or have an idea how it can happen, let me know

 

As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/realini-in-newsweek-participant-in.html

 

Some favorite quotes from To The Hermitage and other works

 

‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life...As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality...Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’

 

‚Parturiunt montes, nascetur ridiculus mus’

 

“From Monty Python - The Meaning of Life...Well, it's nothing very special...Try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations.”