I hate not getting it.

Lately I have been trying to catch up on a couple trilogies that I am in the middle of and seemed to come across the same problem: I just don't get what is going on. For example, I was a HUGE fan of The Traveller when it came out 3 years ago or so, and was fairly ok with Dark River (Book 2), so when Golden City came out, I was pumped. Two problems: I couldn't remember what was going on and I had a baby right when it came out. So I found some online summaries of the plot and everything came back to me, but when I got into the book, I realized that John Twelve Hawks really had no intention of resolving most of the issues and was more concerned with taking an Ayn Rand-like philosophical stand instead. Don't get me wrong, I love Ayn Rand, but I skip the 30 pages or so of her books where she goes off her relativistic tangents because I don't understand it (or care to) and I don't think that it has any relevance to the story. Purists will I'm sure tell me that I can't possibly understand the truth of the novels without getting the philosophy but really, that isn't why I am reading it. If I want philosophy, I'll read philosophy. Golden City had the potential to be really good and profound but then it just sort of stops. Ta-da, the end. Not a lot is resolved, there is no closure, and I am left irritated that I wasted my time on the story. I'm also left feeling like I am frankly not smart enough to be reading this.

Now, I am a pretty intelligent person: I have a fairly high IQ, great vocabulary, high SAT scores from high school, and was on the Dean's List in college without killing myself. I usually don't have too much trouble getting things, but lately I've noticed that it's getting harder and harder. Maybe it is because of the sheer volume of things that I read, so nothing seems to stick in my craw like it should. Or because I now have 2 kids age 3 and under (That will scramble anyone's brain, believe me. I'm lucky sometimes to have matching socks on.) and can't pay attention all the time. Whatever it is, it's annoying.

Another example is last year's Story of Edgar Sawtelle. Almost everyone that I talked to that had read it had this amazing epiphany at the end and I missed. It was a wonderful novel, beautifully written, but I kept feeling like I was just a little bit outside of what was going on. I hate that. I hate feeling dumb! Even 2 of my super smart best friends had the same problem (we were all in the same AP English class when we read Hamlet so maybe that was the problem . . . way to go Mrs. Shipman!) and we couldn't nail down what it was. I even had a Shakespeare seminar in college!

I guess it's just a little set back but it is still a blow to my ego. Maybe I should just stick to thrillers and scifi rather than the literary stuff. PFFFFTTTT!