Day 33 - It will take today plus a whole other to reach the north island of New Zealand. I'm back to my relaxing life on the Pacific Ocean.
I started reading a new novel today. It is The God of Small Things, by Arundhati Roy. I got this in the Noordam's book swap area. Although only in the first chapter, I am enjoying it.
As an instructor, I spent much of my career teaching some of the concepts of Technical Writing to ESL students. The focus of tech writing is share concrete information which generally prompts the reader to 'do' something. We were always interested in clear and coherent structures with extremely concise, accurate descriptions. I never wanted to see students use 'flowery' vocabulary, preferring words that would be instantly recognizable and understandable.
That type of pragmatism was mirrored in my personal choices in reading material. Let's be honest, the Internet deeply affected the amount of my time spent reading novels, in a negative way. For example, having finished three books during this trip is probably more than I have in months and month.
So, this current book is a delicious change. I find myself re-reading entire paragraphs, not in order to grasp the meaning but as a way to enjoy the flow of words.
