Hmph. So I finished…

Hmph. So I finished Geoff Dyer's Out of Sheer Rage. What a whining, petty, boring little book. I mean, it's a book that's supposed to be about being whining and petty and boring, so I guess he achieved that aim, but it was also supposed to be funny, which if it had been, might have made the other stuff bearable. But it wasn't. Not to me. Several other people in the class thought it was hilarious, though, so clearly I was missing something, or he was missing me. Ah well.

There were a few quite decent passages, though, including this one:

I had not been to the theatre for twenty years and I had no intention of going again now. It was not even a question of liking or disliking the theatre. The important thing was the pleasure that came from not being interested in the theatre. I am interested in all sorts of things but it is lovely to not be interested in the theatre. Not being interested in the theatre means a whole area of life and culture means nothing ot me: there are entire sections of listings magazines that I don't need to consult, vast areas of conversation I don't need to take part in, great wads of cash that I don't need to consider parting with. It is bliss, not being interested in the theatre. Not being interested in the theatre provides me with more happiness than all the things I am interested in put together.

This is essentially how I feel about sports. :-) And a fair bit of pop culture/entertainment stuff. Which is bad for Trivial Pursuit, but seems to work fairly well otherwise. I remember feeling anxious when I spent some time watching basketball with Kevin last spring and discovered I liked it, and that I could easily become interested in it. I didn't need another interest! I didn't want another interest! Please, enough!