Haunted

Dear You,

Have you ever felt like you were being haunted by someone? Or something? Not in a negative way, just in a way that every time you turn around, something or someone reminds you of the thing/person that/who is haunting you? I have.

A few nights ago, a very dear friend of mine asked if I had read much Hemingway. I haven't. I think I read part of The Old Man and The Sea in University. That's all the Hemingway I've touched. My friend... we'll call him Tom... recommended that I read Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises. I didn't think much of it. People recommend books of all kinds to me all the time. Most everyone knows I am, and have always been, a reader. I jotted the title down in my mind when Tom suggested it to me. I have a mental list as long as your arm of books that people have told me I ought to read. I will get through them eventually.

After mentally jotting the title down, I began to notice that things would remind me of this book. It came up on a couple of websites' "Recommended For You" lists, and is the book that my other friend's (ie. Not Tom) book club is reading before their next meeting. A copy of it was on the table in the library where I was studying. It was as if the book itself was shouting at me to read it. It followed me around. I read the synopsis online. It sounded pretty good, frankly. I put off walking to the used book store to buy it. The ghost of the book kept following me around. It cropped up in a dream I had last night.

Today, at 2:45pm, I looked the book up in the iTunes book store. Being as how it is a relatively old book, and is considered a "Classic" piece of literature, I was curious to see how much the book would cost in electronic form. (I lately seem to prefer reading on my iPad to reading a hard copy of a book, but that is a subject for a different letter.) The answer to my query? 99 Cents. I looked at my account balance. $3.30.

I caved in, and bought the book.

I have every intention of beginning to read it today, so that it will stop haunting me. It's a little creepy, being haunted by a book.

What do we think... shall I write you a book review when I've finished? I think that could be fun.

After all of this creepy book-stalking, I hope it's at least as good a story as the synopsis made it seem!

Critically yours,

- A.