In good company

A while ago, I wrote about TIMEQUAKE, the last novel by Kurt Vonnegut that I have yet to finish. I’ve been purposely reading the novel at a snail’s pace for the past few years, in fear that I might one day finish and not have anything new to read by my favorite author.

In terms of this unusual approach to reading, it appears that I am in good company. Last night my wife and I were watching Battlestar Galactica, a show that we are both enjoying very much. In the episode, Admiral Adama takes a seat beside the hospital bed of the President of the Colonies, who is dying from cancer, with the intent on reading to her. Just before he begins, the President asks Adama if he likes the ending of the book, an apparent classic in their world, and he tells her that he does not know how it ends. He loves the book so much that he has never finished it, he explains. He doesn’t want it to ever end.

I realize that I’m in good company with a fictional character, but this is Admiral William Adama, call sign Husker and savior of the human race. Even if he is fictional, he’s still a great man, and I felt a little bit of pride in knowing that he feels the same about our favorite books.

And this is nothing new for me. I once dated Jaye Tyler, the fictional protagonist from the short-lived television series, Wonderfalls. Perhaps I’ll write about it sometime.