Oh yes. I have started The Hunt for Red October, finally. I currently am reading through the Bible, Paradise Lost and My Utmost for His Highest…I really needed something lighter to balance it all out. I do enjoy heavier reading, but I can’t just glide through that like a modern fiction book.

 

Boy, am I slow at reading, though. A friend of mine was attempting an English degree and she said it was around 1,000 pages of reading a week. 1,000 pages??? I wonder if those speed reading courses work…and if you actually retain anything when you’re finished speed-reading. One of the things I enjoy about reading is reflecting on what you’ve read and being able to impress people by quoting books and authors. ;p (You think I write down quotes for fun? Oh no, my friends, I have an ego just as much as anybody else…). Anyways, if I can speed-read and still retain the ability to reflect and impress people that will be great. Until then it’s slow and steady for me. I’m at page 116 and the book is 468 pages long.

 

So, the thing about reading The Hunt for Red October is that one of my favorite movies (of the same name) is based on it, so I reference scenes and characters in the movie all the time, instead of vice versa. I’ll read about James Greer and it’ll be James Earl Jones, even though in the book Greer’s not black at all. Jack Ryan is Alec Baldwin, Mancuso is Scott Glenn (though Mancuso’s appearance in the book is nothing close to Scott Glenn) ….you follow. I’m trying to disconnect myself from that, but it’s hard sometimes. For example, no matter what Clancy book I’m reading, Greer will always be James Earl Jones. Is that okay? Are there any Clancy purists out there that will be outraged? I feel so strongly about this that I think Clancy could even rewrite all his books with Greer as a black guy and it would be great. Okay, maybe not. I’m going on a tangent…

 

That might happen often.

 

Basically what I’m trying to say is I’ll reference the movie a lot, because I <3 the movie – oh, and also Without Remorse, cause that’s the other Clancy book I’ve read.

 

Umm…a lot more technical stuff than in Without Remorse, of course. Without Remorse was all about people; in Red October the submarines get full blown character sketches as well. So if you’re into that sort of thing, you’ll be all up ons. It’s set during the Cold War, of course, but I don’t know the exact year…I’m guessing around ’84 when the book was published? That seems reasonable.

 

(1984? That long ago? Wow…)

 

Also, chronologically, does Patriot Games happen before Red October? The book refers to some terrorist plot that Jack Ryan inadvertently thwarted in the UK, and he was knighted because of it. Isn’t that what Patriot Games was about? That’s cool…I didn’t know Games was a prequel – in book-land, anyways.

 

Another interesting thing (that maybe only I would notice) is the role of religion in Clancy’s books. Granted, I’ve only read one and a quarter – but it’s generally a very positive image. I recall John Kelly had a Catholic background and I think(?) even visited a priest in Without Remorse. When Kelly frees one of the girls, she is helped greatly by her father and her pastor. Mormonism provides resilience and hope for one of the American pilots in a Vietnamese POW camp. Catholicism is the “anchor” of virtue that separates Marko Ramius from his Socialist comrades. I find it refreshing when a realistic picture of a religious character is given…not everybody is a cynical “jaded” humanist.

 

That’s all I have time for today. Bbl.