What's in a book?

Stood outside on the deck today after scaring a squirrel off the roof of the house where it had been chewing on an eave. Watched a police car. Thought about the world of books.

What's in a book? These blog entries are chapters of a book so I guess they count as book contents.

What is the sign of a good book? When people believe the characters or the chapters are real.

I watched "Pan's Labyrinth" a few days ago. The main character is about the age my good friend was when she died. I cried at the end of the movie because it was so believable and reminded me of the loss of my friend when we were both in fifth grade. I could only wish that Reneé went on to her real kingdom in 1972.

Yesterday on the Independent Film Channel (IFC), I watched part of "Private Fears in Public Places," a French film, but didn't finish watching it because I had to prepare lesson plans for last night's class. However, I could believe that the characters in the movie were real. So, too, the film I watched today, "Mon oncle d'Amerique," gave the viewer a sense of reality.

That is what my books try to achieve, reality, the boredom and unresolved conflicts of life.

How do I incorporate the boredom of a police officer sitting in a patrol car, waiting on speeders to drive by? My wife and I watched a female police officer sitting in her patrol car at the end of our street, smacking her gum in her mouth and waiting on speeders to go by on the five-lane road. What does an officer think about while waiting? I do not know. Perhaps I should walk down the street and ask the officer, "Hey, que pasa? Mind if I interview you while you watch your radar gun?" Perhaps not. Best leave the policing to the professionals. Let a retired cop write that storyline.

Meanwhile, I've got to figure out what to do with my latest character. I have two, actually. The one from my previous novel and this new one, two twists on the same theme - philosophical nihilists in a post-nihilist society. Oh well, I've got to work on my next lesson plan. C'est la vie!