45. Read 3 Classic Novels - A: The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway

In order to get some goals knocked out, I decided to start some of these by going simple...read - easy.  I picked my first classic novel, The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway because it was only 120 pages long and it looked pretty doable.  Well, it was doable and only took me a couple of sessions to read it.  The book was pretty straightforward and was a really easy read.  I know why I hadn't read it before though - it's definitely aimed more at a male reader than a female.  It is a story about an old fisherman who hooks the big one and can't let him get away, even if it means he will die at sea.  It details the 3-day struggle for him to reel in the fish and his almost-triumphant return home with it.  Sadly for the old man, the sharks end up getting the best of the fish, but I'm glad to say he did make it home and didn't die alone at sea.  The book ends by telling us that the old man caught an 18 foot shark, a beautiful specimen that even the other fishermen were flabbergasted by.  Though the book does a decent job at bringing you full circle, I read the last page and turned it hoping for a little more closure.  Unfortunately, the closure I sought would never be, except within the confines of my own imagination.  The old man just goes to sleep at the end...and that's it.  Would I read it again?  Probably.