The Old Man and the Sea

by Ernest Hemingway.

I'm old enough to say, I'm surprised I haven't read this book yet.
I happened upon several books while working on my cross stitch (thank you Audio Books!) and one of them was the Nick Adams Stories, a collection of short stories by Hemingway.  The prose is so calculated and clear and the story is fortifying yet unsensational.  I have only the phrase: "I love this."

So, I'm looking up all the Hemingway there is, and I'm starting to work through it.  Beginning with the Old Man and the Sea.  It's a short read and I'm half way through and I don't want to not read it.  It's the same clarity and precision and the same wholesome humility.  The Old Man is the sort where you feel compassion aching in your chest, but you're not sure you'd be willing to be there with him. 

His knowing of his craft and of the sea are so hermetic and also familial, he seems the fanatic, though he's the most grounded.  He knows that about himself. 

Hemingway has the coveted self-knowledge and entails a freeness of living that I have wanted myself.  Selfishly, I'm getting back to this book now...

There are several classical illustrations by C F Tunnicliffe and Raymond Sheppard.
So nice to look at.