I hated Hemingway in high school. I found him to be a pompous, womanizing, uninteresting pile of shit. It turns out, he is pompous and womanizing, but he's actually quite interesting and his writing is understated, but beautiful.
About 60 pages in, I misplaced the book for 2 weeks and so I opted to pick up Franny and Zooey to continue my trek toward 100. When I thought all was lost and was ready to order the Kindle edition so I could keep going, I found it in the crevice of my couch and finished the book within the week.
My favorite story is the third to last in the book (the stories get better as you go on, so the end of the book held all of the jewels) called "My Old Man". It is written from the point of view of a small boy who idolizes his father, who is a jockey. The prose is so descriptive I was sure Hemingway had some experience with horse racing when he was younger. As it turns out, he did not, so I went in search of some other experience he may have had that shaped this wonderful story. What I found was that, for a short period of time right out of high school, Hemingway had a job as a journalist for the Kansas City Star and modeled his initial writings off of a sports writer he admired. His famously to-the-point style was taken directly from his first days as a journalist where he learned: "Use short sentences. Use short first paragraphs. Use vigorous English. Be positive, not negative."
Although I was initially tiffed that so many Hemingway novels were on the top 100 list (because of my deep-seated hatred), I'm now looking forward to reading more of his work. As long as he continues to be a straight-shooter, he's a-OK with me.
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