“Some books should be tasted, some devoured, but only a few should be chewed and digested thoroughly.”
Francis Bacon
In my library I have many books. I confess that I have not read all of them cover to cover.
Currently I am Reading or have just Read:
Anita Brookner - Misalliance - I had never read any Brookner before. I quite serendipitously came across a discarded paperback copy form 1988. The cover attracted me so I took it away and began reading. It is one of the few books I have read cover to cover in some time. Its psychological insights into living alone or being abandoned and ageing appealed to me. See "Sentences" in this blog.
Annie Ernaux- Things Seen - A book that can be dipped into put don and then picked up again. Recently such books appeal to me. The book is a chronical of her random observations from 1993 through 1999. It is mundane but very compelling.
In my library I have many books. I confess that I have not read all of them cover to cover.
Currently I am Reading or have just Read:
Anita Brookner - Misalliance - I had never read any Brookner before. I quite serendipitously came across a discarded paperback copy form 1988. The cover attracted me so I took it away and began reading. It is one of the few books I have read cover to cover in some time. Its psychological insights into living alone or being abandoned and ageing appealed to me. See "Sentences" in this blog.
Annie Ernaux- Things Seen - A book that can be dipped into put don and then picked up again. Recently such books appeal to me. The book is a chronical of her random observations from 1993 through 1999. It is mundane but very compelling.
Annie Ernaux - The Possession - A story or rather an exploration or examination of the self after the end of an affair. Compelling an insightful observation about ending, jealousy and resolution. Having personally experienced something similar in my life I find the writing and narrative compelling.
Ogier de Busbecq - Turkish Letters - The letters of an ambassador of the Holy Roman Empire to the Ottoman Empire - This again is a book that can be dipped into put down and picked up again.
Emma Glass - Peach - The story of an assault and its hidden consequences. I read a review in the FT and purchased it on th3e strength of the review. I have just begun reading and can see the reading of it will be somewhat harrowing as is the story.
To be continued:
George Santayana - Persons and Places the Background of My Life - Another discard that I acquired. A neighbor was disposing of some books and this was amongst them. Id always been fascinated by Santayana but read little about this Harvard Philosopher and Essayist.
This is I suppose his autobiography through his college years at Harvard.
Again a book one can enter and leave at will and come back to. A fascinating picture of Boston and Harvard in his youth.
Anita Brookner (encore) - A Private View - My second Brookner. Having enjoyed "Misalliance" i quite by accident discover this volume on our shelves. I had not purchased it so it must have been JB - though I don't think she read it. I've begun it but have not gotten very far my flitting nature and distractions from other books have conspired against me. The story of a retired man with without a companion since he lost his closest friend. A young but distinctly odd young shows up at a neighbour's apartment whist they are away. There is a developing interplay between them but I've not jet gotten far enough in to discern the nature or course of the developing story. I'll return to this. I can say from what little I've read the characters are cleanly developed and delineated. We shall see if it will continue to hold my interest and draw me to it.
F Scott Fitzgerald - This Side of Paradise - A book I've read more than once. Picked it up again recently and dip into it from time to time when I am utterly bored with what else i am currently reading (see this post). Dated now perhaps but still enjoyable and distracting from the current political/world situation.
To be continued:
More Reading:
Henri Cole - Orphic Paris - Another book that one can dip into and out of without losing the thread. A journal, a series of short essays centered around Paris. The author, a poet, born in Japan to an American father and French mother. The jacket blurb says "...combines autobiography, diary, essay and poetry with photographs to create a new form of elegiac memoir". Compelling insights into poetry, writing, literary figures and of course Paris.
To be continued:
George Santayana - Persons and Places the Background of My Life - Another discard that I acquired. A neighbor was disposing of some books and this was amongst them. Id always been fascinated by Santayana but read little about this Harvard Philosopher and Essayist.
This is I suppose his autobiography through his college years at Harvard.
Again a book one can enter and leave at will and come back to. A fascinating picture of Boston and Harvard in his youth.
Anita Brookner (encore) - A Private View - My second Brookner. Having enjoyed "Misalliance" i quite by accident discover this volume on our shelves. I had not purchased it so it must have been JB - though I don't think she read it. I've begun it but have not gotten very far my flitting nature and distractions from other books have conspired against me. The story of a retired man with without a companion since he lost his closest friend. A young but distinctly odd young shows up at a neighbour's apartment whist they are away. There is a developing interplay between them but I've not jet gotten far enough in to discern the nature or course of the developing story. I'll return to this. I can say from what little I've read the characters are cleanly developed and delineated. We shall see if it will continue to hold my interest and draw me to it.
F Scott Fitzgerald - This Side of Paradise - A book I've read more than once. Picked it up again recently and dip into it from time to time when I am utterly bored with what else i am currently reading (see this post). Dated now perhaps but still enjoyable and distracting from the current political/world situation.
To be continued:
More Reading:
Henri Cole - Orphic Paris - Another book that one can dip into and out of without losing the thread. A journal, a series of short essays centered around Paris. The author, a poet, born in Japan to an American father and French mother. The jacket blurb says "...combines autobiography, diary, essay and poetry with photographs to create a new form of elegiac memoir". Compelling insights into poetry, writing, literary figures and of course Paris.
To be continued:
