How much can two pack rats store in one 20-year period? That's what I have to deal with this week so that L. and I can finally paint the bedroom and its closet and put down hardwood floors before Christmas. So what am I doing? I'm reading Tree of Smoke, a book that makes me want to read organically, and by that I mean, follow the literary trail laid down by its characters--Silas Marner, Pudd'nhead Wilson, The Old Curiosity Shop, John Calvin, the Book of Joel. Those are just the ones that have been mentioned so far that I haven't already read (I'm midway through 1966). And the two mentioned in the exchange below between a Seventh Day Adventist missionary and a C.I.A agent:
"Have you read a book called The Ugly American?"
He said, "Why would I want to read a book like that?"
She stared at him.
"Aah, okay, I've read The Ugly American," he said. "I think it's nonsense. Self-flagellation is getting to be the vogue. I don't buy it."
"And The Quiet American?"
"I've read The Quiet American, too."--And that one, she noticed, he didn't label nonsense.
A bang, not a whimper
Two months into L.'s retirement, and I'm finished with the stockpiling of books. No more book purchases! Or at least, no purcha...
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(See also Musee des Beaux Arts ) As far as mental anguish goes, the old painters were no fools. They understood how the mind, the freakiest ...
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When I finished Kevin Brockmeier's A Brief History of the Dead last spring I immediately did a search to see if the Coca-Cola Corp. had...
Oh, I just love books that lead to other books! Don't you? ;D
ReplyDeleteI think it's the best way to read. :)
ReplyDeleteSounds like wonderful fun reading. Good luck with the floors! If you have success maybe you can come do mine. I could pay you in books :D
ReplyDeleteOh, wow. Any book that alludes to all that AND contains a character that is a Seventh-Day Adventist missionary sounds too interesting for me to pass up.
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