This week’s Booking Through Thursday is simple:
It’s a holiday weekend here in the U.S., so let’s keep today’s question simple–What are you reading? Anything special? Any particularly juicy summer reading?
I’m still working through Look Homeward, Angel by Thomas Wolfe, slowly but steadily, for both the Southern Reading Challenge and the Classics Challenge 2008. It’s good, but not one to speed-read through, in my opinion.
I’m also reading Exiles by Ron Hansen, a fictional account of the wreck of the steamship Deutschland in December 1875 that prompted Gerard Manley Hopkins to write his now-famous poem about the wreck. I picked this one up at the library after actually skimming the cover and seeing that he was the author of The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, a movie that is in my Netflix queue. While searching for that book, which, of course, our library, didn’t have, I found out the cover for the book that I skimmed was actually about one of my favorite poets, Hopkins. So I went back to the new book bookshelf and took out this one too. Now today, I think The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford is waiting at the library for me. as I received a call this morning that one of the books I ordered is there. I have to go see here this afternoon.
I’m thinking about reading The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing by M.T. Anderson, even though I’ve read mixed reviews from others who have read it. I also still have quite a pile on a bookshelf here by my desk in my home office, but nothing is jumping off the shelf right now, saying “Read me, read me” except maybe Barbara Kingsolver’s The Poisonwood Bible and/or Neil Gaiman’s American Gods.
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6 Comments
July 3, 2008 at 2:41 pm
Although I once took a speed-reading course, I like to read slowly.
July 3, 2008 at 4:09 pm
Octavian Nothing is a fabulous book, beautiful in its language, of course, but equally as beautiful in everything it doesn’t say; the things between the lines. If you don’t like period writing, it’s going to be slow going. I’m pretty out of practice of reading old documents since I normally did it for school; when I read it I spent most of my time near a dictionary so I didn’t miss anything, but that’s more a commentary on me than the book. I think Octavian Nothing forces us to consider things that make us uncomfortable, truths about humanity and human existence and our past that we don’t like to see. Because it does so in an “intellectual” manner, a style of language that has become very much like an antiquated art form, people view it as inaccessible: it’s like the “cold, cruel world / warm mommy” dichotomy that I’ve spent a lot of time reading about this year: intelligence is cold, comforting things are warm, so therefore people shy away from intelligence.
This is, of course, all very generalized.
Meanwhile, I think Octavian Nothing is an excellent book and the second volume is coming out soon, so if you enjoyed it there wouldn’t even be a long wait for the continuation.
July 3, 2008 at 4:40 pm
Those slow but steady books often turn out to be some of my favorites because I worked through them and remember them better. I’ve had Octavian Nothing on my TBR pile since Christmas, and I think I’ll be diving in soon. Happy 4th of July!
July 3, 2008 at 9:48 pm
Didn’t like Poisonwood Bible much myself. It has interesting themes, but it seemed to drag in my opinion.
July 5, 2008 at 11:50 am
I find these days that I’m reading so fast, I have to read everything twice. Once to get my “fix” as soon as I get the book, and then slowly again a few days later in order to really savor it.
July 6, 2008 at 12:16 am
[...] Sunday Salon: Ron Hansen, M.T. Anderson and Thomas Wolfe Jump to Comments As I recounted in this past week’s Booking Through Thursday about what I’m reading, I’m still working through Look Homeward, Angel by Thomas Wolfe, [...]