Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Reading Notes

Wednesdays are the best! It's the day I spend lunch combing thrift stores for used books. Bad weather be damned.

Last week I found a copy of Nabokov's Speak, Memory, which I know I'm going to love because I've already read the first twenty or so pages and his writing is just so, I don't know, lovely? poetic? glorious? Whatever. It's wonderful and I want to read all the books.

And then I found a copy of Faulkner's Sanctuary, which goes with the set I've been collecting from Vintage International already consisting of As I Lay Dying and The Sound and The Fury. I actually have yet to read any William Faulkner but I've been told he is like Cormac McCarthy, who I love tremendously. Any Faulkner people out there? I know he often does the college rounds but somehow I missed out all those years ago.

I also picked up a copy of Unbearable Lightness by Portia de Rossi, another recovery memoir I've been looking to add to my ever-growing memoir collection. I have a weakness.

I also joined Twitter whose button you will find on the side bar . . .

5 comments:

Connie said...

Visiting the thrift stores for books is a fun way to spend the day. Sounds like you got some good ones too!

Trish said...

I love the treasure hunt feel to the whole thing! Yes, it was a good week last week.

Heidi’sbooks said...

That sounds perfectly delightful! I ordered a hardback copy of Little House on the Prairie and I just received it today. It is a beautiful, full-color 75th anniversary edition. I'm relishing that.

Marie said...

I have a special place in my heart for Faulkner. His writing is, for me, a bit confusing. I usually find myself checking spark notes at the end of a chapter, just to confirm that what I think has happened actually happened. His sentences are extremely wordy, thus long, so I sometimes have to go back and read the beginning of the sentence a second time once I reach the end.
Like many novels written in a different time or place, I found that once I make my way into one of Faulkner's books, I adjust to the language and style and it becomes easier.
The characters and writing are definitely worth the struggle of interpretation, in my opinion.

Trish said...

Heidi - Aren't books great?! That sounds like a beautiful keepsake.

Marie - That's encouraging to hear. I know people often have a love/hate relationship with him. Books that are challenging often end up being my favourites, though.