Spring has sprung!! And one of the many joys of the season is that the days are getting longer, which means more time sitting on the porch reading into the evening hours. So what's sitting on the table next to your reading chair?
As for me, I've finished Victor Frankl's "Man's Search for Meaning," which I found to be a wonderful, deep and sustaining read. It's a short book, but its impact is profound.
Now I'm back to "Gilead" (about halfway through), and then I'm off to read "A Pig in Provence" (a food lover's journey) and "Out Stealing Horses" by Norwegian author Per Petterson. Anybody heard of him?
May your long May days be filled with luxurious hours with a good book in hand!
- Marianne
MN Readers Host and MPR cultural reporter
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Comments: 15
I'm reading "Iceland's Bell" another Halldor Laxness, the Icelandic author. This is the fourth book of his I have read. This one takes place in the 17 century when Denmark ruled and abused Iceland. It was a time of extreme poverty and deprivation. It is also noted to be a comedy. Hmmmm....I haven't laughed out loud yet. But I love his writing...it's clean and simple, like the old sagas.
I'm off to check out Per Petterson!
I heard of Per Petterson through Graywolf Press, the local press that published him. Sounds like he masters in portraying bleak emotions and slow transformations...
I did look him up on the web, the reviews of his book are terrific. Let me know what you think. I've sent my bookclub emails suggesting it.
My mother-in-law got me this "Intellectual Devotional". It's a book with one topic on each page. Last night I read about cognitive dissonance and Virginia Woolf. I read two pages aloud to bore Janie to sleep. By that time I'm worn out too. I prefer books that are collections of short pieces, and I almost never read fiction. I did read Ragtime a while back. It was okay.
For the read-aloud family books: we just finished "Theodosia and the Serpents of Chaos", a terrific archaeology / history / adventure read for the elementary age set. (*cough* As well as for adults who were obsessed with ancient Egypt as children. *cough*)
For my own transit reading: I've been in a dry spell, occasionally picking up The Onion or City Pages and passing it on to another rider at my stop, but I did find "A Good Day's Work." It is probably not sunny, being a memoir of working on an Iowa farm during the Great Depression and all. Talk about having another reason to count one's blessings...
How is "A Pig in Provence"?
My husband received the "Intellectual Devotional" mentioned by Ron. I meant to read a few pages of it to him each night (thereby forcing him to turn off the computer!), but that hasn't worked out too well so far.
Recently, I read The Book of Air and Shadows by Michael Gruber which, by the end, was a little more Carl Hiassen that what I'd originally expected - but who can resist the possibility of an unpublished Shakespeare transcript? It is almost 500 pages but was a very fast read on my Sony Reader.
Earlier today I finished The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield which was a real booklover's book. I am now waiting for Ms. Setterfield to please hurry and finish her next project.
What's next? Well, Al Gore's Assault on Reason comes out tomorrow - and I think Chris Hedges is going to be [somewhere] online June 3rd to take questions regarding his newest book, American Fascists which I've been meaning to read.
And then there's the much-anticipated After Dark by Haruki Murakami just released.
If you truly, madly, deeply love to read, you must read Haruki Murakami.
I read it when it came out in 2005 and still think it ought to be required reading. It was very good.
Happy REading!!
Sparrows
By the way, Per Petterson just won the IMPAC award, a 75,000 euro prize, for Out Stealing Horses.