It was so hard to get up this morning and go to work. Monday after a long holiday weekend is one of the universe’s cruel jokes. I spent my four days doing a lot of reading. Unfortunately not much of it was of the fun kind. But on the bright side, all of my research for my final project is done. Now I just have to write the paper.
I did get to do some reading in the evening. I finished The Enormous Room just before the holiday and will write about it this week. I have also finished part one of 2666. I am really liking this book and maybe I will come up with some kind of summation this week. The summation will admittedly be more for myself so I can set in place the events of part one and not forget them by the time I get to the end. Because it seems to me this is a book with many winding paths and somehow all of them relate in one way or other.
I had been reading 2666 on the train but it is such a big book and the weather has turned cold that juggling big book, bag, mittens, etc, was getting to be too much work not to mention trying to keep the book from getting damp from snow/sleet/freezing rain. So today I started reading a book of short stories recommended to me many months ago in an email from a reader named Naama. The book, A Scrap of Time and Other Stories by Ida Fink, is turning out to be quite good. The stories are Holocaust stories so not exactly cheery but they are a good antidote to the over abundance of cheesy cheer that tends to accumulate this time of year. But while the subject matter is sad, the writing is gorgeous. For a taste, her is the first paragraph of the titular story that also happens to be the first story in the book:
I want to talk about a certain time not measured in months and years. For so long I have wanted to talk about this time, and not in the way I will talk about it now, not, just about this one scrap of time. I wanted to, but I couldn’t, I didn’t know how. I was afraid, too, that this second time, which is measured in months and years, had buried the other time under a layer of years, that this second time had crushed the first and destroyed it within me. But no. Today, digging around in the ruins of memory, I found it fresh and untouched by forgetfulness. This time was measured not in month but in a word–we no longer said “in the beautiful month of May,” but “after the first ‘action,’ or the second, or right before the third.” We had different measures of time, we different ones, always different, always with that mark of difference that moved some of us to pride and others to humility. We, who because of our difference were condemned once again, as we had been before in our history, we were condemned once again during this time measured not in months nor by the rising and setting of the sun, but by a word–”action,” a word signifying movement, a word you would use about a novel or a play.
The story goes on and we learn the word “action” is used to describe the rounding up of the Jews in the narrator’s village. They did not know why they were supposed to gather in the market square. Then the rumor circulated that they were going to be taken to a labor camp down the road. They were herded into trucks, driven out to the woods near the village, made to dig a mass grave and then were all shot.
Like I said, not exactly cheery reading. But the stories I have read so far have all been good. It is a slim book and probably won’t take me long to read so you’ll be hearing more about these stories in a week or so.
In my head lately I’ve been shuffling around books for my end of year holiday book reading binge. I will have sixteen work-free, school-free days at the end of December. A little slice of heaven to look forward to.
I agree, so hard to get back to work after a holiday. Just keep thinking about your 16 days of binge reading – how fun
Looking forward to hearing more about your current reads!
Oh isn’t the return to work just awful? I’m interested to hear what you have to say about the ee cummings, although I tried to get hold of it over here and couldn’t. Booo. But I’m still interested.
Iliana, it was hard after 4 days it’s going to be even harder after 16. But at least then I will have had lots of time to read.
Litlove, the cummings was hard to find here. I have my copy only because I accidentally came upon it in a used bookstore. Perhaps one will turn up for you in the same way.
Stefanie, the excerpt you posted is so lovely. I really must see if the library has this book. And I “ditto” the idea of going back to work after a long holiday. Not only is it difficult to get back into the thick of work, I spent all yesterday getting re-organized (having failed to write a “to do” list for when I got back to the real world.) Oh, and this is a comment on a post of yours I missed while on vacation. I am sorry I read “The Five People You Meet In Heaven,” by Mitch Albom. But my daughter loved it as did many others, so what do I know. Also sorry I spent the time reading Ulysses. I think James Joyce a total lunatic. My opinion is that someone somewhere has made a concerted effort to convince the world otherwise – and was successful.
Yes, after a string of free days from work it is really painful to get back into a routine. This morning I looked at my computer clock after having been at work for a few hours and thought–yesterday at this time I was just getting up! I have 2666 on my reading list for next year, so I am really curious to see how you get on with it. I’ve had it for quite a while…. Choosing a bus book is a big deal–I totally understand all those little variables like weather and extra layers of clothing that come into play when taking a book along!
You’re giving me a bit of confidence for 2666. We bought it last year, but neither of us has read it, and, truth be told, it sits there looking quite intimidating (at least to me).
I’m very curious about The Enormous Room. I have no idea what it’s like — at all like his poetry? And also about 2666, which, like Emily, I think looks intimidating.
Oh, the Holocaust. I am always fascinated by stories about it. The way language was misused to dupe the Jews was horrendous. The last book I read about the Holocaust that really moved me was Kertesz’s Fateless.
Anyhow, I look forward to seeing what you read over your 16 work-free, school-free days.
I’m adding that story collection to my list, what beautiful writing. And I see it was published by a University Press, so hooray to support them.
Grad, I hope you can find a copy of the book. It continues to be beautiful and sad. Your comment about Joyce made me laugh. And I am sorry you read the Albom book. I suffered through Tuesdays with Morrie and staye well away from Five People.
Danielle, 2666 isn’t hard to read at all though sometimes it is puzzling but in a good way. If it were summer and I didn’t have mittens and what not to cope with carry it around would be no problem. But for this time of year, small books seem to work best.
Emily, like I mentioned to Danielle, 2666 isn’t hard. It’s odd for sure but good.
Dorothy, Enormous Room has poetic moments and is sometimes quirky so in that way is very much like his poetry. You are intimidated by 2666? The woman who is almost done with Gravity’s Rainbow?
whisperinggums, I’ve not heard of Fateless. I will have to look it up.
Verbivore, the writing is gorgeous, simple and powerful. I hope you can get ahold of a copy.
If you need an antidote to cheesy cheer, just keep reading 2666…
Can you download it from your library? That’s how I “read” it—most convenient!
Sylvia, I’m keeping on with 2666. I’ve been reading it a few pages every night before bed and once I am done with class it will be more sustained attention. My library does have it for download but I don’t follow audiobooks very well. I tend to zone out.