It was pretty clear that the other downside of biking so much (aside from having to wash extra towels) was that my reading on transit would be cut down considerably. Of course, I can always try to carve out more time in the evenings, but there is always one thing or another (including feeling guilty about not quilting, as that is another thing I haven't restarted). This is particularly a challenge because the 2nd volume of the Musil is very thick and quite heavy. It is far too heavy to take to the gym, for instance. I really had hoped to finish this by mid April, but I can tell right now that most of the next two weekends will be taken up with US and then Canadian taxes.
Just to feel that I am not completely stalled, I am looking at taking up some shorter books. Mostly I'll be reading these at the gym (after I wrap up the first pass through Montaigne), but I may get crazy and read one or two out of sequence if I think I can get that done in a day or two.
The one that I need to get to/through the first is Immigrant City by David Bezmozgis. This one is due back to the library in about 10 days. I also need to carve out a bit of time to review the book before I actually return it.
Amit Chaudhuri's Friend of My Youth will probably be after that. I actually saw that they had a copy at Robarts, but the NYRB edition is finally available at the Toronto Library (and I can keep it for 3 weeks rather than 2, so that was the deciding factor, plus the cover is way cooler). It took me a while, but I located my copy of Freedom Song by Chaudhuri. This is actually three short works published together. Curiously, I read Afternoon Raag as a stand-alone book (from the library). Of the three works, I am probably going to tackle A Strange and Sublime Address next. This is actually made up of 9 stories about a boy spending his school holidays at his uncle's house in Calcutta (Kolkata). I wonder if I will like this better than Narayan's Swami and Friends, which I didn't like at all, due to the glamourization of a very spoiled child. Speaking of Narayan, his novels are generally on the short side. According to my reading list, the next one I am scheduled to read is The Man-Eater of Malgudi, but it will be quite a while until I get there. Still, if I do read A Strange and Sublime Address, then I'd probably feel "obligated" to turn to the Man-Eater next. In any event, I am much more likely to get through a couple of short Barbara Pym novels first (Some Tame Gazelle and probably Excellent Women).
Robarts also had a copy of Castle Gripsholm, a short novel by Kurt Tucholsky, which is forthcoming in May on NYRB. I skimmed it, but decided it didn't grip me enough to check it out and try to squeeze it in before finishing Musil. I'll probably get to it one of these days, but maybe not for a year or two.
I've already mentioned that I picked up a copy of Bellows' Ravelstein, and that is on the short side. I may well start taking that to the gym before I am completely done with the Musil (as my main reading). In the same stack, I have Vicki Baum's Grand Hotel. Interestingly, I own a version translated by Basil Creighton, whereas NYRB's version features revisions of that translation by Margo Dembo. It's very hard for me to tell how much improved the translation is, but my gut feeling is that this is not such a timeless piece of literature that I need to worry about it overmuch. Still, the Toronto Library does have the NYRB version, and I guess I can go ahead and borrow it just to see if I can spot any substantial changes. I should mention that it is about 270 pages, so shortish but not as short as these other novels.
Finally, I have gotten a few pages into a real hidden gem from NYRB - Turtle Diary by Russell Hoban. This book is told through alternating diary entries (at least that is what they seem to be) of two lonely, middle-aged Londoners. One diarist is a divorced man who works at a book shop, while the other is a female childrens' book author. (Interestingly, Hoban was not only the author of Riddley Walker (with strong parallels to A Clockwork Orange in its invented language -- and the inspiration for David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas) but of many childrens' books, including Bedtime for Frances!) They both begin having fantasies of freeing the sea turtles "imprisoned" in the London Zoo, and these plans are accelerated after they meet, which certainly suggests pre-echoes of Guillermo del Toro's The Shape of Water. This is a novel mostly about loneliness (in the midst of a major metropolis), but with quite a few sharp, even acidic, comments on modern life (early 70s). I'm pretty sure this will end up on my top 10 list for the year, and I can definitely imagine rereading in the future, particularly because it is quite short.
And with that, I really need to spend more time on taxes, so that I have at least some time today to dive back into Musil.
No comments:
Post a Comment