Monday 15 May 2006

Unread Books

I am bad at finishing books, this is not the real me, before, I would never not finish a book, it had to be read from cover to cover, every word absorbed. It took me years to rid myself of this trait (plus headaches like helmets), but thankfully, now, I only read what is readable, what I want to read. But often I have a few books on the go at once, none of them really gripping me . . . just now: Tracey Emin's Strangeland, Russell Hoban's Amaryllis Night and Day, and Yann Martel's short stories from before he was famous. I like to read in French, but choose simple language. I love Amélie Nothomb and have just started La Salle de Bain by Jean-Philippe Toussaint. I also like Marie Darrieussecq, but have to read her in English, her sentences are too complex.
© 2006 NMJ

1 comment:

Anna MR said...

My current list: you, AL Kennedy's Original Bliss, Gertrude Stein's The Making of Americans (an eternity project I will probably describe in a blog entry sometime).

Books have to be good to be worth finishing. Growing older I have developed the courage to say "this doesn't interest me" and chuck a book, if I feel that way.