Wednesday, August 09, 2006

Current Reading

Since I've just started two fairly substantial books and it might be a few days before I post any reviews, I thought I should make a brief note. I finished reading Jerry Ellis' Walking to Canterbury a couple days ago, but decided not to post a full review. Normally I enjoy travel books, but this one was just a bit too quirky (in a weird way, not in an endearing way) for me.

I started Icelandic author Halldor Laxness' Independent People, which came highly recommended from a customer a few weeks ago. Unfortunately I made the mistake of reading the introduction in the copy I picked up, which gave away just about every important part of the plot (think one of those obnoxious movie trailers after the viewing of which you know you've just seen practically every laugh line or key moment in the film). After reading thirty pages or so I gave up and set the book aside for another time. As a replacement, I have now begun Lawrence Norfolk's Lemprière's Dictionary, which I'm enjoying quite well so far for my trips back and forth to work on the T.

I'm also reading (finally) Nicholas Basbanes' A Gentle Madness, the first volume in his great compendium of book culture. This one I'm having trouble putting down.