Some coincidences are a little spooky.
After finishing Kent Haruf's final novel "Our Souls At Night" (2015) yesterday, I didn't have time to write an entry in my book journal before leaving to teach. While driving, Haruf's simple story and sparsely powerful prose had me reflecting on a "A Lesson Before Dying", a 1993 masterpiece by Ernest Gaines. The two books are as different in subject matter as they are alike in their quiet intensity. And the more I thought about them, the more fused they felt in my brain. Late last night, my wife arrived home from a business trip around the same time as I. We caught up before retiring for the day.
With the snow keeping me from my usual Friday a.m. volunteering commitment, I began writing my book journal entry about "Our Souls At Night" but found myself distracted by an idea for a blog post. Although I do so irregularly, today I decided to read my February 5 blog posts from three and four years ago before using that other idea.
http://reflectionsfromthebellcurve.blogspot.com/2013/02/words-on-page.html
Cue the eerie music. Also: Put both these books on your "to read" list and then get back to me.
About Me
- Pat Barton
- My most recent single release - "My True North" - is now available on Bandcamp. Open my profile and click on "audio clip".
If time were not an issue, I would reread An Unnecessary Woman by Rabih Alameddine and research every literary, artistic and cultural reference therein. Also packed with philosophical queries and dazzling metaphorical imagery, Alameddine's book transported me back to Muriel Barbery's The Elegance of the Hedgehog. For me, these two novels will be forever "fused in my brain".
ReplyDelete