Well, it’s been a bit of a rough week here. Children’s stories by Richard Hughes did make a good distraction from my frustrating professional and personal life. And since I was starting to feel the weight of all that Dicken’s, after work on Friday I rewarded myself with a nice short book, A Month in the Country by J.L. Carr, which exceeded all expectations.
After I finished that up on Saturday morning I was struck with the dread Reader’s Block. I wandered around the apartment like a lost soul, vaguely moaning for help. I picked things up, read a page, and put them straight back. And I didn’t want anything to do with Dombey, unfortunately. But I finally had a breakthrough and read Vladimir Sorokin’s The Queue just about in one sitting.
So, in a combination of fear and melancholy about the week to come, I went out this morning and splurged shamelessly.
I’ve developed a somewhat eccentric browsing method which is actually not as apparent from that photo as I’d feared it would be. I try to focus only on the imprints rather than really reading the spines. More serendipitous, I think.
Will this obscene stack actually help my Reader’s Block at all? I’m starting to think it might be because I’m drifting, themeless. But then I think I am just distracted by other things and that I need a real comfort read to counteract it.
My reading seems to be all over the place these days…but then that is fun :)
Have a great Sunday
My biggest fear is that someday I will grow tired of reading. Could that happen?
Shameless splurging is indeed the cure for reader’s block. Good to hear you liked A Month in the Country and The Queue, I’ve been meaning to read them sometime.
Well, if the shameless splurging doesn’t work, at least you’re set for when you do overcome the reader’s block, right?!
Thanks to everyone for both legitimizing my purchases and wishing away my reader’s block! Just what I needed.
I ended up reading one of these this afternoon–the teeny tiny one on top of the stack. Then I marathoned some Big Love just in time for tonight’s season finale. Now, back to that stack…
I think every reader can admit that they have, at once point or another, splurged endlessly just to get out of a reader’s block rut. I know I have. Besides, the books look interesting. I’m always for reading George Eliot. I hope these purchases help.
Robert Louis Stevenson’s Kidnapped got me out of a tiny reading slump on Friay – good luck with the new books, they look marvelous.
Powells (or is it O’Gara and Wilson?) is a great problem solver. I note that in the face of ennui you bought a book titled Ennui. I wonder how it is – Castle Rackrent is fantastic.
Those Hesperus editions make Lermontov look so long.
What is Mrs. Reynolds? Google, google. No kidding, I had no idea.
Can any story live up to the title Wintry Peacock?
Great stack of books!
Powell’s all the way. Somehow I have never actually been inside O’Gara and Wilson, I guess because the window makes it seem so collectibles-oriented.
The Lermontov does include the stories “A Caucasian” and “Ashik-Kerib” but those are both quite short and I suppose it is just sort of thickish paper. And I hadn’t hear of Mrs. Reynolds either, but, you know, you see, you grab, etc.
Unfortunately “Wintry Peacock” does not quite live up to its title, as I found out last night. But as you say, it would be pretty hard to do.
Wow! You have a lot of books there. Lermontov’s A Hero of Our Time is one of the finest short novel collection I’d read. I love the way he shifts from one narrating device to another. It’s also ingenious how each chapter can stand on its own as an individual story. Hope you enjoy reading all those books! :)