Sunday, June 08, 2008

finnegan's rainbow.....

ok, so...when asked by close kin just what epic book i intended to read this summer.....i said, with a straight face.....finnegan's rainbow....oh, no....you must be mistaken was the quick retort.....there is no such book....you must mean either finnegan's wake (joyce) or gravity's rainbow (pinchon).....i did mean both......as the twin set of unreadable novels are at the top of my to-do list.....but having peeked briefly under the covers of each.....i opted out.....i mention the peeking part purposefully.....my book-loving kin are greatly offended when i read their books, as i have the audacity to bend back pages, pencil in notes, and roll the front cover around to the back (we are talking with paperbacks only).....and these appear to grotesque misuses of books....ah well......i have chosen another top-of-the-list book for the warm weather months.....a portrait of the artist as a young man a joyce prequel to ulysses which i managed to finish reading last summer with the support of family and friends....i am excited to read portrait, not just because it is related to ulysses, but because it is the book that my u.k. library student-employee son requested to be donated to the library collection in his name upon his graduation....i found this a touching tradition at the time i read through the booklet that listed all of the many donated tribute volumes......and believe that the book chosen by my eldest may give me a glimpse, if fleeting, into the man he has become since leaving home.....

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