Day Two Hundred and Six
The Complete Short Stories by Evelyn Waugh Page: 592
The Trial by Franz Kafka Page: 128
We had another ridiculously busy day. Meetings, business, busy little boys and I still managed to read 220 pages today. Yay.
So far I’ve found Waugh’s writing to be quite enjoyable. Everyman’s list includes essentially everything he wrote but he had held up well. Until the end of the short stories collection. They included much of his juvenalia and some incomplete novels and while they may be interesting to a grad student doing a thesis on the development of the writer, they were not what I needed today. They were not terribly interesting as stories and rather dull to read. Also dull is Kafka. Is it silly to say that he is “Kafkaesque”? I have a feeling I’m not going to be a fan.
We had book club tonight and other than an unresolved disagreement all went well. I also had a blog-reader come in tonight and it was pleasant but disconcerting to chat with her. It is a little weird to realize that there are flesh-and-blood people out there that are following along with my life. Flattering to the ego but disconcerting. It is odd to talk to someone that knows so much more about you than you know about them. Blogging is a small fame but I think it must give a tiny flavor of what stardom is like especially for me as most of my blog readers are from my town and I have a statistically higher possibility of running into them. Anyway, busy day, good book club, nice conversation. And how was your day?
July 24th, 2008 at 9:07 pm
I haven’t even heard of Waugh. What does that say about me? I also haven’t read any Kafka. Ever. You are an inspiration to me. I gave you a blog award on my blog here.
July 25th, 2008 at 6:34 am
Thank you for the award! I’m honored!
When I opened my bookstore, people came in ALL THE TIME asking me what I thought of this book or that. At first this really stressed me out because I thought that if I couldn’t talk about it with them I would lose my credibility. Then I realized, I’m only 27 (25 at the time); I haven’t had time to read more than a few thousand titles and THOUSANDS MORE are published every year. Relax. Read mostly Classics. Re-read the best of them. And give yourself credit for every hour not wasted watching “Reality TeeVee”.