William Faulkner, Requiem for a Nun: ‘The past is never dead. It’s not even past.’
Nicholas Sparks, Safe Haven: ‘But what if the past isn’t the past? What if it’s still happening?’
Tag Archives: reading
New York: day 514
New York: day 12
For all this city’s charming Jewish hoboes and cheap fruit stands, New York’s coffee shop culture doesn’t hold a candle to Austin’s. The coffee is a lot better here, sure, and sometimes they give you a piece of chocolate with your coffee which is a really nice touch. But most places are truly oppressive. Finding free Wi-Fi is one thing — after that it’s a struggle for survival. I stumbled into one franchise today that put metal covers over all their power outlets so one could not conceivably ferment in the shop for more than his or her computer’s battery life. I thought this was America!! The land of the home and the decaying people in coffee shops.
To circumvent the cruel regime of anti-laptop coffee shop purveyors on the Upper West Side, I’ve started reading, partly for pleasure and partly as an act of subversion. I was really into Dave Cullen’s comprehensive account of Columbine before I left it at Hannah’s last week; since then I’ve made way through a few Jhumpa Lahiris and Kathryn Harrison’s “The Kiss.” If you like incest, I highly recommend the latter. Really good.
Texas: day 3.108
When I was in New York, my aunt and I had a great time shredding Suze Rotolo’s account of her relationship with Bob Dylan, innocently titled A Freewheelin’ Time. Despite not wanting to be known as Dylan’s ex and being resistant to exploiting their four LSD and Joan Baez-pocked years together, she wrote a book about it, and it’s not good. But hey, I still read most of it. Gossip is cooler when it’s vintage.
Continuing my ride on the lady-in-shadow-of-the-great-man train, next on my booklist is Duchess of Palms, Nadine Eckhardt’s memoir of marriage to two different, “semi-famous” Texas men — first the writer Billy Lee Brammer, then the policitan Bob Eckhardt. According to Robert Leleux’s recent piece in the Texas Observer, Eckhardt’s basic life philosophy can be stated in in three words: “I’m over it.” Inspiring. She also said that every congressional wife should receive a pension.
I’m going to get around to reading American Wife one of these days, too, which should be the Cool Whip on the Jell-o of my winter booklist. I’m reading so much, I feel like a student again. Oh wait.