Thursday 18 August 2011

More book thoughts...

This may be a short entry, as I'm low in inspiration and in energy, but as I've mentioned before, given the choice to "do it now or do it later", I usually opt to "do it now", so here goes...

I started reading The French Lieutenant's Woman last week, and was really interested in it.  The author writes extensively about the novel, and the characters, and is almost "talking to" the reader, to a far greater extent than I remembered.  I would have liked to stick with it, but I wanted to read something new, something I had never read before, so I picked up The Weekend Man by Richard B. Wright.  This Canadian author is probably most famous for Clara Callan, which I have tried to read a couple of times but could not get into.  I read Adultery a few years ago and enjoyed it, although I don`t recall what it was about (except, of course, adultery!).  The Weekend Man is about a guy in his early thirties, a textbook salesman who is separated from his wife and their child.  He suspects that there is more to be found in life than the routine he`s living, if only he knew what to look for.  So far, almost nothing has happened, which, for me, is usually OK in a fall or winter book, but not so good for a summer read, when I prefer more fast-paced, lighter fare.  But for some reason, I`m going to stick with this one.  Maybe it`s the detailed descriptions of the main character`s psyche and motivation for his actions, maybe it`s the format, condition and brevity of the book (tradepaperback, well-worn, 245 pages), but something is compelling me to stick with it.  I feel that if I reach the end of this novel, I may come away learning something new about the human condition. 

I think I`ll close now, but I may write again before the weekend is over, since tomorrow I have my book club meeting and I usually like to write an entry with the highlights of our discussion.  Stay tuned...

Bye for now!
Julie

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