As I have finished Sixty Lights by Gail Jones, it is time to move on to other books that have been sitting on my nightstand. The end of the month is quickly approaching (note: Slaves of Golconda posts due), so The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark was the first to go into the bookbag this morning. I read this slim novel years ago, but I think it is quite worthy of a reread now. It is amazing how much you forget. Reading this book again I see how much I little I have remembered of the story!
"The boys, as they talked to the girls from Marcia Blaine School, stood on the far side of their bicycles holding the handlebars, which established a protective fence of bicycles between the sexes, and the impression that at any moment the boys were likely to be away."
I have been impatient to crack open The Observations by Jane Harris, so it went into the bookbag next (yes, I do drag more than one book around with me--at least when I go to work--remember I have two bus rides, and a lunch break that must be covered!). From the little I have read, I think I am going to like this one very much. I do admit, however, that some of the British slang might be beyond me. I have been able to figure out most by the context. For example, "oxters"? "a quick skelly"? "gob was I"? And here I thought we spoke the same language. I do like when I get a sense of place, though, and you certainly get the idea of this being a very different time and place!
"I had reason to leave Glasgow, this would have been about three four years ago, and I had been on the Great Road about five hours when I seen a track to the left and a sign that said 'Castle Haivers'. Now there's a coincidence I thought to myself, because here was I on my way across Scratchland to have a look at the Edinburgh castle and perhaps get a job there and who knows marry a young nobleman or prince. I was only 15 with a head full of sugar and I had a notion to work in a grand establishment."
Should I just jump right into Oroonoko by Aphra Behn, or do I read the introduction first? This is always a problem with me. I want to know background, but I hate to know too much about the narrative before I begin reading. I like the surprise element when I am discovering a new author or book. Editors can be very bad sometimes about giving away important details, so I tend to wait until after I have read the book and then go back and read the introduction. My library had the Norton Critical Edition, so there is an abundance of material to study on the text. In any case, I think this will require careful reading.
"I do not pretend, in giving you the History of this Royal Slave, to entertain my Reader with the Adventures of a feign'd Hero, whose Life and Fortunes Fancy may manage at the Poet's Pleasure; nor in relating the Truth, design to adorn it with any Accidents, but such as arriv'd in earnest to him: And it shall come simply into the World, recommended by its own proper merits, and natural Intrigues; there being enough of Reality to support it, and to render it diverting, without the Addition of Invention."
Finally, sitting on the top of my nightstand pile is Dominic Smith's The Mercury Visions of Louis Daguerre. I want to read this as a sort of follow up to Sixty Lights, as they both are set at about the same period and each deals in some way with the beginnings of photography. I really love books that incorporate photography in some way--as odd as that may sound.
"When the vision came, he was in the bathtub. After a decade of using mercury vapors to cure his photographic images, Louis Daguerre's mind had faltered--a pewter plate left too long in the sun. But during his final lucid minutes on this cold evening of 1846, he felt a strange calm. Outside, a light snow was falling and a vaporous blue dusk seemed to be rising out of the Seine. The squatters had set fire to the barrens behind the Left Bank and the air was full of smoke. Louis reclined in warm water perfumed with lemon skins, a tonic he believed to be good for his skin and nerves. The wind gusted under the eaves. He placed a hand against the adjacent window and from the bath, perched high in his rooftop belvedere, he felt the night pressing in against him. His head was partially submerged and he heard the metallic click of the tenant's pipes below. It was a message; he was sure of it. The world was full of messages."
I know I have too many books on the go, but truly I can't help myself. What do you do when they all sound so good and you simply can't put them down?