Tis is quite early on Day 28. That time when it is still dark but the birds have begun their incessant chattering that is a prelude to dawn. All the while the incessant chatter, the white noise continue to whir and churn through my brain...
Just before 3:00 a.m., I finished Jennifer Egan's "a visit from the goon squad" which recently won the Pulitzer or some other prestigious literary award. Normally, this fact would not be an incentive to read it. The Brit read it and gave it "at least one thumb up." His recommendation* and the fact that the first sentence grabbed me led me to buy it. It's acclaim was, if anything, a secondary reason buttressing my purchase of it. It did not disappoint; in fact, it was remarkable.
The paradox of a remarkable novel for me is my inability to put it down and the fact that I don't want it to end. Also, un-put-downable novels often get finished in the wee smalls, making them difficult to discuss with other three-dimensional humans at the moment of consummation, in the first flush of insight. At least the ones that I know (where oh where is the 1-900 number for a book lover who has the urge to discuss a novel that has her all hot and bothered?).
To bed. To sleep and perchance to dream of the deep voice on the other end of the phone discussing plot points and language and themes and whether it was too stylized.
*The Brit's book recommendations have been spot on. They include: On Love by Alain de Botton; High Fidelity by Nick Hornby; One Day by David Nicholls; and The Corrections and Freedom by Jonathan Franzen.
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