I’m about to start a chapter called “Gold” in Primo Levi’s The Periodic Table. I am as usual building up a head of steam, and suddenly find myself past half way through the book when I still feel as if I am getting started with it. The prose is well constructed and comfy and I am enjoying the content, but it has not revealed it’s true purpose to me yet. There is darkness brooding in the form of World War 2, but it hasn’t really affected Levi or the main themes of the book yet. Segregation and a certain tension, but I know from the blurb that bad events will come to pass before I reach the end.
If I’m honest, I am actually a bit premature with this next book post. I usually like to get blog posts finished at the weekend if I can, as I have more time to twitter away, and then occasionally even some left over to read and check before committing my words to the eyes of the internet… I wish I could spend the larger part of my time developing my blog, my community and my ability to both read and write. It feels like the right thing to do, but at the moment it doesn’t pay the bills.
My next book is going to be The Bourne Identity by Robert Ludlum. The copy that I have is one of the first publication run in 1980. It is VERY second hand, and apparently cost me 85p from a charity shop; good grief, how long ago was it that even charity shops sold books for 85p? It wasn’t even in a sale, but written in pencil inside the cover! I have had this for a good few years: probably since the film came out, and that was 2002 – 13 years ago!!!!!!!!!! Oh My Goodness.
I chose this book as my next because it represents a genre that I haven’t touched yet. Spy fiction, action, thriller. I have a few more of this sort of thing squirrelled away and I am looking forward to diving in. My preconceived expectation is for tight fast paced prose and gritty, detailed descriptions of, well, um, aviators and bullets 🙂 I’m estimating that I should get to start this by next weekend, but recently I seem to have been overestimating how long it takes me to read. Maybe I’m speeding up? Is that good or bad? Two questions to end this post that I won’t be answering soon. If you have comments feel free to start the speed debate.