As I plowed through my little list of intern-type duties this morning, I began worrying about what to blog about. I spent last week visiting relatives in New England and the weekend watching the first season of The Wire, so I was going to have little new to say about the state of publishing.
Luckily, skimming through the blog entries written in my absence, I read the aforementioned list of “1000 novels everyone must read,” and have actually just read one of the books: Possession by AS Byatt. My best friend has been promising to lend me her copy since we were 14, but lent it to someone else when we were in high school and never got it back. At long last, I found an ungainly hardcover copy at my grandmother’s house that I lugged back to New York and finished at one this morning.
I had seen the movie when it came out (2002? 2003?) and was surprised that that modest, understated film came out of such a majestic novel. Even at such a length, and even with the density of all the very long Victorian-style fairy tales and poetry embedded within Possession, I loved it and would recommend it to just about everyone.
Now, I’m attempting to read Nabakov’s Pale Fire – another book on the list. After reading and loving Lolita a few years ago I wanted to read anything and everything Nabakov ever wrote – a desire that abruptly cooled when I tried to read Ada. After about ten pages of Pale Fire I’m pretty sure I’ll never finish it either, and will again be in need of something else to read. Any suggestions?
– Sylvia