Back in Boston: Summer Reading

As soon as I got back to Boston I visited the Harvard Book Store, downtown Boston. It is not connected with the University.

Having read his second book, Quoz, I was curious about the book that brought him to the attention of the East Coast critics. I found a paperback copy of Blue Highways by William Least Heat-Moon. It appears to be a completely different writing style than Quoz. Although I just read a few entries while standing in the aisle, I think I prefer his style of writing in his first book which received glowing reviews from critics at Time, Wall Street Journal, Christian Science Monitor, and the New York Times.

In the remaindered section of the store, the basement, I picked up Harold Bloom's Jesus and Yahweh, something I have wanted for the past year or so. It's hard to believe I found a hardback copy in perfect condition signed by the author in the remaindered section of the store. I'm kidding about the signed copy. No, it is not autographed. I have finished the first chapter of Jesus and Yahweh and like all of Harold Bloom's books I feel I understand the gist of what he is saying most of the time, but not always able to understand everything he says. I really appreciate that level of difficulty; it provides that kind of satisfaction that good crossword puzzles provide.

I also picked up Orhan Pamuk's Other Colours in the remaindered section: again, hardcover in perfect condition. Pamuk, a Turkish author, won the  2006 Nobel Prize for Literature. I have never read any of his novels, although I have looked at them, but I loved his autobiographical Istanbul: Memories and the City. Having lived in Turkey for two years and visiting / transiting Istanbul several times allowed me to appreciate that collection of essays even more than I probably otherwise would have. (Is that last sentence diagrammable?) Other Colours is a collection of essays, some, most, all (?) about his life as a writer. The introduction and the first chapter have me hooked. It will be one of those books I will read slowly, savoring it as I go along, and not wishing to finish. Some of the books that I savor will last me a year.

I'm probably about two-thirds of the way through Anais: The Erotic Life of Anais Nin by Noel Riley Fitch. I've read several biographies  of Nin and have copies of all her published diaries, I believe, and have read much of all of them. When I first started reading the early diaries, I was not aware that they had been so heavily edited (by her) and that newer editions (with less editing) would be published later. That's fine. She did the editing. She was a compulsive writer. She was compulsive about a few other things, too, it appears.