I am not a fast reader. I’m not one of those people who can scan a page/screen of text and ingest the meaning. I have to read each word carefully, sometimes seeking inferences that perhaps are not there to be found.
So when I read a whole novel in a day and a half, you know that it must be something special to take my attention and hold it for so long.
This morning I finished reading As She Climbed Across The Table by Jonathan Lethem. I haven’t been so gripped by writing in years. This is an utterly fantastic book, one of the very best I have ever read. It features not only an interesting and gripping plot, but also cleverly worked insights into the workings of the mind, into relationships, desire, love, infatuation. You can not help but turn each and every page in succession, until you reach the end. Like Lack, the centre of the story, the book absorbs you totally and utterly.
This is one of the most fantastic books I have ever read. My words are totally inadequate to describe it and the feelings it creates. All I can suggest is that you go and buy it. Now.
separating the wanted from the unwanted