Pulse by Julian Barnes, coming soon yet

yet yet not soon enough
Julian Barnes is one of my preferred authors
i love his cleverness and subtle graceful sarcasm
i've read a couple of his books
the wonderful collection of short stories
The Lemon Table
his 'tour de France' Flaubert's Parrot



one of my favorite novels ever
Arthur & George
based on a real-life case of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's life

with every book, Barnes keeps his voice and talent flawless
yet every books is so different from the other one

truly a genius of our now-a-days literature

his new collection of short stories, Pulse
is already being read in England
it won't be published here in the US until May 2011
but that is OK, i still have one of his books in
my bookshelf waiting to be read
Nothing to Be Frightened Of

so i won't be frightened of not having enough Barnes book to read
and i will wait patiently for the next...

in the meantime i am actually reading this other book
Room by Emma Donoghue
a dark dark tale, but more on that later

christmas self-giving, nothing to be frightened of

i am not done yet with
my Christmas-presents buying
for friends and family
but i have already collected
a good amount of unplanned-to-buy items
for myself, every time i try to buy
something for my family or friends
i don't seem to find anything that could fit them
but curiously enough i seem to find every time
something for myself
so i decided no more gifts for me!
these are enough, specially since i think
i am more on the naughty side this year
anyway my latests indulgences



1. a 2009 small enough to fit in my purse agenda
since 1999 i have been collecting these agendas
but in these agendas i rarely keep appointments
i take quick/random notes & impressions of the day
(not daily)

2. a calendar for my kitchen
i had a cool one for 2008 and liked the idea
of seeing it on my kitchen, those cute art deco
posters of old food items are always charming
and they work for home appointments
and to remember when not to park my car
'cause of street sweeping...

3. On Beauty, by Zadie Smith, a recommendation
of mister Insky, a fine collector of interesting music,
great photographer, and avid reader who introduced
to mister Julian Barnes, and Paul Auster, amongst many
others, rather influencing along with my best friend's dad
on American authors, American and English literature.
So when I saw one of his recommendations and having read
a bit over miss Zadie Smith, on how witty and hilarious are
her books, the wonders of her story-telling, she's been
called a modern-day Dickens, a hard-cover for $5.99
oh yeah!

4. and then ah one of my favorite authors
Julian Barnes
the 1st non-fiction book of his I am about to read
Nothing to be Frightened Of
Barnes style is ironic, clever, elegant and well,
I heard about this book a couple of months ago
but my mind got distracted and wandered
then per conversations with Herr Georg
and after reading his famous post on
Religion, Power, and Money
I remembered Barnes' latest book
so i revisited this article about the book
Dying of the Light by Garrison Keillor
in the New York Times

the idea of reading Barnes' words, ideas,
and memoirs on aging, death, faith, and religion
feels like an oasis in my cluttered mind
i am currently reading Carls Hiaasen's Sick Puppy
but i suspect that Barnes' book will be my 1st one for 2009

5. this colorful Guatemalan scarf



6. the many bears are part of some Christmas packages
I am putting together for friends, I just thought a group
photo of them would be a good memory before sending
them all to different homes



so i guess i have enough of unnecessary necessities
for myself to cover 2009
well, except for the books, i hope i will be needing
at least another couple dozen of those thru the year...

foot-kissing or toe-sucking?

here a couple of wonderful sentences
that mister Julian Barnes wrote on his
short stories book The Lemon Table

he is talking:
19th Century people versus us!
the 21th Century generation
and
our perception of love and sex
and he says about...

"If we know more about consummation;
they knew more about desire.

If we know more about numbers;
they knew more about despair.

If we know more about boasting;
they knew more about memory.

They had foot-kissing;
we have toe-sucking.

You still prefer our side of the equation?
You may well be right.

Then try a simpler formulation;

if we know more about sex;
they knew more about love."

and i wonder?
in which side are you of the equation?
you can share here, or just think about it yourself

...& smile while you are at it

books

"Books are not life, however much we might prefer it if they were."

"What happened to the truth is not recorded."

"Parrots are human to begin with; etymologically, that is. Perroquet is a diminutive of Pierrot; parrot comes from Pierre; Spanish perico derives from Pedro. For the Greeks, their ability to speak was an item in the philosophical devate over the differences between man and the animals."

- Julian Barnes, Flaubert's Parrot.

footnotes

1) Barnes (at least while writing on Flaubert and his parrot) is clearly out of his mind. Brilliantly, all over the place. The references, places, stories, quotations, and so much other richness included, are so vast that is delightfully hard for one, very hard indeed, and delightful too, to realize when you are reading fiction, fiction from either the author (not Barnes, but his narrator) or from his eloquently dissected subject, Flaubert, not the parrot in this specific case -nor that the bird doesn't get spoonfuls of scrutiny himself -; or historically accurate facts; or anecdotes from the French or the English side. Erratic genius that makes the most sense… Anybody who is interested in literature, books, and twisty-quirky references, don’t wait!

2) I talked to my mother on the phone today, as she gets ready to visit me for a long time... Out of the blue, and as I prepare my dinner, holding with one hand the 'parrot book' (see above), I remember that my mother taught me 2 basic cooking (more serving) advices:

advice 1. take the cheese out of the fridge at least 1/2 an hour before eating it. these days i always remember that the right temperature and texture are most important while eating a good piece of cheese.

advice 2. take the salad dressing out of the fridge at least 1/2 an hour before serving

most important details for a delightful trivial life, like mine, as on a wednesday night i worry over a brilliant lunatic author writing about another brilliant yet equally lunatic author, all while wondering if my cheese has the right temperature, triviality indeed...

NO to war!