I’ve been reading a book to a friend for a bit, and it’s an unexpected pleasure. It’s something to do in the quarantine, and my friend was having trouble reading my recommendation – Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.’s Cat’s Cradle – and I offered to read it to her over video call.

I do need to figure out how to vocalise from the diaphragm rather than the throat, because three sessions in, I can feel it. And other than that, I’ve realised that a lot of Vonnegut’s rhythm was uneven – not someone who would read his prose out loud, I think – although when it works, it really works.

I’ve never read something to anyone – always looked enviously at the people who’ve read each other Harry Potter and the like – but way back when, my dad used to read me comics before I learnt to read for myself (from those same comics). After that, I read quietly and fast, but recently, when I switched over to audiobooks, I learned to enjoy the specific flow of a book read out loud, and it’s nice to share that with someone.

#journal #books

Trying to do a daily log sort of thing here. Preferably less than 300 words, definitely never more than 500.

Started reading Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk. You know sometimes you read a paragraph or two of a book and just know you’re gonna love it? You get that feeling … that “Where has this book been all my life?” feeling. I’m getting that with this book.

The way the narrator thinks, the way every sentence is written simply but with care. I picked up quickly that the seemingly random capitalisations were meaningful, and then they are explained just when you need it.

I’m only around 30 pages into it, and I don’t even know the plot of this (I picked it up on recommendation, and dived right into it), but I have a feeling this is going to be a book I reread. Hell, I want to reread the beginning and I’ve barely left it.

#journal #books