Erik's Book Club: August Selections

Didn't get much reading accomplished in August. Partly because it was my busy season of New Student Orientation and the start of the academic year, but also because I got bogged down with the main book I read.

The book that bogged me down was The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro. Earlier this year, I read his newest work, Klara and the Sun, which I zipped through and enjoyed immensely.  However, The Buried Giant, while it is a well-written and profound work, really was a book that didn't speak to me and I had trouble getting through more than about 15 pages a day.  The novel is a fable telling the tale of an elderly couple trying to find their long-lost son as they hike alone through the stark English landscape.  The story is set in the darkness of Post-Arthurian England and mixes realism with the exploits of dragons and knights. If you like Ishiguro, you might enjoy this book, but I found it tedious and I would strongly recommend reading Klara and the Sun instead.

I also read a cookbook:  Cook, Eat, Repeat by Nigella Lawson.  "Wait a second," you might say, "that doesn't count as reading a book!"  Actually, in my opinion, it does.  This cookbook's various short essays about food and its role in our lives are an insightful accompaniment to the recipes themselves.  For example, the discussion of rhubarb is delightful and almost outshines the various recipes Lawson presents of this underutilized ingredient.  And it's also a beautiful book, as the photography of the finished dishes is really quite stunning.  Strangely enough, the recipes were the least compelling part of this cookbook as my little Indonesian kitchen is too poorly outfitted to take on these dishes and so many of the ingredients are beyond my reach, that I doubt if I will ever cook more than one or two. Yet, I found Cook, Eat, Repeat wonderfully entertaining and if you are foodie, you will too.

Finally, I purchased on Apple Books an old favorite I hadn't read in at least 20 years:  Mr. Palomar, by Italo Calvino, who happens to be one of my very favorite authors.  It's a very peculiar book. It's about a man whose name elicits the famous telescope, but instead of observing the heavens, Palomar closely examines the minute details of his tiny world. It's an analytically precise book containing Palomar's meditations on the nature of time, immortality, and the role of language in our lives, just to name a few.  It sounds dull and excessively philosophical, but in Calvino's magical way, he created a whimsical, wry novel that is nothing short of extraordinary.  Don't search for this in a bookstore or library as you'll never find it--but it exists on Apple Books as an E-text. 

These books might not be your cup of tea or bowl of rhubarb, but I urge you to read at least one book in the coming month. You'll be surprised how it will nourish your mind.