the heavy book on the shelf

2024 · 12

J. has been on at me about this novel for a year, maybe longer. One of the big ones. The kind that arrives with its own weather. I finally gave in and bought a copy, and it is heavy in the literal sense, not just the literary one. I weighed it in my hand at the till and thought, well, not a bath book.

Twenty pages in and I like it more than I expected to. The opening just takes its time. The writer clearly isn't in any hurry and for now neither am I. Four or five pages a night before the lamp goes off, that's the rate.

I don't fully trust the enthusiasm. I always love the first hundred pages of these things and then lose my nerve around the middle and let it sit. But we'll see. Good thing to have on the go with the evenings this dark.