how to talk about books...

I think that some of my long time readers can start this blog post for me. Yes, I am sitting on my living room sofa, and yes, I have a cup of tea on the coffee table near by. (Today it's buckwheat tea. It's a gift from a colleague. If you are wondering then yes, the buckwheat tea does taste like the porridge. I prefer my teas without added sweetness but this time I needed a spoonful of honey with added gooseberry taste to sweeten this tea. With honey all the teas seem to taste the same.) I also have a piece of my youngest daughter's birthday cake to finish. (A layered cookie cake. Store bought square vanilla cookies with layers of whipped cream and bananas in between, and raspberries and blueberries on top. Probably the simplest cake to make. The first one children learn to make.) My youngest turned sixteen today. She has been home for distant learning and her birthday party was cancelled. She asked to go to visit a friend for a social distancing birthday picnic outside. She packed some cake, tangerines and potato chips for the picnic, got dressed in her ankle long black coat, stuffed a reusable mask in her pocket, checked for her reflector and I drove her to her friend's place in a neighbouring village. I am home alone for the first time in weeks. What's the best thing to do on Tuesday when you are at home alone? Yes, to read (the long sleep in the morning came first) and then to write. 

I finished Pierre Bayard's "How to Talk about Books You Haven't Read." Have you read it? Even if you haven't we can have a conversation about it. 

The author shows that there is no shame in talking about books that one hasn't read, and that the not reading does not stop from talking about the books. I instantly thought of my classmate who had no problem during our Literature classes to answer teacher questions even though I knew she had not even opened the books. I have had some students who participate in Literature Circle discussions with gusto and bravado, expressing their opinions on every topic, even though it is obvious they don't know what happened in the book. I once participated in a book club where half the members had not finished the book and we had the loveliest afternoon talking about it.

The French literature professor gives several examples of situations of conversations of books not read - the books you have never heard of, the books you have not opened, the books you have heard from others or read about, the books you have browsed, the books you have read and forgotten. The last one puzzled me the most. I have often had the question whether I can say I have read a book if I can't recall much at all. His example of forgetting your own text was fascinating too. He provokes the reader with a statement that perhaps it is actually better not to read a book because as soon as you open one book, so many would go unread. 

The invites you to think about whether even when you and your conversation partner have read the same book are you really talking about the same text because both of you have an inner library, an inner book, that shapes your understanding and perspective. It is fascinating to see the various comments on Goodreads, from praise to curse, for the books I have read. I have tried to read books that have received the highest honour from famous critics and I have had to stop reading them because they have made me feel confused or even sick to my stomach. And there have been some simple texts that have touched me even though they have gone unnoticed on the literary field. Each book has spoken to the different readers from a different place in their life, and fitting in their inner library in a unique arrangement.

I am currently reading three books. I am half way finished with Paul Celan's selection of poems. (I can't talk about these because I am not sure I fully understand them, even in my home language. I won't give up. I'll read and reread some more.) I have read eight chapters from György Dragoman's Bone Fire. (This I'd like to hear other people's opinion's about. I feel for the main character, and can't wait to read more how the past and the present, the real and the magic make sense of her life and the one of her grandmother.) I started Margaret Atwood's Negotiating with the Dead. A writer on Writing. (Her complied list of answers from authors on why they write in her introduction is already a good source for a conversation.)

What are you reading? Would you like to talk about the books you have read? Would you like to have a conversation about the books you haven't read?