Fritz

Great pics!

I forgot just how good these albums are:

It's wonderful, isn't it? I've just finished Madame Bovary while staying on a farm and it felt like the perfect place to be reading a novel like this. What a stunning book. So beautifully written. I kept writing down lines which I loved and there were times where I was doing more scribbling than reading. As Leon says so succinctly while talking to Emma: "Have you ever had the experience, while reading a book, of coming upon some idea you have thought of vaguely yourself, some dim picture that returns to you from afar, and seems completely to express your subtlest feeling?" This book was

Been listening to some early stuff, in particular: Pigpen's organ playing is sublime.

Very nice. Thanks for the post.

The second goal in the final was a cracker.

Hey, that was really really good! Thank you for posting this. I could watch hours of doco footage like this.

Yes, that's the one. It's a huge book but I've forgotten so much of it now.

Just came home from Lil Band o' Gold. Magic.

I just finished In One Person by John Irving. I'm a big Irving fan and whilst it's no Garp or Owen Meany (and, after all, only those books are) this is quite a beautiful book. I found myself enjoying it a lot more than Last Night In Twisted River or Until I Find You. I'm not too sure what's next. I'm tossing up between Cloud Atlas or Madame Bovary.

My cousin had one of these. I loved it. Was there a wind-up handle on the other side of this contraption? From some blurred, old memory, I seem to recall this was how you got the back wheel spinning.

On vinyl, turned up loud.

I agree. I found the song fairly ordinary, though.

http://www.mobypicture.com/user/waynecoyne/view/12995522

Gillian Welch Paris 9 November 2011

This is what I've done this afternoon with The Shipping News. Nothing really changed, there was no wild swing of trajectory in the story...it just didn't grab me and I couldn't be done with it fast enough. I will be starting this tonight:

Fantastic! That's the book which prompted my question in the first place! I'm just not getting into it but we've got a long weekend in Australia this weekend and I'm determined to finish it. I want to start John Irving's In One Person before Monday. I rarely read a book twice but I remember when I finished Jonathan Franzen's Freedom (which I adored) I couldn't get the characters out of my head. I found myself thinking about them for days afterwards! I wasn't in the right place to immediately begin another book. My wife suggested re-reading an old favourite to tide things over and that was a

On another note, what are people's thoughts on abandoning books when part/half/some of the way through? If a book's just not doing it for you after 150 - 200 pages I always go through a little crisis - put it back on the shelf because life is short and we should be reading something which gives meaning to our existence, or persevere because it could be ultimately rewarding? Not finishing a book always leaves me a little uncomfortable but sometimes it's a real struggle!