Thursday, December 17, 2020

Today's line of thought

 I'm currently reading Julian Barnes' The Sense of an Ending

I'm reading it on my kindle, it's been hanging around for a long time, waiting to be read, and as I have two books to finish to meet my goal of reading 35 books this year, it, being short, and of quality, and not about abused women, it fit the bill. I'm also listening to Michelle Obama's Becoming as an audiobook, which is a perfect traffic book as Obama's reading of her book is perfectly paced and fascinating. 

Anyway, what you need to know about The Sense of an Ending

  • It isn't that long (150 pages)
  • It's very British, frighteningly British even
  • It won the Booker Prize in 2011
  • It's eminently readable
  • There are snippets and quips which have you gasping on every page
  • There is a sense of foreboding which gets you from the outset
Two days in and I'm sitting at 60% (joys of the Kindle). I'm itching for lunchtime when I can lie down with the cat and take in more. 

But there is this quote that keeps showing up in the text. 

“History is that certainty produced at the point where the imperfections of memory meet the inadequacies of documentation.”

This keeps tossing around my brain. The imperfections of memory, well, we all know about this. And the inadequacies of documentation. In today's times, where could that take you

Maybe I'm transferring this onto the world's situation at large. We all ahve inperfections when it comes ot memories. I know this one too well. And with the internet,, documentation has never been more flawed. When the two meet - boom!

Being nearly two thirds in, I'm waiting for the next bomb to drop. We've had the set up. We've had the first big aha moment. Now I'm onto the second. From the loose reviews I've read, by the end of the book, everything is turned on its head.

It's clever, it's funny, it's wise and utterly readable. And it's very, very short. 

And it makes be happy. 

Like today's song of the day. 


Today's Song: 



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