"I
just had to tell you that when I went to the grocery store, the bakery had
small cakes, shaped like a toilet paper roll, white with the center at
the top like a paper roll, and with a colorful message that said, “The Last
Roll”. It made me smile and I think the staff enjoyed making them."
Judie
Anxiety abounds as we await developments from day to day. Humor helps, thanks Judie. Another friend is forwarding virus related cartoons. What a weird reality we inhabit. So we wait and wonder.
While I'm waiting and wondering I finished Halldor Laxness epic novel Independent People. Bjartur, the protagonist is one of the most frustrating characters I've ever encountered in fiction. Bjartur maintains his ferocious and self-destructive independence, one aimed not so much at bettering his condition as being able to tell his former employer where to get off. Previous to the beginning of the book he'd worked for 18 years to accumulate enough money to buy a small Icelandic farm on which to raise sheep. Time after time he 'shoots himself in the foot' to maintain his independence. Spite is really not helpful. Still, there is an appeal to Bjartur that creates hope that he will succeed.
Laxness received the Nobel Peace Prize for Literature in 1955, Yet, for years the book was not available in the U.S. That may be because of Laxness politics which are far left of center.
It could also be considered a feminist book, for foil to Bjartur's rigid stubbornness, are a succession of courageous women who pay the price for his ideals. Self-centered idealism is a thing to be feared as is amply illustrated by Bjartur. It all comes to a fascinating conclusion with a final twist in a book full of them.
Confined in self-quarantine? Here's a book that will make you think. It's one of those books I'll find myself pondering for time to come. It reminded me a bit of Knut Hamsun's Growth Of The Soil.
Fredrick Douglas,700 page biography sits by my chair???
Takk for alt,
Al
Judie
Anxiety abounds as we await developments from day to day. Humor helps, thanks Judie. Another friend is forwarding virus related cartoons. What a weird reality we inhabit. So we wait and wonder.
While I'm waiting and wondering I finished Halldor Laxness epic novel Independent People. Bjartur, the protagonist is one of the most frustrating characters I've ever encountered in fiction. Bjartur maintains his ferocious and self-destructive independence, one aimed not so much at bettering his condition as being able to tell his former employer where to get off. Previous to the beginning of the book he'd worked for 18 years to accumulate enough money to buy a small Icelandic farm on which to raise sheep. Time after time he 'shoots himself in the foot' to maintain his independence. Spite is really not helpful. Still, there is an appeal to Bjartur that creates hope that he will succeed.
Laxness received the Nobel Peace Prize for Literature in 1955, Yet, for years the book was not available in the U.S. That may be because of Laxness politics which are far left of center.
It could also be considered a feminist book, for foil to Bjartur's rigid stubbornness, are a succession of courageous women who pay the price for his ideals. Self-centered idealism is a thing to be feared as is amply illustrated by Bjartur. It all comes to a fascinating conclusion with a final twist in a book full of them.
Confined in self-quarantine? Here's a book that will make you think. It's one of those books I'll find myself pondering for time to come. It reminded me a bit of Knut Hamsun's Growth Of The Soil.
Fredrick Douglas,700 page biography sits by my chair???
Takk for alt,
Al
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