das Mädchen: ein Anfang

Bisher, es ist mehr als ein bisschen wie Carson McCullers und Gunter Grass zusammengemacht. Der Roman beginnt mit der Nachricht dass Scheisse von Himmel ausregnen an eine Strasse. Im nachste Moment, das Madchen (uber wem ist der Roman geschriebt) macht ein Striptease im Fenster ihrer Mutters Schlafzimmer, fur die Fabrikarbeiteren gegenuber die Strasse. Das Madchen und ihr Bruder haben in Wohnung fur Tagen eingeschliessen worden. Das Wohnung hat keine Toilette, deswegen das Madchen wirft ihre Scheisse durch das Fenster.

Barton Cottage

 

If you were to end Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility at the conclusion of the second act, where John Willoughby has just informed Marianne Dashwood of his engagement to Miss Grey, and where Elinor Dashwood is certain that Edward Ferrars will marry Lucy Steele, and if you were to increase the frequency of sentences like this one

Elinor who had now been some time reflecting on the propriety or impropriety of speedily hazarding her narration, without feeling at all nearer decision than at first, heard this; and perceiving that as reflection did nothing, resolution must do all, soon found herself leading to the fact.

and spend a little more time dissecting the delicate minutia of Elinor and Marianne's internal worlds, then you might find yourself with something very like a Henry James novel.

miles of books

 

Meal en route. That's a slice of lemon rhubarb cake with buttercream frosting. I don't remember the name of the cafe. We stopped at so many of them.

The spoils of war.

Yesterday, Mighty Reader and I visited a lot of book stores in Seattle, our final assault of the Seattle Independent Bookstore Day. I think we shopped at five places (a couple of our intended destinations were closed to observe the Sabbath), and we biked just under 30 miles in about six hours. I don't know how much time we spent actually shopping for books; most of the stores had posted rules about maximum occupancy during this pandemic, and also were limiting the time one could be in the store. I don't remember what I bought where, so I won't break things down that way for this post. Not that you care, anyway. I will tell you that Phinney Books has the best selection of fiction, with a nice mix of new and classic works, and a good number of contemporary works in translation. Nice to see Margaret Jull Costa getting a lot of work.

Anyway, a bulleted list:

• Angelika Klüssendorf: Das Mädchen
• Maxine Clair: Rattlebone
• Wladyslaw Stanislaw Reymont: The Comédienne
• Gertrude Stein: Lucy Church Amiably
• Fernando Pessoa: The Complete Works of Alberto Caeiro
• Murasaki Shikibu: The Tale of Genji
• Kjell Askildsen: Everything Like Before
• Ida Jessen: A Change of Time
• Scholastique Mukasonga: The Barefoot Woman
• Steve Stern: The North of God
• Ariel Dorfman: Konfidenz
• Helen Weinzweig: Basic Black With Pearls
• Carola Saavedra: Blue Flowers
• Le Corbusier's Secret Laboratory: From Painting to Architecture from Editions Hatje Cantz
• Dima Alzayat: Alligator and Other Stories

The other books pictured were chosen by Mighty Reader, whose tastes are much broader than mine. Mighty Reader also keeps track of details better than I do, and she informs me that in the last week, we have cycled a little over 79 miles to visit book stores. I'm glad we've had dry weather, even if it hasn't been so warm. Today, of course, it is raining.