JLB
Do you ever look back at your younger self and wonder what the heck you were thinking? Sometimes I just shake my head and chalk it all up to be young. Music we liked, people we liked, movies we liked, etc.
This is not one of those times! My favorite author during my first few years of college was Jorge Luis Borges. I had to read his stories in Spanish in high school, and I was hooked. Over the years, having not picked up one of his tomes in a while, I thought that perhaps I was so infatuated because it was the first thing I'd really liked in another language, it was new, it was different, I was young, etc.
Last night, I was searching for something to read. I'd just finished my full read-thru of the Harry Potter series (yes, all seven books in order) and a Robert Baer book I'd picked up at the library (a fictional account from a CIA opperative's point of view of what could have led up to 9/11). I didn't want to play video games (it wreaks havoc on my eyes) and I didn't feel like sitting at the computer. What to read?
Brian still has my Kavalier and Clay, which I put down after the Golem part. Some of my books are still in boxes at my parents' house. I picked up Sons & Lovers on chasing_sunsets suggestion, but the first paragraph kind of put me off. I should mention that I had a headache and had taken a couple Tylenol PM.
All of this led me to Jorge Luis Borges, my first literary love. I picked up a recent translation of many (if not all) of his fiction and started at the first story. This book was published in the late nineties, and I remember my qualms with it were mostly concerning nuances of certain translations, but I thought, "What the hay. It's not like I'm reading this academically and I can read it in Spanish later." I have a number of his collections in Spanish, but they have sat untouched for at least five years.
Any notions I may have had about a silly school girl's infatuation were dispelled in the first story. This guy is it! He never wrote a novel, only short stories. They are so well-crafted, different, engaging, so very smart. I know Aaron isn't the biggest fan, but everyone should give him a go. He can be so subtle and mystical while so base and repulsive.
I've been meaning to have a poster of him framed. It is a picture of him in the first half of the last century standing on top of a couple blocks of ice being pulled by a car in the Place de la Concorde in Paris. Oh, and I think he was smoking, too. What a cavalier disregard for his safety. How lovely. Hooray Borges! Hooray younger self for making a good choice! Hooray books!
This is not one of those times! My favorite author during my first few years of college was Jorge Luis Borges. I had to read his stories in Spanish in high school, and I was hooked. Over the years, having not picked up one of his tomes in a while, I thought that perhaps I was so infatuated because it was the first thing I'd really liked in another language, it was new, it was different, I was young, etc.
Last night, I was searching for something to read. I'd just finished my full read-thru of the Harry Potter series (yes, all seven books in order) and a Robert Baer book I'd picked up at the library (a fictional account from a CIA opperative's point of view of what could have led up to 9/11). I didn't want to play video games (it wreaks havoc on my eyes) and I didn't feel like sitting at the computer. What to read?
Brian still has my Kavalier and Clay, which I put down after the Golem part. Some of my books are still in boxes at my parents' house. I picked up Sons & Lovers on chasing_sunsets suggestion, but the first paragraph kind of put me off. I should mention that I had a headache and had taken a couple Tylenol PM.
All of this led me to Jorge Luis Borges, my first literary love. I picked up a recent translation of many (if not all) of his fiction and started at the first story. This book was published in the late nineties, and I remember my qualms with it were mostly concerning nuances of certain translations, but I thought, "What the hay. It's not like I'm reading this academically and I can read it in Spanish later." I have a number of his collections in Spanish, but they have sat untouched for at least five years.
Any notions I may have had about a silly school girl's infatuation were dispelled in the first story. This guy is it! He never wrote a novel, only short stories. They are so well-crafted, different, engaging, so very smart. I know Aaron isn't the biggest fan, but everyone should give him a go. He can be so subtle and mystical while so base and repulsive.
I've been meaning to have a poster of him framed. It is a picture of him in the first half of the last century standing on top of a couple blocks of ice being pulled by a car in the Place de la Concorde in Paris. Oh, and I think he was smoking, too. What a cavalier disregard for his safety. How lovely. Hooray Borges! Hooray younger self for making a good choice! Hooray books!