As we've discussed, as part of this year of reading I'm picking up all sorts of books that I wouldn't normally read. I say this a lot, but what do I mean when I say books that I normally read? First, I guess, would be the eternal rereads: any number of Dickens's novels, but especially Bleak House or David Copperfield or Great Expectations; Marcel Proust's Remembrance of Things Past (yes, I know, I've read it four times, which is worthy of abuse I receive for it) and books about ROTP; Fernando Pessoa's Book of Disquiet (and I've started giving presentation on it, FFK) or books about Pessoa; books on Islam specifically or faith in general; novels by Murakami, especially The Windup-Bird Chronicle or Kafka on the Shore or Norwegian Wood, etc. I guess I should include the Iliad and the Aeneid and the Ramayana and the Shahnameh and Journey to the West, or books about the Iliad or the Aeneid or the Ramayana or the Shahnameh or Journey to the West, although that's also related to my massive writing project, so they seem more, at least at this particular moment, completely necessary. Seriously, do you really need to read Bleak House or Swann's Way or The Book of Disquiet for a fifth time? Obviously, that's a trick question, because the answer is obviously yes. Duh.
Anyway, this year, beyond merely chronicling what I'm reading, I'm also throwing a broader net. Sometimes they work out, and sometimes they don't. Last night I finished a book that falls into the latter category: Kim Ho-Yeon's The Second Chance Convenience Store. I think I read a good employee review of it at Northshire or maybe I just thought I'd read a popular South Korean novel (or maybe I was trying to balance out the Squid Game). It's pleasant enough, and you might like it if you specialize in "pleasant enough" readings, but there's not a lot going on here. The ending is clumsy enough to fall into the egregious category with Chris Pavone's Two Nights in Lisbon, although the crime is more silliness as compared to breaking the agreement with the reader.
Anyway, I wouldn't recommend it, although I wouldn't stop speaking to you if you read it.
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