My reading has been all over the map lately.
Last night I started reading a book of letters by James Agee.
I have never read James Agee, although, I have been meaning to for years.
He wrote, Let Us Now Praise Famous Men which features photographs by my favorite photographer,
Walker Evans.
This book is an homage to the working people and the poor in Depression era USA.
I heard about Agee some time ago,probably on PBS.
He was also a fantastic movie critic and his work: critique, prose and poetry is collected in two volumes of
The Library Of America.
I had one of the volumes in the bookstore a couple of years ago, it went so fast I barely had time to look at it.
Ever since,I have been on the lookout, so on my last visit of the Grande Bibliotheque,
I spotted this book of letters, so I took it out.
I like to wander around quasi aimlessly, it’s fun and surprising.
I figured it would give me an idea of his voice, it’s terrific.
Really gives insight into the ups and downs of the creative process and how difficult it is to earn a living.
I will definetly be reading more of his work.
But, the truly weird part —this book has been part of the collection since 1962 and
I am the first person to take it out.
I know Montreal is a mostly French speaking city, but still…
I always new I was weird, odd, as my friend Jane would say a Martian?
I guess I am distinct in a distinct society. lol.
Later girls
BB
I knew it! Caroline, I knew you must be a fellow traveller and Martian. A stranger in a stranger land! lol
I have the same habit, I too love to wander aisle of books without purpose, just to see where I might end up, usually with something of a gem. You certainly have an eclectic reading habit. 🙂
Wow, 40 years is a long time for a book to never be checked out. James Agee is lucky he’s a renowned writer, otherwise I bet the librarians would have weeded him out of the collection. There’s nothing sadder than unread books. I used to work in my high school library, they had books there that hadn’t been checked out since the 40s (granted, this was a Catholic school, and the books were usually about saints’ lives, so not too surprising). I remember one time I was in a used bookstore in Paris, I found a beautiful 19th century copy of Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s Aurora Leigh, with the pages uncut—in over a hundred years, no one had ever read it! Depressing.