This is my favorite 3-6 pm radio program, Always entertaining and informative.
Today Raf came out with the statement that he had become tired of trying to read The Luminaries in bed because of its size. So he got up the next morning, took the bread knife and cut it in half to make two manageable books. Later he was to stick them back together with gaffer tape.
Unfortunately for me I was reading, or trying to read, a library copy, so couldn’t follow his example. I was allowed the book for two weeks and could only read it by sitting at a table holding the book open with two hands, which doesn’t put you in a receptive frame of mind for reading. To me the book would have been more enjoyable if half the words had also been removed. Somewhere in there is quite an interesting story lost in the a world of cumbersome writing as well as the unwieldy physical size.
I was only hald way through the book when library return day arrived and I had no intention of mentioning it untl this delightrful segment from Raf today. I don’t know whether or not he enjoyed the book but he got people talking about the fattest books they’ve ever read and that was fun.
At the moment the fattest books on my bookshelf are the Complete Works of Shakespeare and the Complete Plays of Bernard Shaw, but I don’t think I would want to read those in bed.
Seriously though, being comfortable is all part of the reading experience, the pleasure of immersing yourself in a good story. And part of the pleasure is the sheer feel, smell and appearance of the book, But there’s always time for having a bit of fun with a book too, like cutting it down to size !
lazycoffees 