A Different Kind of Beach Read

Personally, I’ve never understood the concept of a “beach read.”  I like to read the same kind of books at home by the fire (note to self: put in fireplace soon) in the middle of winter as I do while lying on a wrinkled, too small towel on the hot sands at the beach.  Here are a few of my picks for this summer, whether you spend it on the French Riviera or in Lake City like me.

I’m Not Stiller by Max Frisch

Nothing like a little mystery for the summer, and there is nothing like Max Frisch’s mysterious tale of Stiller… or is he? “I’m not Stiller! Day after day, ever since I was put into this prison, … I have been saying it, swearing it, asking for whiskey and refusing to make any other statement.” So I guess he’s not Stiller. Then why does everybody say he is? Don’t worry, Stiller/Not Stiller has plenty more to say, but you’ll have to read this excellent novel to find out the answer to the Stiller question.

 W, or, the Memory of Childhood by Georges Perec

There are two stories interwoven in this novel. Initially, Mr. Perec wrote a novel called “W” which was based on the actual fantasy world of his youth. This community is called “W” and it is a seemingly idyllic world of sports and sportsmanship located, oddly enough, in Tierra del Fuego. The other story is a partially fictionalized account of Perec’s childhood during the Nazi occupation of France. The two stories are slow at first but they gradually come together in a completely riveting manner that would make Kafka jealous.

 Television by Jean-Philippe Toussaint

And lastly I have a straightforward story about a man who watches television, or I mean he used to watch television. Now he definitely doesn’t watch television because he is an academic and above such things. So he never watches television, except of course, when he does, but that doesn’t count because it’s not his apartment, and anyway he has an important academic paper on the artist Titian to compose this summer. By the way the paper is not going so well, and if you need somebody to house-sit, look elsewhere.

I hope these fine novels will keep you busy for a month or so and remember don’t forget your sunscreen, or your fireplace.

~Tom the Librarian, Queen Anne Branch