I possibly avoid getting thoroughly engrossed in books because my job does not afford me the luxury of staying up all night. Since I lack the discipline to simply put down the book, I read until my body forces me to stop, read to the point I’m nodding off. More than once I’ve been awaken by a book being dropped on my face. It’s not pleasant. Making this even worse lately is my seeming inability to hold back from buying book after book regardless of the need. To slow down my literary binge I forbade myself from buying any more until finishing those in my shelves. That did not work even remotely (bought more shelves instead), but I am pleased to say I finished at least one, World Without End by Ken Follet.
Me and My Melancholy Whores goes best with nudity and hot water.
February 4, 2009 By
It’s a pretty good read (Memories of My Melancholy Whores), especially at the end of the day when you’re just trying to unwind. If you don’t read in the tub, I highly recommend it. Here are some of my favorite parts:
“…I cut her off: Sex is the consolation you have when you can’t have love.” (69)
“I felt so happy that I would kiss her eyelids with very gentle kisses, and one night it happened like a light in the sky: she smiled for the first time.” (77)
“I kept interrupting whatever I was doing to call her, and I repeated this for days on end until I realized it was a phone without a heart.” (83)
“I always had understood that dying of love was mere poetic license. That afternoon, back home again without the cat and without her, I proved that it was not only possible but that I myself, an old man without anyone, was dying of love. But I also realized that the contrary was true as well: I would not have traded the delights of my suffering for anything in the world. I had spent more than fifteen years trying to translate the poems of Leopardi, and only on that afternoon did I have a profound sense of them: Ah, me, if this is love, then how it torments.” (84)
“I’ve always said that jealousy knows more than truth does.” (93)
“But then she was serious: Today I look back, I see the line of thousands of men who passed through my beds, and I’d give my soul to have stayed with even the worst of them. Thank God I found my Chinaman in time. It’s like being married to your little finger, but he’s all mine.” (99)
“…even if what your jealousy tells you is true, no matter what, nobody can take away the dances you’ve already had…I’m serious she concluded: Don’t let yourself die without knowing the wonder of fucking with love.” (100)
Read it.
