Bus Report #613
I can't read on Muni without getting motion sick, but tonight my 22 Fillmore was full of people reading books.
A man sitting in front of me read one of those rapture/end of days kind of books, title and author unknown. I wouldn't have guessed: he looked fairly normal.
Next to him a woman read one of Tracy Kidder's books. I didn't see the title. I hoped she was reading Home Town, but I bet she was reading Mountains Beyond Mountains (I liked them both!).
At 16th and Church, a regular commuter, a woman who works near Carmen, got on with her library book, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.
Right behind her, a woman who looked just like Rayanne Graff worked her way towards the back of the bus with an unmistakable, gigantic book, Roberto Bolaño's 2666, one of my favorite books of all time.
On the 38, two middle school girls got on and stood in front of me. While she wasn't reading it, one of the girls had a textbook that was called something like Health for a Lifetime, or Lifelong Health.
A man sitting in front of me read one of those rapture/end of days kind of books, title and author unknown. I wouldn't have guessed: he looked fairly normal.
Next to him a woman read one of Tracy Kidder's books. I didn't see the title. I hoped she was reading Home Town, but I bet she was reading Mountains Beyond Mountains (I liked them both!).
At 16th and Church, a regular commuter, a woman who works near Carmen, got on with her library book, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.
Right behind her, a woman who looked just like Rayanne Graff worked her way towards the back of the bus with an unmistakable, gigantic book, Roberto Bolaño's 2666, one of my favorite books of all time.
On the 38, two middle school girls got on and stood in front of me. While she wasn't reading it, one of the girls had a textbook that was called something like Health for a Lifetime, or Lifelong Health.
posted by Rachel at 10:46 PM
6 Comments:
2666. Crazy good. Savage Detectives, too. And The Skating Rink. Damn, that dude could write.
I KNOW.
I've read almost everything of his that's in translation and a couple things that weren't (at the time when I read them, at least). Amazing.
If you liked The Skating Rink, try Monsieur Pain.
I've got Monsieur Pain on the coffee table right now. It's next on my list. Just read By Night in Chile. Have you done that one yet? The part about the priests and the falcons: wow!
Also: I guess it goes without saying that I enjoy your blog. But allow me to say it anyway. I used to ride the 22 every morning. I wonder if I ever made it into an entry.
Hey, Jesse! Yeah, By Night In Chile, so good. I also love Last Evenings on Earth. Hell, they're all good, really.
Thanks for reading/enjoying Fog City Notes, I appreciate it. When did you used to ride the 22? Maybe you've made an appearance here, who knows....
It was a few years back. I doubt I made enough of an impression for you to notice me. Though you never know. You are an astute observer. I would have been the guy who got on at haight street and either read a book or rifled through a reporter's notebook or stared off with glazed eyes.
I'm kind of digging our blog comment conversation here. Would like it to continue. Then again, I feel a little like a groupie shouting at his idol over the rope line.
Anyway, I remember one morning I was waiting for the old ventidos and it was a very clear, cold morning. No clouds in the sky. And I looked up at the apartment building above Low Cost Meat and there was a peregrine falcon perched on the railing of the fire escape.
That was kind of cool.
You ever read Italo Calvino?
I haven't read much Calvino but I'd like to read more. I just read Six Memos for the Next Millennium for school last semester, and I started reading The Baron in the Trees.
Which of his books should I read? Oh, and if you want to email me, it's realitycoursepress(at)gmail(dot)com
I like our little conversation, too! (you're helping me procrastinate right now, thanks!)
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