Monday, March 26, 2012

Coral Glynn: A novel by Peter Cameron

This is one in an occasional series of rants...can one rant occasionally?.......about the demise of the printed book, bookstores, and our slide into being plugged in to the matrix.  I am a hypocrite in this arena as I am contemplating buying a Kindle Fire even as I type.  For the record, my first Kindle lasted about a month before it unceremoniously refused to take a charge.  I feel like that sometimes.  WCE promptly decided to fix it himself and bought many tiny little screwdrivers to assist.  Cut to voided warranty.

So I'm driving home from work listening to this: http://www.npr.org/2012/03/14/147962963/coral-glynn-the-art-of-repression.  It sounded good, courageous repression and Jane Eyre plainness and British miniaturists.  I need to know what those are.  So the interview lodged in my book psyche.  Cut to Barnes and Noble, one week later.

To wander in a bookstore is an endangered past time.  One walks in, not knowing in advance what is going to make the cut or what genre will issue forth a siren's call.  As I am pondering the new paperbacks, the interview comes floating into my consciousness, sans the title or last name of the author.  I walk over to information on a mission:

Me:  I hate to do this to you guys but I want to track down a book and I can't remember some key components....the author's first name is Peter.
Lovely book-loving clerk:  This happens all the time...what is the book about?
Me:  Kinda of aVictorian novel set in the 1950's, repressed love...it may have Glenn in the title.
LBLC:  Ok, let's put in a partial title search...hmmmm, nothing is popping out
Me:  See, I heard this great book review on Fresh Air
LBLC:  I love Terry Gross...hey, let me get the manager, she has some program that she can use to track down books that have been reviewed and I really want to learn how she uses it.
Manager:  Ok, when was the interview?
Me:  Sometime last week
Manager: (after some work)  Could it be Coral Glynn?
Me:  (loud scream).....That's it!!!!!!

I don't know how good this book is going to be but I had to have it.  I will remember how I got it probably long after the plot fades.  Books should mean something and getting them should sometimes be hard or at least multi-layered.  I want to read this and pass it on to Tracie who will pass it on to Lorette who might recommend it for a book club or two.  It should move forward in an organic and human way. 

We are on the verge of losing something.  I feel it coming.

4 comments:

  1. My take home from this post is the beauty in finding like-minded souls who also love a good book, know Fresh Air and Terry Gross, appreciate book store perusal and the like. It takes effort to find these people, but oh so worth it.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I read one novel on my ipad and didn't like it. It was cool getting to look up words and historical references, literally at the touch of a finger tip, and the light was nice at night. But, and it's a big but, I miss the tactile experience of the heft of the book and turning the pages. I'm going to stick to real books.
    I'll look forward to reading this one you've mentioned.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Sounds like it is going to be right up your alley:)

    ReplyDelete