An Ending Worthy Of A New Begining

Finished reading 'Heat and Dust' on the bus home tonight.

Remember on Monday how I lamented the book seemed too short?? Now, I'm really feeling that way! The end of the novel left me feeling completely unresolved, so much so that I can't bring myself to call it the 'conclusion'! It's so frustrating! I want to know what happens!!!! Urgh!!!!!!!!!

Deep breath.

Ok. To be fair, the Conclusion of the novel actually makes a lot of sense and totally fits in with the rest of the story. It's a brilliant statement about life, continuity, reincarnation, or some such thing. It was a really interesting, deeply entertaining novel. Even if the ending was really disappointing to me. I enjoyed the rest of the story, and I would read another book by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala. However, if the ending of That book disappoints me too, I'll probably give her up.

So, if anyone knows a novel by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala that has a really, truly satisfying Conclusion - please let me know, and I'll add it to my reading list for next year!

One last thing about 'Heat and Dust' before moving on - has anyone ever counted how many times the title is used in the course of this novel? It's probably not as often as it feels like, but it was often enough that if it weren't the title I would still have noticed it's repetition. Weird.

The next Booker book I'm going to read is 'Saville' by David Storey, the 1976 winner. Funnily enough, I don't actually have a copy of it on hand. It's on hold for me at the library, but I haven't gotten down to pick it up yet, so in the meantime, I'm going to read a non-Booker book!

Alright, settle down.

Calm? You may continue.

I've mentioned before that the Calgary Public Library has a One Book, One Calgary event ( http://calgarypubliclibrary.com/one-book-one-calgary ) going on through November, and I'm really excited about this year's book! I work in a used book store, and my customers have said some great things about Steven Galloway's 'The Cellist of Sarajevo' so I'm going to read it next. This way I'll be able to participate in the OBOC events, and talk to my customers about the book when they ask me if I've read it! Seems like a pretty goo plan to me!

Happy reading!