Tinkers is a very poetic, non-linear book (you’d hate it, A.) with incredibly rich nature descriptions and thought-provoking generational connections and philosophical musings. I read it straight through and started again at the beginning, pencil in hand. I’m looking forward to our book group discussion.
If you’ve received a birthday card in the mail from me this year, the envelope was probably sealed with a vintage illustration sticker. This is my source: the John Derian Sticker Book (I and II). Rajiv Surendra introduced me to these books.
I joined a slow read of this tome on Substack, one chapter a day for the entire year (chapters are only 3 or 4 pages each.) Four down, 357 to go.
This is a book I know I’ll appreciate more after we discuss it in book group. While I found it laugh-out-loud funny in places, I felt that the characters and issues would be more relatable if I were Jewish, or even Jewish-adjacent. As a good proportion of our book group members are, I’m sure they’ll give me insights I am currently lacking. Maybe then I can tease out the nuances between Jewishness and Judaism and Zionism.
After a visit to the bike shop, I stopped in at Bart’s for a sketch’n’browse. These two vintage lovelies came home with me. Both have gorgeous typography on the covers, to which I have not done justice.
How long since you read this classic?
According to Italo Calvino*, “Classics are books which, the more we think we know them through hearsay, the more original, unexpected, and innovative we find them when we actually read them.” Also “A classic is a book which with each rereading offers as much of a sense of discovery as the first reading.”
If it’s been a while, maybe it’s time for a re-read!
*Why Read the Classics, 2001
It’s my birthday, and my heart feels tender.
I really loved The Overstory and this one seems be following the same format—various individuals character‘s stories which I assume will all intertwine at the end, but this time underwater rather than in the treetops. I‘m liking it!
hashiworks 