Two Books and a revelation

As convention would have it, to read a book is to read it as whole. To read it is to investigate its nitty-gritty details, to roll every word on the tip of your tongue and comprehend the meaning of every sentence of every paragraph of every page of every chapter. To read any good book like this is indeed an enjoyment. Yet, one cannot help but notice the lack of that simple thing which is often lacking in wondrous and utopic sentences such as the one above - common sense.

WE DO NOT HAVE THE TIME!!!

We often skip paragraphs with long pondering descriptions, dialogs of romantic balderdash and sometimes even pages worth of literary gibberish. This is true, and it is honestly, necessary to even finish any substantial book. considering the amount of time we spend in

official duties and the state of our mind thereafter, i would even say it is justified. as it is clear from my statements i do not object to people skipping parts of book to get to the end. (my mother commits that heinous crime of read in the end in the beginning, despicable!!!)

Now during the weekend i have come across two books which both support and negate my preconceptions as stated above.

Perhaps i should now introduce the two gentlebooks who are responsible for my revelation. One is the Modernist novel extraodinaire, the heavy weight of French literature, In Search of Lost Time, by the biggest sissy of all time Marcel Proust. The other, by the much-accoladed, nobel prize winning, Mario Vargas llosa (pronounced yosa, god why cant we all have proper names!!)

, The Notebooks of Don Rigoberto.

A note: i do not possess any of the books yet. Of Proust, i have only two volumes and the Notebooks are too expensive for me.

Now, Proust's magnum opus, In Search of Lost Time, is a seven volume work of unquestionable quality. It is undoubtedly colossal and has earned titles like: 'Boring", "too long"., "too sissy" or even. "the quality of Proust's work is as questionable as the existence of extra-terrestrials"

I managed to buy one volume of this notorious book with my limited funds and started reading it. One thing i discovered was that you CANNOT skip even a single wor

d! To an advocate of skipping pages this was to say the least deeply infuriating. Still i persevered, the detail of each sentence was astounding, and i LOVED it! but i couldn't get it out of my head that i had managed to finish only one page in fifteen minutes, which is pretty frustrating if you are accustomed to finishing books in one sitting. But i must say, it was worth it.

The second book, The Notebooks of Don Rigoberto, attracted me because of its well, because of its 'uncensored' contents. I opened a page at random, and it made perfect sense, it is a novel, but it does not need to be read continuously, hence i went to three different book stores and read three different parts of the book and they were all independently beautiful pieces of literature. I am not aware of how they would read as a composite whole, but i am sure it is brilliant.

So, my last inference from my interaction with two great books, while most books can be read like dal-bhat (gulped down till you reach the end), some books needs and deserves more attention and delicate sampling,

It is unfortunate that the majority of intelligent people cannot find the time or desire to even turn the pages of these books. Must we always go for the Dal-bhat and forget the French wine???