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PaperclipPerfector  3d ago (text post)   2066 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for August 9, 2026

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So, what are you reading?

I'm still on Slezkine's The Jewish Century. Also adding Taylor's Sources of the Self to my list. Backlog moving slowly.

Julien Gracq, The Opposing Shore. Started strong, then the fantasy world really started to drag for quite a while, but now it's getting interesting as the mysterious, beautiful, aristocratic woman enters and throws everything into chaos, as is wonderfully mandatory for mid-century European literature. Two big departures from Gracq's A Balcony in the Forest: long and overwrought descriptive passages, which I honestly just don't enjoy, and a protagonist who isn't afraid to be genuinely unlikeable at times. He's angry, snippy, and petty exactly when you want him to learn more and get people to open up to him about what's going on. Overall, I'm interested in seeing where things go, but I don't think it'll top A Balcony in the Forest for me, if only because that book has the indisputably perfect setting (the Phoney War) for Gracq's style.

I have attempted to finish The Opposing Shore on, I think, four separate occasions since I was a teenager. I have never managed to do it. But yeah, there is something about the world he created that keeps dragging me back there. I'll finish it some day.

If you enjoy Gracq, I would be curious to know what you think about The Shipyard by Juan Carlos Onetti. The two novels have, to me, an extremely similar "vibe."

Thank you, I will put it on the list! Honestly, I strongly considered putting The Opposing Shore down around 15% through (I'm reading on a kindle, no page numbers), but now things are heating up I'll keep going. Have you tried A Balcony in the Forest?

I checked it out from the library once about five years ago, and as I recall, I did not actually attempt to read it; for which I am somewhat embarrassed, honestly.

If I remembering correctly, I did penance for shying away from what, at the time, I feared would be too difficult a book for me, by reading Joseph Conrad's Victory. Victory had various positive attributes, particularly the impressive characterization of the characters Heyst, Ricardo, and Wang; but I found it rather weakly plotted and the ending was very unconvincing, and I would not go so far as to recommend it.

Yes, I read Victory when I was a teenager absolutely enamoured of Conrad, and even then I felt it was distinctly weak. Balcony is a really, really good read imo.

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