So I’m doing something I’ve only rarely done before online: I’m joining something book blogging related. I am not a joiner by nature. I am somewhat of a loner. I love talking about books, but there are lots of little things about a lot of the book blogging universe that aren’t for me. Mind you, these things aren’t bad (usually). Just not for me. Challenges, for instance. I don’t get ‘em. I understand why other people do them, but I know I would chafe under the weight of the number of book challenges I see some bloggers join, as well as losing the spontaneity in choosing my books to read.
So, what am I doing? The Bibliolatrist is hosting a read-along for Roberto Bolaño’s The Savage Detectives. The more literary of the blogs I follow (such as Three Percent and Conversational Reading for example) have been touting Bolaño for a while now. I am not particularly literary, but I dabble now and then. I’ve wanted to see what this was all about for a while. But I needed a spark, I guess. Bibliolatrist’s read-along seemed perfect.
The read-along schedule is not aggressive: 9 weeks at about 75 pages per week, starting tomorrow. If the text turns out to be difficult (Bibliolatrist says not so far) I can easily keep up with that. I hope. I wasn’t able to maintain that for another translated work, Ričardas Gavelis Vilnius Poker.
Anyhoo, follow along and see how this works out for me. Point and laugh. Or join in.
I’ve been hearing good things about The Savage Detectives on some of the blogs you mentioned. I tried- and failed- to read 2666 last year and was ready to give up on Bolano but this challenge may be enough to lead me back.