SOUNDTRACK: hiatus
[READ: December 28, 2023] The Books of Jacob
I don’t recall when I checked this book out. I think it was in September, which makes me feel less bad about finishing it in December. Still three month? Well, it was 965 pages and I didn’t really read it at home, so I guess that kind of works out.
And now in December I don’t exactly remember why I checked it out. I think I had an audiobook ad for Tokarczuk’s other book Flights and it was raved about. I checked out this and Flights at he same time, but Flights was recalled by another patron, so didn’t get to finish it (I barely started it).
But so I didn’t know what this was about at all. But I love a large book, and this was a large book. It also had the fun detail that the pages ran backwards (in the acknowledgments, she notes that it is because the book is inspired by Hebrew and is (kind of) right to left for numbering.
I can honestly say that I didn’t realize that this book was kind of non fiction until about half way through the book. It’s not exactly non-fiction, it’s a fictionalized account of something that happened centuries ago based on research and primary documents.
It’s interesting but not especially compelling. A whole lot happens but really not much happens. I could have put it down at just about any point and felt “done.” And yet I kept coming back to it. I felt like it was a slog to read, but almost every time I read it, I enjoyed what I read and was surprised at how many pages I read in a sitting. (more…)
I Just Read About That... 