Dear readers,
The Thomas J. Watson Library is arguably the quietest place in New York City. You can hear a person’s stomach rumbling from a distance of 20 feet. This gem can be found in the Metropolitan Museum of Art and features a dizzying array of rare manuscripts, monographs, pamphlets, letters, magazines, and so on. To gain access, simply register online for a free library card and pick it up in person. Simple. (Well, easy if you’re in NYC. If not, check out the library’s Instagram for a steady stream of wealth.)
I initially entered because I thought it would be fun to create a “themed” section of my garden using herbs used in medieval medicine – wormwood, hagnet, etc. – and I wanted a crack in primary , or at least secondary sources. In the process, I’ve picked up many helpful poison recipes. And in a moment of unrelated whispering with a fellow patron, I was recommended the Patrick Süskind book below—proving once again that libraries are the ultimate serendipity machines.
†Molly
Jonathan Noel is on the other side of his 50s and has enjoyed a period of ‘total calm’ for the past few decades. A troubled childhood gave Jonathan a mania for monotony, and he wishes that no events would happen in him other than death, the only event he expects because it heralds the end of all other events.
Jonathan’s safety island is destroyed by the titular dove on a Friday in August. The humble bird appears at the door of his apartment one morning. It does nothing but blink, yet it sparks a fuse of mental chaos in Jonathan. He imagines the pigeon attracting other pigeons and those pigeons mating, resulting in a bird siege that will block Jonathan’s departures until he is forced to hurl himself out of a window.
A blurb on the back of my copy describes this as “a bizarre story about a nobody” comparing it to Dostoevsky’s “Notes From Underground†
Read if you want: Agota Kristof, Thomas Bernhard, recoiling from the nihilistic abyss of existence, William Blake
Available from: Check the library or your second-hand bookshop of your choice (online or not)
Many years ago, a travel magazine sent me on a cruise for an assignment. It was very exciting. At the buffet there were sandwiches in the shape of a frog, with a mouth cut into the bread so that you could put in butter and/or make the frog “talk” by manipulating the top and bottom halves. Every surface on the ship could be wiped clean. Aside from a norovirus outbreak, it was an idyllic journey.
The underbelly of the cruise experience is the backdrop to this novel, which is about a woman who starts working on a ship after her marriage implodes. When we meet Ingrid, she’s been on board the same ship for five years, changing jobs: caterer, croupier, gift shop assistant, librarian, manicurist. One day she is selected for a “mentor program” (cult) led by the captain of the ship named Keith. Keith asks Ingrid to do what all bad things. She performs these diabolical acts in what appears to be a Xanax daze, but is really just her disgruntled personality.
I like books and movies that are largely set in a vehicle, be it an airplane (“Con Air”, “Non-Stop”), boat (“Dead Calm”, “Moby-Dick”), bus (“ Speed”), train (“Unstoppable”, “The Taking of Pelham 1-2-3”, “Murder on the Orient Express”) or car (“Locke”). Nesting a physical container (vehicle) within a conceptual container (movie/novel) conceived by a human container (director/author) is often a recipe for fun.
Read if you want: Ottessa Moshfegh’s “My Year of Rest and Relaxation”, Artificial Flavors, Avoidance, Wondering What a “Lifestyle” Is and Whether You Have One
Available from: Zando
Why do not you go…