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April 12, 2025
'If you want to know how I know about every book here, I can tell you! Because I never read any of them.'
Thus does a librarian in Robert Musil's unfinished three-volume modernist novel (1930-1943) "The Man Without Qualities" explain how he easily keeps up with the library's collection.
"Reading, he says, would make him lose perspective on the collection as a whole; to prize a few books by reading them would only make him neglect the others," wrote Rosie Blau in her "Book Doctor" column in the Financial Times.
I am reminded of Truman Capote's remark that you don't have to read books — it's enough to simply have them.
Read volume 1 here.
Free, the way we like it.
Wait a sec — what's that song I'm hearing?
April 12, 2025 at 04:01 PM | Permalink
Comments
Joe, Outstanding choice of song! Both on point and irredeemably useless at the same time.
Posted by: antares | Apr 12, 2025 9:16:01 PM
