October 12, 2014, Sunday afternoon -- Reading Rebecca Solnit

On a sunny afternoon in Dolores Park
He's reading The Faraway Nearby, by local author Rebecca Solnit.  He's read three of her books and really enjoys her writing.  Her best he thinks is Field Guide to Getting Lost.  It's the kind of book, he said, that gives you chills.

Recently he's been reading books by Colum McCann.  He randomly picked up Let the Great World Spin, by McCann, at Modern Times and then went on to read Dancer, also by McCann.  Both books, he said, have the same organizational structure, but Dancer, about Rudolph Nureyev is better.   He explained the structure as a collection of fictional narratives woven together around a historical figure/event in a way that is both respectful and relevant. Let the Great World Spin was set around Philippe Petit, who tight rope walked across the twin towers in 1974.

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