retrotech

Valencia between 16th and 17th.

An offshoot of Tartine which is at Guerrero and 18th, this “wine bar” and restaurant has a limited menu that only changes occasionally, but the food is very good. Excellent. On a par with its name sake’s bread and pastries. It has an extensive wine list.

Not a cheap meal, but very tasty.

by William Faulkner

This is the first book by Faulkner that I ever read and it took me months to get around to finishing it. I started six months ago but stopped after about 40 pages thinking why spend time reading about a long gone place and way of life. Still not sure of a good answer other than the generic “it about the human condition”. Universal. Maybe it is.

However, the use of language is exceptional in the way it seems to convey the nature of the the time, place, and people with little explicit description. The story is told by snippets of thoughts and observations by a variety of people. Flow of consciousness, but across a variety of people

The story is about a bizarre, to me, set of actions. Loopy, internally programmed people on a strange road trip. Each with his/her own concerns, motivations, and drives. Seemingly all pretty pig headed and without much in the way of common sense or communications.

Not sure how much Faulkner I want to read, but I might try another book or two. Well told story.

Well, it is a new year and I have to fess* up that I did not read a book a week in 2005. Twenty four is the number of books read and reported on but one of them I did not finish so 23 is probably more accurate.
We’ll see how well I do in 2006. I have a pile of books already, but other activities seem to always come up. Two of the stack are partially read and I got a couple more over the holidays. So, off we go……
Let’s hope 2006 is a good year for the world. It sure is starting off wet and soggy in California, hot and dry in Oklahoma and Texas. An indication of global warming or normal weather variability?

* Just learned that “fess” is an early 19th century shortening of confess.