So, I was reading An Event in Autumn, by Henning Mankell, it is a later Wallander book, and …
… not a particularly good book, but …
… and written by request for a give-away with a bought book for a Netherlands promotion …
… this was part of my crime-read phase, which had started with Georges Simenon and his Maigret novels that I read for place, atmosphere, character, and was momentarily disappointed, although Strangers in the House, one of his ‘other’ novels, was enjoyable …
… and then came the hefty (and stodgy ?) and major indictment of the Cultural Revolution, Cixin Liu’s Three Body Problem sci/fi novel, and the exact opposite of Jon Fosse’s very short book consisting of one long sinuous sentence, Aliss by the Fire …
… although the earlier phase was still playing out …
… and so the Wallander came along, and while I digested and pondered my earlier reading, for a change of pace I read how …
… but it was more than a change of pace, it was the contrast between the idea-heavy hefty chunk of sci/fi reading combined with the rich and internalised Norwegian novel, with the lighter, less demanding, emotion-tickling crime novels …
… a sense of disappointment hovered …
… with all this going on, and the need for surer, firmer ground, I searched for, and found, it was in how …
as Kurt Wallander was relaxing one tumultuous Sunday’s evening, he put on this record
Beethoven’s String Quartet Number 16 in F Major
And, Yes, Good man, I thought.
All is well.
michael9murray 