This is the point
Another month. Another Tuesday. Another podcast.
Clay and I grew up in the deep eastside of Moscow, Idaho. Before I met Clay someone told me about him. My memory tells me the same someone borrowed Forty Stories by Donald Barthelme from me to loan to Clay. I was promised he carried the book around in a plastic zip lock bag for protection. It worked. I still have that copy of Forty Stories.
More recently Clay and I read Jane Bowles’s 1943 novel Two Serious Ladies. It’s a re-read for both of us and we find it hard to talk about. The audio quality is less good this month. There’s an echo. I don’t know what I did different. Sorry! The conversation is long. Sorry!
When talking to Clay I mention reading The Sheltering Sky and copying a passage about cigarettes into a notebook. I found the notebook. Here is the passage:
“I used to think that life was a thing that kept gaining impetus. It would get richer & deeper each year. You kept learning more, getting wiser, having more insight, going further into truth” —she hesitated.
Port laughed abruptly. “And now you know its not like that. Right? It’s more like smoking a cigarette. The first few puffs it tastes wonderful, & you don’t even think of its ever being used up. Then you begin taking it for granted. Suddenly you realize it’s nearly burned down to the end. And that’s when you’re conscious of the bitter taste.”
“But I’m always conscious of the unpleasant taste & of the end approaching,” she said.
“Then you should give up smoking.”
Enjoy!
P.S. Podcasts should now be available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. If they aren’t, let me know. Any other podcast provider is a mystery.
If you wanna podcast send me an email with a book you wanna read and we’ll do it.
Most Useful Information about Two Serious Ladies by Jane Bowles