Last book: What would yours be?
Charles Storch, Patrick T. Reardon and Julia Keller
Published June 6, 2006
In the season finale of "Lost," the character Desmond says he carries around Charles Dickens' "Our Mutual Friend" because he wants that to be the last book he reads before dying. An intriguing question. What book would you save for last? We asked three Tempo writers, and here is what they told us.
"Pale Fire," by Vladimir Nabokov. I was unhorsed in my first sally at this novel many years ago. It has a dual structure: the final poem by Charles Shade, a Robert Frost-like figure; and the long and loony commentary on the poem that follows by Shade's neighbor Charles Kinbote, formerly of the Kingdom of Zembla. But did the same character write both parts? Is Kinbote really the king of Zembla or is he a figment of a third character's imagination? Had I taken more care with the text and paid more respect to Nabokov's intelligence, perhaps I might have had a clue. Maybe I will go out with the answer.
-- Charles Storch
"Pale Fire," by Vladimir Nabokov. I was unhorsed in my first sally at this novel many years ago. It has a dual structure: the final poem by Charles Shade, a Robert Frost-like figure; and the long and loony commentary on the poem that follows by Shade's neighbor Charles Kinbote, formerly of the Kingdom of Zembla. But did the same character write both parts? Is Kinbote really the king of Zembla or is he a figment of a third character's imagination? Had I taken more care with the text and paid more respect to Nabokov's intelligence, perhaps I might have had a clue. Maybe I will go out with the answer.
-- Charles Storch
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What would your last book be? Tell us at: ctc-tempo@tribune.com. Or mail us at Tempo, Chicago Tribune, 435 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago, IL 60611. Please include your name and hometown
What would your last book be? Tell us at: ctc-tempo@tribune.com. Or mail us at Tempo, Chicago Tribune, 435 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago, IL 60611. Please include your name and hometown