Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Sisyphusian Endeavors

Day 309 of the "What are you reading, and why?" project, and Ben will now, once again, begin the task of reading and taking notes on The Myth of Sisyphus, an essay about life's absurdity by Albert Camus, because his already annotated copy of it was left behind at work...and, alas, lost.

As I understand Wikipedia's interpretation of Camus on this topic, Ben should have no real hope of changing his lot in life, even if he keeps losing his book, but he is allowed to contentedly accept that fate.  Hope would make him absurdly Kafkaesque.

Which reminds me of Sarah's wonderful description of a certain rare technology book's cover as Copernicus-esque.  Alas, that did not help our customer who was searching for a book on Copernicus.

And I am making another Sisyphusian stack of books to read, including The Secret of Lost Things, by Sheridan Hay, a "charming novel about the eccentricities and passions of booksellers and collectors," as the front flap tells me, a gift from Sarah.  Along with a beautiful holiday basket.  "I was feeling crafty," she said.

And all she got was this bookmark!

3 comments:

A. and S. said...

I own that Camus book, but I haven't read it. Neither have I gotten around to L’Étranger. Is that strange?

I hope I didn't overwhelm today's lunch conversation with too much talk of my own Sisyphean endeavors . . .

As for the bookmark, it is wonderful. I'm debating between using it for its intended purpose or framing it for its unintended artistic purpose!

Kathleen said...

Glad you like the bookmark! I made some more last night. It's possible they are all completely impractical! I've incorporated earrings.

Kathleen said...

And don't worry, Sarah, you were not too sissy-fussying!