A Big Idea

[Tom Joad]

Ok, I'm looking for some suggestions. I have an entire week to myself starting Monday, and have come up with a bit of a plan.

I'm going to pack a bag and go camping somewhere scenic in my native Scotland. I aim to use the opportunity to read one of those great books I haven't gotten around to reading yet. I'm looking for any suggestions or recommendations for such a trip.

My first reaction was to try Ulysses - having bought a beautiful copy from Shakespeare & Co. in Paris - however having read some of the comments on this board it may be too ambitious. Is this so?

It's just a bit of fun, so I appreciate any ideas put forward.

Thanks!

[MarkBastable]

Ok, I'm looking for some suggestions. I have an entire week to myself starting Monday, and have come up with a bit of a plan.

I'm going to pack a bag and go camping somewhere scenic in my native Scotland. I aim to use the opportunity to read one of those great books I haven't gotten around to reading yet. I'm looking for any suggestions or recommendations for such a trip.

My first reaction was to try Ulysses - having bought a beautiful copy from Shakespeare & Co. in Paris - however having read some of the comments on this board it may be too ambitious. Is this so?

It's just a bit of fun, so I appreciate any ideas put forward.

Thanks!

I'd go for The Deptford Trilogy (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Deptford-Trilogy-Robertson-Davies/dp/0140147551/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1247577690&sr=1-1), which is intelligent and literary without being at all dense or stodgy.

[billl]

I don't think Ulysses is a good match for your big week in the countryside. Even if you're a quick reader, and had plenty of time to reflect on it, I think it might sort of spoil the countryside mood to be thinking about that dense, urban, modern work.

To me, anyhow, it seems like a great opportunity to read something that takes place in another time, and mostly away from the city. I really can't think of a good match, book-wise. You'll have a lot of time, so I guess you could get engrossed in Ulysses even, and still have time left for hiking, etc.

But taking a book into nature makes me think along different lines. I think it'd be fun and interesting to maybe also bring a small collection of essays, or maybe poetry (I'm thinking Rumi, but that has a romantic/philosophical bent), and just read a bit in a hammock or whatever, looking up at leaves and thinking reflecting, etc. It might help turbo-charge things, or get them unstuck if you're doing some introspection or mind-wandering or whatever.