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The Book of Reading
Can words, poems, books—if used correctly—save the American republic? If you ask the gifted, beautiful Eveline Stahl, the answer is yes, absolutely. For Eveline, literature and words not only connect all things to one another, but they create invisible bands that surround Earth and protect it from harm.
Though born far apart—she in 1909, he in 1941—Eveline Stahl and Malcolm Reiner are destined to meet, fall in love, and then to try to save the nation. When? Autumn 1933. Where? Iowa City, Iowa, where both are graduate students. Their plan? To go on the long walk into September 1947 and West Tree, Minnesota, where they try 1) to forestall the formation of the CIA and the start of the Cold War;2) thereby to prevent the 1963 assassination of JFK; and thus 3) avoid the long decline of the nation into tyranny—a later and grievous outcome, nevertheless, that is watched, in 2028, from a window of his New York apartment, by an aged, defeated, lonely Malcolm Reiner, after finishing a book—this book—about his beloved and lost Eveline.
Eric Larsen’s The Book of Reading is a timely, literary, patriotic—and deeply moving—novel.
Though born far apart—she in 1909, he in 1941—Eveline Stahl and Malcolm Reiner are destined to meet, fall in love, and then to try to save the nation. When? Autumn 1933. Where? Iowa City, Iowa, where both are graduate students. Their plan? To go on the long walk into September 1947 and West Tree, Minnesota, where they try 1) to forestall the formation of the CIA and the start of the Cold War;2) thereby to prevent the 1963 assassination of JFK; and thus 3) avoid the long decline of the nation into tyranny—a later and grievous outcome, nevertheless, that is watched, in 2028, from a window of his New York apartment, by an aged, defeated, lonely Malcolm Reiner, after finishing a book—this book—about his beloved and lost Eveline.
Eric Larsen’s The Book of Reading is a timely, literary, patriotic—and deeply moving—novel.
388 pages, Kindle Edition
Published February 14, 2024
14 people want to read
About the author
Eric Larsen
51 books25 followers'Eric Larsen' is the correct spelling of this author's name.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
November 25, 2023
Inventive, dark, thoughtful. Time travel, history, difficult family situation, young love, education, and above all, reading. Two young people, deeply in love, but separated by time and in an intolerable position.
Netgalley
Netgalley
November 27, 2023
Eric Larsen's The Book of Reading marks the conclusion of his Pentology series, blending elements of time travel, romance, conspiracy thriller, and autobiographical nuances. This novel follows the journey of protagonist Malcolm Reiner, who grapples with involuntary time travel, a complex love story, unresolved issues with his abusive father, and the repercussions of his choices. Larsen skillfully intertwines poetry, quantum theory, and everyday experiences in a narrative that impresses with its coherence and meticulous construction.
Reiner, as a character, embodies a realistic portrayal of depression, anxiety, and trauma, offering readers an intimate glimpse into his worldview. Larsen's detailed character construction allows for a resonant and sometimes uncomfortably relatable experience for those familiar with similar struggles. A notable aspect of Larsen's writing is his rich, albeit challenging, vocabulary. Readers less accustomed to such linguistic complexity may find themselves frequently consulting a dictionary. Larsen's use of an advanced vocabulary adds a layer of richness to the narrative, providing an opportunity for readers to deepen their linguistic knowledge. This sophisticated lexicon complements the intricate story, filled with complex themes and quantum theory. This is a rewarding journey for the enthusiastic reader, filled with depth and texture, creating an unforgettable reading experience. Larsen has succeeded in blurring the lines between fiction and reality, crafting a narrative that is at once lifelike and abstract.
The Book of Reading offers a rich and rewarding experience filled with thought-provoking content and a unique storytelling approach. This story stays with readers long after finishing the book and leaves them with questions they can relate to their own lives.
Reiner, as a character, embodies a realistic portrayal of depression, anxiety, and trauma, offering readers an intimate glimpse into his worldview. Larsen's detailed character construction allows for a resonant and sometimes uncomfortably relatable experience for those familiar with similar struggles. A notable aspect of Larsen's writing is his rich, albeit challenging, vocabulary. Readers less accustomed to such linguistic complexity may find themselves frequently consulting a dictionary. Larsen's use of an advanced vocabulary adds a layer of richness to the narrative, providing an opportunity for readers to deepen their linguistic knowledge. This sophisticated lexicon complements the intricate story, filled with complex themes and quantum theory. This is a rewarding journey for the enthusiastic reader, filled with depth and texture, creating an unforgettable reading experience. Larsen has succeeded in blurring the lines between fiction and reality, crafting a narrative that is at once lifelike and abstract.
The Book of Reading offers a rich and rewarding experience filled with thought-provoking content and a unique storytelling approach. This story stays with readers long after finishing the book and leaves them with questions they can relate to their own lives.
November 16, 2023
If I heard all the sounds close and faraway from me, I would feel confused. Probably, a headache would follow. This college student hears every single sound around him. He also walks the grounds more than anyone would feel happy about. His routine is so regulated that he "sleepwalks" through a walk or run. I am thinking the routine in our days might lead to danger. Taking time for granted is a loss of something, beautiful or mediocre every time. He is studying his bodies action like a scientist might study his body.For me his observations are pretty difficult to understand I might have experienced a few of these feelings. It is good to know someone else is around to give credence to my days. Falling back in time is an aid for him.It helps him cope with different struggles like loneliness on a college campus. Obviously, this book has many layers. It is like a labyrinth you wish to visit every day. One part of the maze is the story about his relationship with his father. This book has it all and more. It is 1933 and 1968. Strange. Yes, his name is Malcolm Reiner and Eveline Stahl.
November 3, 2024
Hem, Walt, and Allen
“The Book of Reading” occurs in four distinct timeframes. In its preface and afterword, the year is 2028 and Malcom Reiner, this novel’s narrator, is a lonely and defeated 87-year-old Minnesota-born New Yorker. This Malcom has lived through a recent, but undescribed, national political paroxysm that has cemented non-democratic rule in the United States.
Meanwhile, the other timeframes of this novel are: 1963, when Malcom is a student and the University of Iowa; 1933, when Malcom, once again a student, time travels—translocates is Larsen’s term—to the University of Iowa where he meets the brilliant Eveline Stahl, who is the love of his life; and 1947, when Malcom and Eveline do what they can to prevent the creation of the CIA.
To understand what Larsen is up to, it helps to know that “The Book of Reading”, while referring to scores of books, albeit mostly novels, is undergird by the works of three authors. They are: Earnest Hemingway and his work, “The Fifth Column and the First Forty-Nine Stories”; Walt Whitman and “Leaves of Grass”; and Allen Ginsberg and his dystopian “Howl and Other Poems”.
So, why does Larsen single out these authors and books? Well, the Hemingway is obvious, as Larsen is definitely a Hemingway-ish stylist, since he usually writes with short pellucid sentences that can make an ordinary moment seem extraordinary. And “Howl and Other Poems”? While the political views of Malcom Reiner, and probably Larsen, are hardly mainstream—the book posits that JFK was assassinated by the CIA—the sensibility of “Howl” is exactly right for the politics of this book. Here’s a passage from its poem “America” that Larsen places in Chapter 34. Stanzas omitted, it reads:
“America I’ve given you all and now I’m nothing. America two dollars and twenty-seven cents January 17, 1956. I can’t stand my own mind. America when will we end the human war? Go f*** yourself with your atom bomb.”
And what about Whitman? In this case, the awesome Eveline is a deep reader who, after finishing a book, is able to connect herself permanently to the book, which is true, in a way, for every good book that a person reads and remembers. But in Eveline’s case, these connections are not merely mental but instead assume a quasi-physical form that Larsen calls tendrils. Eveline creates these tendrils and, as Malcom falls in love with her, he begins to see them as well. Here are the circumstances of her first tendril, which appears after Eveline reads “Break, break, break”, a poem by Tennyson that helps her to deal with the recent death of her mother.
“In ‘the touch of a vanished hand’ and ‘the sound of a voice that is still’, Eveline heard references to her mother and realized also that she herself had created them. Tennyson, eighty-one years before, had provided the phrases, and Eveline herself… had provided the reference. When she had done so, a tendril, a thin and ductile arc, shot out across and through the sky, connecting Eveline to the poem… starting the process of becoming connected to everything.” (Page 135)
These tendrils, btw, encircle the earth and protect it.
And why is this tendril-stuff Walt Whitman? Camping with Eveline, Malcom, now also a tendril-creator, has this epiphany.
“Eveline and I were touching not only one another, not only the blankets and tent floor under us and the earth below those, but that were touching everything everywhere, since every molecule touches the molecule next to it, every molecule of every kind, whether earth, air, water, rock, clay, loam, vapor… so that Eveline and I were touching every molecule in the universe, and every molecule was touching us…” (Pages 227-228)
“The Book of Reading” is not for everyone and there are moments, especially near the end of the book, where a good editor would have shortened a few outrage-fueled sentences that read like Larsen was working from a really good thesaurus. But a peccadillo...
Regardless, this is a good book and worth reading. Rounded up and recommended.
“The Book of Reading” occurs in four distinct timeframes. In its preface and afterword, the year is 2028 and Malcom Reiner, this novel’s narrator, is a lonely and defeated 87-year-old Minnesota-born New Yorker. This Malcom has lived through a recent, but undescribed, national political paroxysm that has cemented non-democratic rule in the United States.
Meanwhile, the other timeframes of this novel are: 1963, when Malcom is a student and the University of Iowa; 1933, when Malcom, once again a student, time travels—translocates is Larsen’s term—to the University of Iowa where he meets the brilliant Eveline Stahl, who is the love of his life; and 1947, when Malcom and Eveline do what they can to prevent the creation of the CIA.
To understand what Larsen is up to, it helps to know that “The Book of Reading”, while referring to scores of books, albeit mostly novels, is undergird by the works of three authors. They are: Earnest Hemingway and his work, “The Fifth Column and the First Forty-Nine Stories”; Walt Whitman and “Leaves of Grass”; and Allen Ginsberg and his dystopian “Howl and Other Poems”.
So, why does Larsen single out these authors and books? Well, the Hemingway is obvious, as Larsen is definitely a Hemingway-ish stylist, since he usually writes with short pellucid sentences that can make an ordinary moment seem extraordinary. And “Howl and Other Poems”? While the political views of Malcom Reiner, and probably Larsen, are hardly mainstream—the book posits that JFK was assassinated by the CIA—the sensibility of “Howl” is exactly right for the politics of this book. Here’s a passage from its poem “America” that Larsen places in Chapter 34. Stanzas omitted, it reads:
“America I’ve given you all and now I’m nothing. America two dollars and twenty-seven cents January 17, 1956. I can’t stand my own mind. America when will we end the human war? Go f*** yourself with your atom bomb.”
And what about Whitman? In this case, the awesome Eveline is a deep reader who, after finishing a book, is able to connect herself permanently to the book, which is true, in a way, for every good book that a person reads and remembers. But in Eveline’s case, these connections are not merely mental but instead assume a quasi-physical form that Larsen calls tendrils. Eveline creates these tendrils and, as Malcom falls in love with her, he begins to see them as well. Here are the circumstances of her first tendril, which appears after Eveline reads “Break, break, break”, a poem by Tennyson that helps her to deal with the recent death of her mother.
“In ‘the touch of a vanished hand’ and ‘the sound of a voice that is still’, Eveline heard references to her mother and realized also that she herself had created them. Tennyson, eighty-one years before, had provided the phrases, and Eveline herself… had provided the reference. When she had done so, a tendril, a thin and ductile arc, shot out across and through the sky, connecting Eveline to the poem… starting the process of becoming connected to everything.” (Page 135)
These tendrils, btw, encircle the earth and protect it.
And why is this tendril-stuff Walt Whitman? Camping with Eveline, Malcom, now also a tendril-creator, has this epiphany.
“Eveline and I were touching not only one another, not only the blankets and tent floor under us and the earth below those, but that were touching everything everywhere, since every molecule touches the molecule next to it, every molecule of every kind, whether earth, air, water, rock, clay, loam, vapor… so that Eveline and I were touching every molecule in the universe, and every molecule was touching us…” (Pages 227-228)
“The Book of Reading” is not for everyone and there are moments, especially near the end of the book, where a good editor would have shortened a few outrage-fueled sentences that read like Larsen was working from a really good thesaurus. But a peccadillo...
Regardless, this is a good book and worth reading. Rounded up and recommended.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews