“The Craftsman” was the first non-fiction book I’ve read since Naomi Klein’s “The Shock Doctrine” (about 18 months ago?). Ironically, Richard Sennett has rekindled my interest (although maybe it’s less a question of interest and more one of vanity). Since Non-Fiction books tend to summarise it’s possible to gain a passing familiarity with a few dozen at the expense of one book’s worth of effort? So there are greater economies with non-fiction. However, occasionally this attempt is self-defeating since one book often leads to another and before you know it you’ve racked up a couple of dozen (and not read a novel!) This could go on indefinitely but clearly doesn’t. What breaks the cycle? It could be any number of things but usually it’s the publication of a new book by a favourite author, a bookclub book (that I’m honour bound to read) or fatigue.So I’ve put aside Ryu Murakami and have pencilled in some time with Terry Eagleton’s “Reason, Faith & Revolution” which according to one review “attempts to rescue Christianity from the Christians…” On the strength of “The Shack” they need all the help they can get!
