In my blog piece on Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms, I mentioned that I had begun reading (or re-reading?) For Whom the Bell Tolls. It was my intention, at the time, to go on to two other works by Hemingway - The Old Man and the Sea and The Sun Also Rises.
Upon finishing For Whom the Bell Tolls, I changed my mind. I had had enough Hemingway for the time being. The story was interesting enough, but there is something about his writing style that I just don't care for. I'd look for something else to read.
My first thought was to either re-read Lord of the World by Robert Hugh Benson or Stanislaw Lem's Memoirs Found in a Bathtub. However, I came upon a meme on Facebook that led me in a completely different direction.
This particular meme introduced me to the word librocubicularist, which I learned is the name for a person who reads books in bed. Merriam-Webster goes on to explain that the word is considered a creation of Christopher Morley in his 1919 novel The Haunted Bookshop.
Of course, now I had to look into that novel. I was interested enough to download a copy from Project Gutenberg. The novel was a delight to read. Although suspenseful in parts, the novel is light and airy and has absolutely nothing to do with the supernatural or things that go bump in the night.
The novel does have it's heavier moments when the bookstore owner, Roger Mifflin gives his thoughts on the recent "Great War" and his ideas as to how humanity should proceed in order to make certain this was really the war to end all wars. Woodrow Wilson and his upcoming trip to Europe to attend the Paris Peace Conference figures into the story.
The Haunted Bookshop is classified as the 2nd of Morley's "Parnassus series".....the first being Parnassus on Wheels. I've downloaded that novel and plan on starting it this evening.
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