Despite my noticeable lack of book related posts in the last few months, I am actually still working my way through my list of novels. Or, at least, I am trying. Most afternoons I sneak in an hour or so as I wait for classes to resume in the afternoons (after siesta). However, in this week, la Semana Santa, I am indulging in blissful hours of reading in the sun and sand, undisturbed by children, students, teachers, or other administrative demands that come with being a teacher at a busy but small school.
As it sit in my beach chair, I can hear the sound of the waves crashing against the rocks on either side of our beach and the wind rustling through the palm trees. In one ear I have Bach's Prelude to Cello Suite No. 1. These factors, when combined with the now rising action of my book, Joseph Conrad's Nostromo (romance, rebellion, and the hint of betrayal), work to create a heightened sense of drama and intensity. At any moment I almost expect to see eighteenth century ships coast into this secluded cove. I can almost hear the distant hoof beats and the cries of men as they work to load the ships with carts of silver. I expect to see Nostromo himself, el capataz de Los cargadores, riding up on his impressive steed to oversee all activity with his stern and all-knowing eyes. I imagine that this is the ideal way to read this novel, and I can't imagine enjoying it more in any other setting.
