This Is My 400th Blogagaard Post!

I'm currently 354 pages into THE MAGIC MOUNTAIN by Thomas Mann. In most cases you'd think this was pretty far into a novel, but since the book weighs in at over 700 pages I'm only about halfway there. Wikipedia claims that THE MAGIC MOUNTAIN started as a novella, and that Mann went back later and thickened it out.

Right now, I wouldn't mind skipping the thick version and reading the novella. I mean, it's a good book, but sometimes reading THE MAGIC MOUNTAIN is like climbing a freaking mountain. It's a story about a 24 year old German guy named Hans who visits, on a long-term basis, a sanatorium in the Swiss alps where they eat two breakfasts a day. The narrator lays on the 19th century narration style a bit thick sometimes. Such as:

What is time? A mystery, a figment-and all powerful.

And so on. I was going to type more from that passage, but I collapsed against my keyboard and now I have to go to the hospital to have my head stitched up.

Evening.

7 comments:

David Oppegaard said...

The longest book I ever read was The Dream of the Red Chamber, translated from the original Chinese. That baby weighed in at about 3,000 pages. Took me two insane months, following its soap opera progression through the rise and decline of two different Chinese families in the olden times.

David Oppegaard said...

Wait. I think I've blogged about that before. You see, this is the danger when you babble over three years in 400 posts....

mm said...

That phrase works with practically anything.

"What is Mikey?
A mystery, a figment-and all powerful."

"What is Guitar Hero 3?
A mystery, a figment-and all powerful."

"What is the interweb?
A mystery, a figment-and all powerful."

Make your own, it's fun!

David Oppegaard said...

"What is Paris Hilton?
A mystery, a figment-and all powerful."

starshrines said...

"What is Blogagaard?
A mystery, a figment - and all powerful."

"What is voice mail?
A mystery, a figment - and all powerful."

It is fun!

Anonymous said...

Hi Dave,

Congrats on the 400th post. Its been fun to reading the blog... looking forward to your book(s) whenever they come.

Was listening to Bob Dylan; and for some reason they reminded me of your blog.

N

David Oppegaard said...

Thanks N!

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