The Stone Raft, by José Saramago

Now and then, I'll find a book lovely and also a slog. The prose is beautiful, but my mind will drift as I read. I'll have to go back and reread sentences, or paragraphs. I can only read a few pages at a time. My abandoned shelf on Goodreads has a fair number of these: Chromos and The Unconsoled for instance. (Note that there's a Saramago book lingering there too.) I was still on a break from Wolf Totem, which I guess now I have set aside indefinitely. I decided to read The Stone Raft -- which was loaned to me by a friend ages ago; I think before my last trip to Portugal -- ostensibly because I am going to Spain and Portugal in November and I thought it would put me in the mood. Or something. I had also recently reread my short post about The Gospel According to Jesus Christ, though maybe not closely enough. (If you read that, you'll see there's something of a trend with finding Saramago slow-going, and also going to Portugal in November I guess.) In any case, in the end I did love The Stone Raft. It did get me in the mood to go to Spain and Portugal. Saramago requires a patience that I don't always have, but when I devote the necessary attention, it's so worth it.