A week and a half ago, I went to upstate New York to take care of my mom’s dog for a few days while my mom and stepdad went to Montreal. I brought three books with me: Two Serious Ladies, which I finished while there, and two books I’d selected to read next. On my first day up there, I went to the Goodwill in Hudson where I bought, among other things, the book Sudden Death by Alvaro Enrigue. When I finished Two Serious Ladies I briefly considered reading one of the books I had brought with me, but instead opted to start my new book. A couple days later I went back home and I was slowly moving along through Sudden Death. About a week later, I was 100 or so pages in. I was enjoying it, but not loving it. It’s a book about tennis and Caravaggio, Anne Boleyn, Hernan Cortes. I found myself confusing the characters across generations, and the story — in as much as there was one — a little hard to follow. But generally, I was liking it. On Saturday morning, I left the house with a small purse which just fitted Sudden Death along with the basic necessities. I was going to donate blood in the morning, ahead of meeting a friend for her birthday, and finally picking up my CSA share on my way home that evening. The blood drive was in Cobble Hill, so I took the bus down there and read a bit on the way. After my blood donation I stopped by Books Are Magic to pick up a birthday gift for my friend. I managed to stuff it along with Sudden Death and the other necessities into my purse, though it wouldn’t snap shut. It was fine — I just had to manage until I met my friend and then she would carry the gift. I stopped for a bagel to keep my blood sugar up and I was standing outside the Bergen Street subway stop eating my bagel when I noticed a book on a stoop. It was an ARC of Telephone, by Percival Everett. He was someone I’d been meaning to read for a while — I even had two books of his at home that I’d picked up over the years. I tucked it under my arm, figuring I’d only have to carry it that way until I met my friend and then I could stuff it in my purse in place of the book I got her and maybe it wouldn’t snap, but that would be ok. I ended up having to walk to Jay Street because there was a train stalled at Bergen. However, I made it to the meeting point, reading a little more of Sudden Death along the way. I gave my friend her book, but it turned out Telephone was a bit bigger and I couldn’t manage to fit it along with Sudden Death in my purse. I took Sudden Death out and put it in my coat pocket, where it almost fit. It stayed put for the next several hours while we visited a museum and then went out for a late afternoon meal. I was running late getting back to my neighborhood from Columbus Circle and the trains weren’t helping any. When the A finally arrived, I took Sudden Death out of my pocket to read on the train home, but between the activity on the train and my anxiety about being late, I couldn’t concentrate. I held it on my lap through the whole trip. As I stood up to get off, I put it back in my coat pocket and walked to my CSA pick-up location, which was on the way back to my apartment. But somewhere between the train, the CSA pick-up, and my apartment, I lost Sudden Death. I didn’t realize until the following morning. I was so frazzled when I got home, I thought I might have set it down someplace weird. (I still wonder if it’s maybe in my apartment somewhere strange, though I looked everywhere I could imagine.) I retraced my steps to the yard where I picked up the CSA box and found no sign of the book. I had intended to finish it that Sunday, ahead of a trip to California on Monday where I wanted to start fresh. It was very disorienting. 
After my efforts to retrieve my lost book on Sunday, I debated very briefly what to start next and was, once again, won over by the attraction of the new. I read close to half of
Telephone on Sunday and thought I would easily finish it on the plane. I easily would have finished it and had the time to watch at least one movie had it not been for my chatty neighbor (which is a whole story of its own). I arrived in Oakland yesterday afternoon with 22 pages to go, but I was too exhausted from my day of travel to finish it last night. Of course I woke up at 5:00 this morning. I had breakfast and coffee in the dark and picked up
Telephone to read through to the end just as it was getting light. It was a really beautiful book, heart-wrenching throughout, but occasionally funny in unexpected ways. I’m glad finding this book in the midst of a crazy day finally got me to read Percival Everett. I suspect if I had not lost
Sudden Death I wouldn’t have started this when I did and it might have just ended up on my shelves alongside the other two Everett books I own. Maybe sometimes reading the most recently acquired book isn’t such a bad habit. I brought the same two books with me to California that I had taken to upstate New York last week, so maybe I will finally get to those too.
