---
source: mastodon
date: 2023-10-08 19:36:09.61 +00
title: "Mastodon post from October 8, 2023, 111201076486425085"
in_reply_to: 111122842830317244
post_uri: https://mastodon.social/users/gravely/statuses/111201076486425085
post_id: 111201076486425085
tags:
  - mastodon
---
22nd book of the year: “The Trial" by Franz Kafka.

Someone in Bernal Heights (Bonview at or near Cortland? It was a few months ago) left a box of books on the sidewalk with "FREE" written on a flap that had a few things I grabbed, among them, DFW's “Consider the Lobster, and other essays” which I started and abandoned (lol), and this.

I enjoy stuff like this from time to time but don't think I'm "smart enough" for it, whatever that means (and I'm not entirely sure).


![paperback cover, Schoken press edition, introduction by George Steimer, a red tinted photograph of a face—really only the right half from chin to eyebrow—peers through four black bars inset on a black cover](./111201075996025397.jpeg)

![the copy I read, yesterday, on my blue beach towel in the foregrown, my own shadow on the patio pavers in the background, where I was working on my suntan yesterday, wondering why god gives me his toughest battles (why I chose to read this instead of a page-turner that would actually be relaxing for the weekend)](./111201076119320998.jpeg)