Books within dreams within books within dreams…

(It didn’t get that far, but maybe it will eventually, if I ever edge over some critical tipping point between “this is the part of my brain that is not filled with books” and “ALL IS BOOK HERE”…)

I suddenly remembered just now that I had a dream last night about reading a book by Jeff Vandermeer, whom I haven’t actually read yet. I don’t remember what the book was about anymore, but I remember it being fragmentary, illustrated, and mystifying. Dream-book, come back!

That further reminded me that about a month before I actually read K. J. Bishop’s The Etched City (my review), and was eagerly anticipating having the time to read it, I had a dream about reading it, a sketchy, dust-filled dream built around the one or two clear snippets I remembered about the book from Vega’s review of it (desert, outlaws, irreal city). When I actually read the book, I was only briefly disappointed that the city in it didn’t look anything like the one I dreamed about, since the actuality (“actuality”?) was just as satisfyingly mysterious, though a lot more humid. I’m still trying to figure out what was happening in the dreamed etched city, though.

Does this ever happen to anyone else?

– E

4 thoughts on “Books within dreams within books within dreams…”

  1. Ooh, I don’t think I’ve had that kind of dream in a while…mostly because the dissertation has melted my brain. I mostly dream about yarn these days (for real. See previous re: melted brain. But dream!yarn is seriously awesome).

  2. Melanie – I don’t think I read, per se – it’s more like looking at a book and having its story mysteriously conveyed to me, occasionally by a narrator in my head. (That’s always fun, especially when the narrator is insistent on oddly specific phrasing.) Surprisingly though, I’ve never had “must find this book” dreams!

    Jeff – Most nefarious! I should have suspected something was wrong. (Thanks for the visit, though.)

    Andy – Haha, also surprisingly, I don’t think I’ve ever dreamed about yarn. You have to do some dream-yarn write-ups in your knitting blog sometime.
    Hope you’re surviving dissertation-hell…!

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