Septology is a novel written by Jon Fosse, a Norwegian writer who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2023. The book is called a "septology", because it has seven parts, which are labeled as a trilogy, including "The Other Name", "I is Another" and "A New Name". And my copy of the "Septology" was printed in one volume, although I am not sure if in the original Norwegian, the septology really was a true trilogy.

Yes, this is a little confusing.

The book also eschews normal punctuation. It is over 650 pages long without a period, although there are question marks, commas and paragraph breaks, although at times those paragraph breaks come pages apart. This does make it hard to read at first.

Yes, this is confusing.

The book follows the life of Asle, a painter living near Bergen, Norway, who lives an isolated life as a widower. A devout Catholic, he paints abstract images, and remembers his life in a series of flashbacks, where

Twist the cheap kitchen timer without looking and toss it aside, stand ready, feet about shoulder width apart, facing downrange, hands to the side, stand still and quiet, and listen.

It's cool and breezy, little puffy clouds trucking by overhead on a mostly sunny morning, the dawn chorus has dispersed and only the morning shift of birds are making their sporadic calls. Somewhere down near the swamp I can occasionally hear the monster bluejay