21) Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves by PG Wodehouse
This being the second Wodehouse I had read, I was jolly well ready for some spiffing stuff, and I was not disappointed. I hugely enjoyed watching Jeeves and Wooster as a child, and the witty dialogue comes across as well on the page as it does in the series, if not better, as it is accompanied by Bertie's inward musings and revelations. The only thing which slightly disrupted my enjoyment of the book was Bertie's tendency to use single letters to replace words, for example: "I sank forward in my chair, the f. buried in the h.". While it's clear to anyone familiar with English idioms what he means, it rather pulls you up short, but this may, in fact, be the effect that Wodehouse is going for: a slight annoyance on our part at Bertie's laziness, while equally enjoying his ridiculousness.
22) The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot
Alternately diverting and dull, this novel is not something to be undertaken lightly, and I must confess that I may not have reached the end had it not been for the fact that I'm studying it. Just to give you an idea of its length: if you were to listen to the audiobook, it would take thirteen hours. I think it actually took me longer than that to read, as my mind had a habit of wondering off, and so I was often forced to read the same page several times.
I don't want to be too harsh on Eliot, she (yes, she's a woman!) created some extremely interesting characters and surprising character development, it's just a rather slow book to take off (although much better than Robinson Crusoe, don't even get me started) and goes off into philosophical musings too often for my liking (did anyone else force themselves through all the philosophy in Sophie's world just to find out the answer to the mystery?). All in all, a book to read if you have a lot of patience and time on your hands.
No comments:
Post a Comment