August 2022 Reading Thread

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I finished the first Cadfael book, A Morbid Taste For Bones. It's a nice little mystery with a good concept, but let down by the unnecessarily dense prose, which at times was like wading through porridge. And why do so many historical and fantasy novels have to make their dialogue so awkward and stilted? People didn't "speak like that" in the past: in 12th century England, they basically spoke another language. So why not have them speak normally? It's the first in the series, so perhaps they improve as they go on, but I'm not in a hurry to find out. Disappointing.
 
I read all the Cadfael books back in the late 80s/early 90s and loved them, but shelf space meant they got given to a charity shop. Then 3 years ago I felt nostalgic for them, and I've gradually reacquired and read all but one of them, and I've loved them all over again! They're like comfort food -- easy to read and digest, but still satisfying.

I recall reading a review of one of the TV programmes, and the reviewer picked out a specific phrase uttered by one of the characters as being unnatural/weird/clumsy -- and I went back to the book and there it was. But I didn't have any problem with it on the page, even if on the screen it came over as a bit clunky. Her characters don't talk as we would do, but I never saw that as a problem, nor did I find any stiltedness in it. In fact, later in the series there's a letter which is read out which is very formal and stiff, very different from the dialogue, and that reads as authentic for the time for the written word, which surely must reflect somewhat on how they spoke.

I wouldn't say her prose is dense in the Cadfael books -- in fact, compared to some of her modern detective novels I've read it's a model of lucidity! The only thing that does get on my nerves now -- which I never noticed back when I first read them -- is the odd places she puts the dialogue tags and the excessive use of exclamation marks!
 
dask said:
Putting the brakes on Norman Mailer's The Castle In The Forest, perhaps temporarily, perhaps not. Where it's going is hard to figure but for now: incest incest incest, enough enough enough.

Now starting Four Past Midnight by Stephen King.
Click to expand...
Okay, the difference between these two giants from my present pov: if King ran for mayor he'd be elected.
 
Currently BATMAN :THE DARK NIGHT,MASTER RACE. Frank Miller.
Ghost in the Shell by Masamun Shirow.

Comic books.
 
"The Shipshape Miracle and other stories"
"The Dusty Zebra and other stories"
"The Thing in the Stone and other stories"
- Volumes Ten, Eleven and Twelve of the Complete Short Fiction of Clifford D. Simak
Very pleasant reading. The Thing in the Stone is one of my very favourite short stories, reminiscent of Way Station.
Many thanks as ever to @2DaveWixon
 
Finished John Updike's Rabbit is Rich, but became less enchanted with it toward the end. The plot turned out to be very shapeless, and the detailed observation, though still occasionally sparkling, got a bit tiring. Some of the MC's less pleasant aspects got a bit uncomfortable to read about too. Still glad I read it though. A hundred pages shorter and it would have been a definite 5*.

Now back to The Silmarillion.
 
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