Almost done.. and something about books

Posted on Wed 27 September 2006 by alex in general

There has only been one guy the last two days but he's made good progress. All but the kitchen sunlight and the doors are now installed. It turns out the windows have been replaced at least one anyway as the old sash mechanisms are still in the frames. Thanks in part to getting rid of the crappy secondary glazing and the fact the new windows sit a little further back I actually have window sills. I may even consider some house plants :-)

I got tired of plodding through Heinlein's "Time Enough for Love" last night so I switched to Mervyn_Peake's Titus Groan. This was a book recommended to (and brought as gift :-)) for me after I recounted my Mum's failed attempt to get me reading some classic Dickens one school holiday.

Let me set out my position first. I love the English language. I really do enjoy the versatility of it. One of the things I enjoy about books is the fact that even in these days of ubiquitous CGI the pictures are in fact better. Reading or hearing the word "pendulous" for example conjures up more than a fleeting moments of screen time can.

However where Dickens failed me was how ponderous the books were. Yes I appreciated the colourful and descriptive language. However do you really need to take 2 pages walking from the creaky front gate to the ornately decorated front door? It is probably not helped that barring holidays I do most of my reading in bed. There is only so much a tired brain can take in.

I was heartened to see the number of chapters Titus Groan had. At least keeping all the chapters short makes it more manageable bed time reading. Having read the first chapter I can certainly agree the language is very evocative. My minds eye visualisation was certainly more detailed than for Heinlein's book. The next week will see if it engages me enough to pick it up every night :-)