Sunday, January 03, 2010

Sundays are for Sundaying

Finished 'Girl with the Glass Feet' yesterday. Not a difficult read as such but very (maybe even too) descriptive at times. He paints wonderful word pictures, with great depth and detail, but it slows the story down. Also he introduces bits that lead nowhere without adding to the narrative. Still that aside, it's a good book, very unusual. I didn't engage with any of the main characters because there wasn't anything (IMHO) to engage with but due to the weirdness of the story that wasn't really a problem. I would read his next work with interest to see how his style develops.

Am now reading 'Turn of the Screw'. I enjoyed the BBC dramatisation of this story over Christmas so decided to read the book. I've not read much Henry James and what I have read previously hasn't done a lot for me, so it will be interesting to see how I get on with this.

The Quest

High, hollowed in green
above the rocks of reason
lies the crater lake
whose ice the dreamer breaks
to find a summer season.

'He will plunge like a plummet down
far into hungry tides'
they cry, but as the sea
climbs to a lunar magnet
so the dreamer pursues
the lake where love resides.

Denise Levertov (b.1923).

1 comment:

Batty said...

I'm also getting ready to curl up and read something. I'll probably go with something trashy, though, seeing how work starts again tomorrow. Give the brain one last chance to take a breather, if you know what I mean.