I have just posted a comment on Marianne's blog-page, in response to her piece about bedtime reading, and I reproduce it here, in the hope that it might spark a little interest in someone else. My own current bedtime reading, I told her, is Wilkie Collins' The Woman in White, which I recommended to her for its highly soporific qualities - it must be one of the most boring books ever written! Which has surprised me, since it came highly recommended, and was apparently waited for with bated breath, when it first appeared in serial form in the 19th century. Dickens it is not, however - though it does have a certain mesmeric charm, especially at bedtime
The excellent A.N. Wilson on the other hand, is just now recommending (in the Daily Telegraph), that we all take up Dante's The Divine Comedy , and read it cover to cover. Twenty minutes a day for a month should do it, he says; and all our lives will be transformed as a consequence. I'm thinking of giving it a go - I managed all of Proust after all, so why not Dante? Is there anyone out there who would care to join me? I'd be very much more committed to the enterprise I'm sure, if I knew that somebody else was probably getting ahead of me.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
Quite a few hits are from me - ...& last night there were two I hadn't read! Are we to get to like Mr Porteus? I think perhaps not! Always looking forward to reading more....
So what you're saying is, The Woman in White lacks narrative grip?
Did I say that Andrew? What I do seem to recall saying is that I thought it must be one of the dullest books ever written.
Though come to think of it..........
Post a Comment