When I was a kid I was what is known in the business as a voracious reader. I read everything and had great enthusiasm for it all.
"Ladies, it's all good," I was known to say.
These days I'm a lot pickier, and I'm not sure I like that. Some days I look at the shelves of bookshops and think it all looks so dull and uninviting. But that's just crazy talk. Still it would be great to have that old, uncritical keenness back from time to time. I remember in 1993 sitting up all night to finish A Secret History by Donna Tartt - crumbs, has it been that long? Mind you at least nowadays I know when I am enjoying something thoroughly.
"By golly, I'm enjoying this," I say. Because I'm enjoying it.
Reading:
I remembered what the other book was that I read last week - Something Borrowed by Paul Magrs. Two elderly women delving into mysterious goings on in the seaside town of Whitby. Like that town where Buffy the Vampire Slayer lives it appears that Whitby is a Hellmouth. I've never been there so I couldn't possibly comment. The liberal use of adjectives got me down when I began reading (please remember that Hemingway is my favourite writer, like, EVA), but I was soon so amused and absorbed by the plot line that I forgot all about that. The adjectives, not the Hemingway. I mean, come on.
Unfortunately I then moved on to PD James's The Murder Room. Now that fine woman can write descriptive prose. It was the usual gripping read and all that but the fate of a couple of the characters left me feeling melancholy. Moody, if you will. Which, I suppose, is the mark of a good writer - or a weak mind.
I stood in front of the bookshelves feeling out of sorts and unable to make a choice. Nothing unread was inspiring me so I decided to go back to old favourites. I've been browsing through a book by a one-time lawyer, law professor and writer, Edward de Grazia: Girls Lean Back Everywhere: The Law of Obscenity and the Assault on Genius. As the title might tell you, Mr de Grazia is no fan of censorship and this book is a fascinating look at obscenity trials in the US (and a little in England) from James Joyce's Ulysses in 1902 to 2 Live Crew in 1990. The book is based on trial transcripts and contemporary opinion and includes de Grazia's musings on how obscenity is defined and used to attack free expression. Juicy, enthralling stuff.
Top 5 Songs:
Goody Two-Shoes - Adam Ant
Harper Valley PTA - Jeannie C Riley
Rough God Goes Riding - Van Morrison
121 - Robert Forster
Holy Water - The Triffids
2 comments:
Adjectives get me down, too.
Spot on Haze. St Hilda was an abbess in Whitby and the school in Mosman Park named for her was ABSOLUTELY a hellmouth.
Post a Comment