Athelstone

Merle Oberon wasn’t the finest Catherine either. But Larry, dear Larry, was hopelessly miscast.

I read Middlemarch very quickly when I was 19 and still had the habit of reading 2 or 3 books every week. MM took me a whole week. I have no recollection of how I felt about it afterwards, because, in my usual way I was onto the next book. Parts of it have sort of emerged into my mind, and, if I’m honest my writing over the years. The book that…[Read more]

Not directly – or any of the other books on his list. I only remember a few. I suppose it was on his list because it gives an insight into how people think about life and death and some other major philosophical issues. My difficulty stems from myself, I think. I sometimes find it hard to read something that I’ve been told I ought to read. On…[Read more]

Good to know that other Denizens have issues reading classic works. I remember the professor of philosophy at university remarking that there were a few books that every educated person should read. One of them was “The Magic Mountain” by Thomas Mann. Took me 40 years and 2 translations to become educated 😁

I’ve tried to make the consequences easy to negotiate.

Absolutely. The Sri Lankan civil war, which the west often overlooked as uninteresting, was a terrible but facinating period. I don’t think Jules knew that I was particularly drawn to its history, but if not it’s a lucky accident. The book is a fantasy applying themes from mythology to create a story from the time. It was the Booker prize winner in 2022.

That makes me very happy. Thank you Sandra.