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Apr 2020
9:29am, 9 Apr 2020
47,233 posts
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Diogenes
The first page of INSORT is quite lyrically poetic. It had a rhythm. I liked the first page.
McGregor establishes strict stylistic constraints on his narrative with the result that they can be difficult to read, or at least impenetrable to begin with. This book features a large number of characters which initially at least, aren't named. Instead they are identified by their house number or their clothes.
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Apr 2020
5:12pm, 11 Apr 2020
44,568 posts
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McGoohan
Almost half-way through The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle now and loving it. It's a complete original and a real page-turner. I expect you'll love it Little Nemo. 
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Apr 2020
6:36pm, 11 Apr 2020
10,392 posts
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Little Nemo
Blimey, it really is a race. I'm also half-way through but I don't think I'm enjoying it as much as you. We can compare notes at the end
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Apr 2020
8:02pm, 11 Apr 2020
9,231 posts
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PaulaMc
It’s going to take me a while to get through the Hilary Mantel. I might try to make inroads tomorrow by not doing anything else but read.
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Apr 2020
8:38pm, 11 Apr 2020
44,569 posts
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McGoohan
LN - we'll have to compare notes on here but in a crafty way so's not to spoil it for anyone.
e.g. I think there's a ... ahem... pretending to be ...ahem... but is going to turn out to be ... ahem...
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Apr 2020
1:37pm, 14 Apr 2020
47,438 posts
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Diogenes
The man in number 52 is reading his book. Or rather he is looking at the pages while thinking about other things. If he closes his eyes he can see the writer scribbling in a notebook like an artist making a sketch. The writer begins by drawing outlines and blocking out the main shapes. After a while, after looking at things from this side and from that, after squinting and frowning at the page, he begins to add detail and shade. He will spend a little time working on one area before moving on to another. The man opens his eyes, lays down the book and moves to the window. He wasn’t expecting a mystery, but everything in this story is a puzzle. It is called If Nobody Speaks Of Remarkable Things but, so far, there have been no remarkable things to speak of, only the mundane, and even they go unremarked, except in indirect speech. Why do you think he is doing this he asks his wife, but she doesn’t know, she isn’t in the book. Something remarkable will happen, he thinks, but it will be quickly forgotten in the stillness of the afternoon. A jogger runs by. I should do that, he thinks, I should go for a run.
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Apr 2020
1:39pm, 14 Apr 2020
44,603 posts
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McGoohan
(And then the book went straight on the Oxfam pile)
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Apr 2020
1:39pm, 14 Apr 2020
44,604 posts
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McGoohan
(^Brilliant though... great precis/homage/pastiche)
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Apr 2020
5:47pm, 15 Apr 2020
44,640 posts
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McGoohan
40 pages from the end now LN...
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Apr 2020
5:54pm, 15 Apr 2020
44,641 posts
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McGoohan
I was right about the ... ahem... above BTW
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