Sunday, October 07, 2007

lonesomer dove

On the plane, I began reading a book in English that I bought at a used book store in Germany. The previous owner was apparently German, or something else, and every paragraph has a number of circled words, which must be those s/he had to look up. The words include tug, shoat, begrudged, keen, chaparral flats, roofless, mesquite, lumpy adobe, stomping and gnats. The reader gave up on page 3. Come to think of it I don't recall how to say gnats in German, though I'd been walking through swimming veils of them every day before I left.

Anyway, I gave up on page 30. Although the writing was good - I asterisked at least five sentences that were nicely built or pleasingly funny - the characters seemed caricatured. I wanted to like it, but I don’t think I have 945 pages worth of time for it. I jumped ship for Mystery in Spiderville.

7 comments:

michi said...

gnat -

we call it gelse, but not sure that's used in all of germany. stechmücke is another term.

so, what was that book you gave up on?

edbro - sounds like telling your brother to get some education. hm.

m

michi said...

come to think of it, the blog title may be the book title?

Andrew Shields said...

Mücke is what I thought of for gnat.

Larry McMuddy? I've never read any of his novels, but he gives good essay frequently in the New York Review.

Ash said...

I remember liking _Terms of Endearment_ (though it's pretty much like the movie--save for Jack's character). Never really dug much of the other stuff I read by him.

Valerie Loveland said...

How is Mystery in Spiderville?

Megan S. said...

"... walking through swimming veils [of gnats]..." Well expressed, but it makes me shudder. I've enjoyed reading your remarkable thoughts and poems. Thanks!

SarahJane said...

I gave up on Lonesome Dove. Unfortunately the book I switched to - Mystery in Spiderville - also isn't doing it for me. I have vowed to finish it, though, and nearly have. Still looking for a book that to stun and amaze me.

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