tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21671128.post3345840709950011009..comments2024-01-19T13:24:15.734+00:00Comments on ::Acquired Taste: Tim Strettonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08598897603628943741noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21671128.post-81256617082094972782009-07-15T09:38:52.700+01:002009-07-15T09:38:52.700+01:00David, if my eyes started bleeding I'd probabl...David, if my eyes started bleeding I'd probably give up too...<br /><br />There's something about Lovecraft which is compelling because of, rather than in spite of, the overheatedness of the prose. "Insanity" is pretty good shorthand for it...Tim Strettonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08598897603628943741noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21671128.post-81316880954824577682009-07-14T07:48:46.262+01:002009-07-14T07:48:46.262+01:00I wanted to read Da Vinci Code. Really, I did. But...I wanted to read Da Vinci Code. Really, I did. But his writing makes my brain bleed, and little crimson tears trickle from my eyes after only a few paragraphs.<br /><br />And I say this as someone who has happily read some genuinely bad stylists, like HP Lovecraft or Robert E. Howard.<br /><br />Maybe it would help if Dan Brown were insane like those two. Insanity has a certain can't-look-away pull for me.David Isaakhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04928598446742324391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21671128.post-37146133079432718192009-07-08T11:39:35.180+01:002009-07-08T11:39:35.180+01:00OK, hands up, I liked it and was gripped by it. In...OK, hands up, I liked it and was gripped by it. In fact I've read all of Dan Brown's books and been gripped by them all. I'd put him in the John Grisham box, an author whom I also find gripping when the mood is on me. I don't think either of them would claim they're writing great literature but they can both spin a yard like good 'uns!Alishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18406189984167289987noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21671128.post-85059612455178466312009-07-08T08:03:14.275+01:002009-07-08T08:03:14.275+01:00No-one whose opinion I respect has a good word to ...No-one whose opinion I respect has a good word to say about it. Maybe I might read it out perversity one day, but life's too short, and there are too many books I *really* want to read.Tim Strettonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08598897603628943741noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21671128.post-87724903812461395642009-07-07T21:18:55.531+01:002009-07-07T21:18:55.531+01:00...not....not.Frances Garroodhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10614916006798375706noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21671128.post-18711395802840617622009-07-07T12:59:53.558+01:002009-07-07T12:59:53.558+01:00Frances - never read it, and never likely to!
I m...Frances - never read it, and never likely to!<br /><br />I may be missing out on something amazing. Or...Tim Strettonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08598897603628943741noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21671128.post-90158417878462297802009-07-07T12:39:30.985+01:002009-07-07T12:39:30.985+01:00Just out of interest, Tim, how are you on the Da V...Just out of interest, Tim, how are you on the Da Vinci Code? Did you (a) like it, (b) finish it or (c) neither)?Frances Garroodhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10614916006798375706noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21671128.post-74093908085793162542009-07-07T11:39:42.198+01:002009-07-07T11:39:42.198+01:00Alis, on the "brutal" sex aspect, there ...Alis, on the "brutal" sex aspect, there is a highly distasteful scene in which one of the characters is raped but "enjoys it really". It's hard to know whether the sentiment was more disgusting or the relish with which the act was described.<br /><br />One way or another, I won't be reading any more Ken Follett.Tim Strettonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08598897603628943741noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21671128.post-49518230600743101172009-07-07T09:18:35.208+01:002009-07-07T09:18:35.208+01:00I'm with Aliya - didn't get beyond the fir...I'm with Aliya - didn't get beyond the first scene. And this is against a background of having read all the way through his other historical, Pillars of the Earth which - though its research was too painfully obvious on many occasions - seemed to be far more accomplished. Altogether too much gratuitous sexuality - often of a quite brutal kind - in that one too.<br />I agree with you, Tim, about the unfairness of genre-stereotyping which keeps people from reading truly great prose.Alishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18406189984167289987noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21671128.post-3591587947502414052009-07-06T18:48:48.377+01:002009-07-06T18:48:48.377+01:00'I noticed your breasts when you came into the...'I noticed your breasts when you came into the garden' - I love it! Without wishing to be indelicate, I've been in and out of lots of gardens, pregnant and not, and no-one's ever...oh, never mind. But I'm so glad you did get to page 1078, for all our sakes.Frances Garroodhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10614916006798375706noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21671128.post-71699890814359325632009-07-06T16:09:39.552+01:002009-07-06T16:09:39.552+01:00Neil, I finished the whole damn thing. I don'...Neil, I finished the whole damn thing. I don't know why: it was like eating cheap chocolate, even up to the point of being sick at the end...Tim Strettonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08598897603628943741noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21671128.post-6780377099973083062009-07-06T14:51:43.899+01:002009-07-06T14:51:43.899+01:00Good God! You got to page 1078.Good God! You got to page 1078.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00144414770507110557noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21671128.post-9944923315975433652009-07-06T13:28:23.169+01:002009-07-06T13:28:23.169+01:00I should have given up that early. I don't kn...I should have given up that early. I don't know what kept me going. It surely wasn't the breasts, a subject Follett rapidly made tedious for a heterosexual male reader - quite an achievement...Tim Strettonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08598897603628943741noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21671128.post-14837404115728319952009-07-06T12:31:38.091+01:002009-07-06T12:31:38.091+01:00Yeah, I decided that book wasn't for me on pag...Yeah, I decided that book wasn't for me on page six. I can't believe you struggled on manfully for so long. Maybe the breasts helped? Boobs as hooks, if you see what I mean.nohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00398443646324855212noreply@blogger.com