Comparative Reality

One problem with being an avid collector of books, but not a particularly fast reader, is that more and more often I'm finding that my interest in a book declines noticeably between the time I purchase the book and when I actually find time to read it. And if I buy another book (or books) in the meantime, I'm more likely to read those books than the ones that have been waiting patiently on the shelves.

...

In the very recent past, I've purchased, read, and enjoyed three books. Before that, though, I seemed doomed to read halfway interesting books, that all evidence indicated should have been far better than they were.

One was a collection of stories written by Avram Davidson. He's widely praised, but I just couldn't get into it. The stories weren't bad; it's just that they weren't great, and that's what I had been led to expect. The plots were OK, the writing was OK, but I read four of the stories, and just didn't feel a strong urge to read the next 200 pages.

Similarly, I was disappointed by Barbara Tuchman's The Proud Tower. Maybe because it's not a single narrative, but a collection of four (?) essays about the same time period. This made the book difficult to really get into, but I also discovered that I just don't care all that much about Anarchism, or the flailings of 19th-century proponents of that philosophy. Her other books are so much better than this: Better written, better organized, and just more readable in general. I read the first section, then left it on the bedside table while I read other books. Honbestly, though, I doubt that I'll ever get back to it.

So I decided to pick up something that I was pretty damn confident would be lighter, and certainly more amusing: Love and Other Near-Death Experinces, by Mil Millington. This was a good decision. The story races along, Mil's humor is very much in evidence, and it's just a good, quick read. The story is not particularly deep or complex, but the characters are interesting and well-written. And, of course, it's funny. It's "chortle suddenly and annoy your spouse" funny. Recommended, especially if you need a change from surprisingly dull non-fiction.

Even though the plot seems a bit more...hrm, not "nebulous." But something that's very light and airy, and not particularly substantial. But it's not bad because of that. It's really about the characters, and these characters are some of his most interesting. Yes, out of three whole novels. Hey, I'm just saying whether I liked these books or not; don't expect a massively in-depth of the books as they relate to the entirety of Western fiction.

Staying with amusing British authors...or, I suppose more correctly, British authors who write amusing stories (because they might be incredibly boring in person), I dove into...er, actually, I think I might have read this one first. It was a few months ago, so I've lost track. That would make sense, because I really knew that this one would be very quick, and very amusing: The Pirates! In an Adventure with Ahab, by Gideon Defoe. It's short, it's amusing, it's very funny, and I damn well with they didn't cost $15 each. I don't begrudge the author any royalties, but it's difficult for me to justify spending that much on a book that I'll finish off so quickly. Recommended, certainly, but try to find a used copy. Then send the author a couple of bucks.

What, you want more information? You've got a bunch of ridiculous, but earnest pirates, a chance encounter with a quite mad Ahab, and a hunt for Moby Dick that ranges across America and surrounding areas. Yes, even the parts that aren't particularly close to oceans. Moby Dick is very cunning, you see. And Ahab is rather single-minded, and not one to display much skepticism when someone suggests that Moby Dick was last spotted in, say, Las Vegas. No, don't expect historical accuracy. This is a string of funny bits that do, in fact, manage to tell something like a story.

I'll leave the regular old non-funny fiction books for the next post.