Champagne, Beards and Tiaras

Oh bother it! I'm having quite simply the most frustrating reading month in a long time. I actually haven't finished a single book since returning from the Windies in the middle of September! This is partly because I have 3 on the go, partly because I pounded out a book per day on that trip and partly because I just can't be bothered. That said, I've been caned by the start of the new term and the realisation that I am now fully integrated into the Cambridge system, so no-one's cutting me any slack (least of all the 5 students in my lab, but a few grant deadlines rathered killed the passion for reading, so to speak). I didn't get a chance to read in Korea - I was too busy being wined, dined, shown around and offered prostitutes by my hosts.

The good news is that things are now back on track with A Buyer's Market. I've finished the first, killer chapter - never was a fan of those salon scenes in Proust, and it's finally getting going now. Plus, the re-introduction of Stringham (hurrah!) has lifted the mood. Quite why Jenkins is currently wandering around a rather salacious party pontificating on whether Uncle Giles would approve of it is beyond me though.

Although I'm out every night, I'm going to have a push this week to try to finish it and segue straight into The Acceptance World. I had the same problem with Budding Grove last time out - perhaps I suffer from difficult second volume syndrome.

Come on chaps. Anyone would think they were long.

Now, there is no shame in not reading, but much shame in not posting. I feel this blog as an enterprise is lagging for want of communication between members around matters Powellian and otherwise. We somehow didn't seem to have this problem with Proust, but maybe Powell is not pretentious enough - this I find not to be true. So pick up your (metaphorical) pens and write.

As an aside, I gave my mother the guide for her birthday. Apparently volume 12 is rubbish, but the middle ones excellent. We have much to look forward to.

Bought!

I get the feeling sometimes that I am taking this more seriously then everyone else, but volume 2 complete now.

This felt much more substantial than the first volume - not least because it is actually longer. However, key themes are starting to emerge: we have a greater sense of recurring characters, some of whom - Widmerpool and Quiggin in particular - positively scream generic archetype too much for my liking, though both are starting to become a little more specific and human. No explicit Proust references, though some banging on about time - with differing levels of profundity and success - and for fans of the interminable Proust salon scenes they are replaced by a slightly racier party, with fictitious royalty rather than some real nobility - boo.

Overall though it's a tricky second volume. E was right to point to a serious difference in tone, but structurally it's the same - i.e., big disconnected chunks - which could get quite annoying as we flit through a few years. Unlike Proust where the only two datable sections are the Dreyfus affair and WWI, I get the feeling that dates are going to be important in this one, so it would be better if we had some help. I'm still looking forward to vol 3, but I am feeling that this is still struggling to get into its stride. I hope it does.

And we appear not be the only people doing this.