Masthead
One of my photos

Back on the fiction

March 28th, 2011 · Posted by Skuds in Life · No Comments · Life

Much as I enjoyed that history book, and many other non-fiction books, I’m glad to be back reading only fiction for a bit.  I have just started reading the Maf the Dog book and had not got beyond page three before coming across the sort of good writing that makes reading such a joy sometimes.

It is that knack good writers have to distill a whole concept into a few words.  Even better if they don’t then labour the point but let you stop and think about the truth or implications of what they have written.  The example here is the line:

Like most people who don’t say much, Walter was always being quoted for what he did say.

That really struck a chord.   I am quite awkward in normal social situations and not really one for small talk.  I think Jayne gets worried that I come across as surly or something and is forever quoting things I have said partly, I suspect, to prove that I do actually talk and partly to try and provoke me into saying something even if it is just to agree with myself.

It is not surliness, well not always anyway, just that I hear a silence where others hear an awkward silence.  I do realise how this comes across and so I will sometimes make an effort an over-compensate to the point of blathering.

I do like it when a single phrase in a book leads to such mental detours.

Tags:

No Comments so far ↓

Like the collective mind of the Daily Mail, comments are closed.