I hope you read the whole trilogy? Not only Titus Groan and Gormenghast but the third part as well? Titus Alone? If not i can recommend it. If you like the two first you should like that one. i like them and usually clasify them as fantasy even if they are more mature than ordinary fantasy. They kind of show you what fantasy can be but seldom are, the oppurtunities of the genre so to speak.Just about to start rereading Titus Groan and Gormenghast, by Mervyn Peake, two of my favourite books. Are there any other fans of these gorgeous, sprawling, unclassifiable novels here? I read them every few years, and always look forward to it, like looking forward to a holiday.
What Are You Reading?
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I'm with you, Danie!! Even though i finished it I agree with your exclamation marks.
Now I want to read them *off to thrift books*
Thrift books had a three in one volume for a little over $5
Thanks for the rec, Kurben and Holly Gibney !
I've read Titus Alone, yes, and... liked it but didn't love it, whereas the first two books are, as you say, an example of how great literature can be but so rarely is.
As you probably know, the story of Mervyn Peake's later years is an extremely sad one. The general opinion seems to be that he wrote the third book while in the early stages of the dementia that would later claim his life. Reading the book, this seems all too likely, to me. It comes across (to my eyes) as confused and dreamlike, like somebody wanting to tell you something but not knowing where to start. I enjoyed the book and will definitely read it again, but it doesn't feel like part three of that wonderful story (really, no adjectives are sufficient to describe the brilliance of the Gormenghast series!).
I would be very interested to hear your views on it, Kurben! Do you enjoy it as much as the other two, and does it feel like a natural continuation of the story? Have you read any of the other less well-known Gormenghast books, Boy in Darkness and Titus Awakes? Personally, I haven't, but will surely get around to them one day.
Also, Wikipedia informs me that the Australian Broadcasting Corporation produced a radio adaptation of Titus Groan, Gormenghast and Titus Alone in the 1980s, which was actually the first time that Titus Alone had been performed on the radio. This sounds wonderful, and I would love to hear it.
Thrift books had a three in one volume for a little over $5
The pleasure is all mine, Skimom! I love introducing people to books that are really, really great! Honestly, prepare to have your experience of reading turned inside out, upside down and sprinkled with thousands of dancing and scintillating colours... Gormenghast is a true one-off. If you ever find better prose writing, please let me know; I doubt if it exists anywhere in the world!
A very, very big smile for your imminent discovery of Mervyn Peake's utterly unique genius...
Did not know about the dementia. When it comes to Titus Alone i assumed that it suffered from the usual difficulties many authors have in finishing of a trilogy as strong as they began it.I've read Titus Alone, yes, and... liked it but didn't love it, whereas the first two books are, as you say, an example of how great literature can be but so rarely is.
As you probably know, the story of Mervyn Peake's later years is an extremely sad one. The general opinion seems to be that he wrote the third book while in the early stages of the dementia that would later claim his life. Reading the book, this seems all too likely, to me. It comes across (to my eyes) as confused and dreamlike, like somebody wanting to tell you something but not knowing where to start. I enjoyed the book and will definitely read it again, but it doesn't feel like part three of that wonderful story (really, no adjectives are sufficient to describe the brilliance of the Gormenghast series!).
I would be very interested to hear your views on it, Kurben! Do you enjoy it as much as the other two, and does it feel like a natural continuation of the story? Have you read any of the other less well-known Gormenghast books, Boy in Darkness and Titus Awakes? Personally, I haven't, but will surely get around to them one day.
Also, Wikipedia informs me that the Australian Broadcasting Corporation produced a radio adaptation of Titus Groan, Gormenghast and Titus Alone in the 1980s, which was actually the first time that Titus Alone had been performed on the radio. This sounds wonderful, and I would love to hear it.
Well. This certainly makes me feel better. From the guy who's read nearly every book that has been written.
Four--Veronica Roth's quintet of short stories about a character in her Divergent series. I needed something light. I liked the character a lot in the series, so it's nice learning more about him.
I've read the trilogy and liked it but did not go on to Four. I tend to be suspicious when a trilogy gets a followup just because it wasso popular but it is good too? Should i try to locate it?
I like it so far! 2 stories in. Four was a strong character, I thought, and seeing him more developed is interesting. The first story is about him becoming Dauntless, the second about his Dauntless initiation and early training.
I'm reading a new one — Marlena, by Julie Buntin — that's due to release on Tuesday. Though I'm only halfway finished, it might just end up being one of my favorite reads of 2017.
Also, I'm about to start reading a little book called Boy's Life... not sure if anyone here has heard of it. It'll be my first time.
Also, I'm about to start reading a little book called Boy's Life... not sure if anyone here has heard of it.
It'll be my first time.
Oh man...loooooved Boy's Life!I'm reading a new one — Marlena, by Julie Buntin — that's due to release on Tuesday. Though I'm only halfway finished, it might just end up being one of my favorite reads of 2017.
Also, I'm about to start reading a little book called Boy's Life... not sure if anyone here has heard of it.
Most recent book that I finished was Straken by Toby Frost . Its military science fiction book set in the Warhammer 40 K universe. This is an excellent book fast paced , exciting and memorable characters !
The story of Mervyn Peake's last years is a real heartbreaker, Kurben. He was a war artist during the second world war, charged with accompanying an army battalion and drawing what he saw so that it could be reported in the newspapers back home. He was actually one of the first people to enter Belsen after it was liberated, and it would not be much of an exaggeration to say that the things he saw there practically destroyed him... Remember that people in those days did not know half as much about what was happening in the concentration camps as we know today - they had heard rumours, and they didn't know how much of it was true. They probably doubted a lot, just in order to carry on living. Mervyn Peake entered Belsen and was completely unprepared for the sights that awaited him. He drew what he saw, and was never the same again. When he came home from the war, he suffered a complete mental breakdown, and stopped speaking altogether. This may even have precipitated his dementia. He struggled on for a few years, but was eventually committed to a psychiatric hospital, where he died just a few years later. He spent the last few years of his life completely mute, and unable to recognise his family when they came to visit him. And this was the man who, just ten years before, had created one of the most vivid and fabulously faceted fictional worlds ever conceived.
There was a lovely BBC documentary about his life a few years ago. Very well done, and very respectful. It is worth watching when you have 50 minutes to spare.
Finished Marlena — 5 stars. Starting a new one called The Breakdown, by B.A. Paris (I LOVED her debut novel, Behind Closed Doors) which is due out in June. Also decided to begin on Sam the Cat, a story collection SK recommends in the introduction to Everything's Eventual.
Starting a new one called The Breakdown, by B.A. Paris (I LOVED her debut novel, Behind Closed Doors) which is due out in June. Also decided to begin on Sam the Cat, a story collection SK recommends in the introduction to Everything's Eventual.
He hasn't read that novel Steve wrote especially for me. Oh, wait, I wasn't supposed to say anyth............(sounds of wood chipper starting up)
"Oh, Paul. You're going to make me the envy of the whole world!"
I'm currently reading 1984 by George Orwell. Down to the last sixty pages or so. By no means is this a picker upper. 
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