When I finished reading The Maias, I turned the pages, looking for an image of Maria Eduarda -

When I finished reading The Maias, I turned the pages, looking for an image of Maria Eduarda -

Rebecca West's Black Lamb and Grey Falcon runs to 1150 pages. All I can do here is give a few examples of how the world looks once it has been filtered through her way of seeing -

The Sheltering Sky, the book and the movie

Il avait tout lu, tout digéré, il avait pensé, jour par jour, année par année, à tous les problèmes humains et il ne savait pas faire certains gestes, entrer dans une auberge, s'asseoir à une table.

It's midsummer here and, for a very short time, we have these poppies in our garden. It changes so quickly

I read Children of the New Forest when I was at primary school, aged 11 or 12, I can't remember. When I was about 50 and travelling I found a copy and dipped into it again. This is what I thought at that time. But look at that sentence, 81 words.

"The use of money ended...

Nicolas Bouvier's book is full of treasures - here are two examples (my translations) #booksky

I've been reading The Wings of the Dove with an editor's pencil in my hand & deleting the accumulating redundant phrases that make James’s sentences so difficult to understand. It’s a sacrilege but it’s very instructive.

I have read Proust, and the sentences of Claude Simon that run to 5 pages but it is Henry James who I have found the most difficult. Here's a sentence that I've laid out so that I can understand it.

"It's quiet," said Quoyle, listening.
"There's the sea." Like a door opening and closing.

Annie Proulx, in The Shipping News

Alexis de Tocqueville says of General Bedeau -

Son seul malheur fut d'être mêlé à des événements plus grands que lui, de n'avoir que du mérite, là où il fallait avoir du génie...

In "Souvenirs"

This seems a good place to start, pages I've read today in David Peace's Akutagawa novel, Patient X, the third of Peace's Japanese novels I've read