I am reading, for review, A.S. Byatt's The Children's Book. I am finding it marvelous, the sort of book in which savor every sentence, to make sure you don't get through it too fast. It has reminded me 0f what sort of absorbing, magical experience reading is meant to be. It is why my blogging has been spotty and will remain so over the next few days (I also have a deadline to meet).
I was so excited about The Children's Book that I ordered it from the UK back in the spring, and I agree with your assessment: it's Byatt's crowning achievement (and I say that as someone who deeply admires her Virgin in the Garden through A Whistling Woman tetralogy--an absolutely stunning novel in every way--at the level of the sentence, in its structure and planning, and in its thematic resonance.
ReplyDeleteYet it may still not be the best novel I've read this year--that honor may go to Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall, another book I rushed to order from the UK in the spring that is just now being published here. I'll be rereading it next week to review it for the Second Pass, and I expect it to be as stunning as my first time through.
This all makes me feel quite spoiled as a reader.
Frank and Levi: You've whetted my reader's appetite, and now I have an intense desire to get my hands on the Byatt and Mantel books. You've set the bar rather high, and I trust my great expectations will not be frustrated. (Sorry for the tortured, mixed metaphors.)
ReplyDeleteFrank, I shall look forward to your review ... and to reading the book, myself. Thanks for the heads-up!
ReplyDeleteJust got my copy in the mail. Can't wait to have a chance to read it.
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