The weather was so depressing today that I did nothing but read and drink lots of tea to keep warm. I'm currently reading "Washington D.C." by Gore Vidal, an author I only decided to start with because he appears to have absolutely hated Truman Capote. After reading Capote's debut novel and hating it - I literally had to force myself to finish it, even though it's really short - I decided that everyone who dislikes Capote is a friend of mine. So I bought two of Vidal's early novels and thought they were brilliant. Well, "Julian" certainly is, and "The City and the Pillar" puzzled and disconcerted me, in a good way.
Gore Vidal's rather pretentious kind of cleverness is at the right level between being annoying and being brilliant. At least that's my opinion, but I'm pretty sure that many would find him annoying and nothing else. If nothing else, I love his sense of humour and the way he always seems to introduce important bits of information in asides. Clay, who loved her, found himself almost liking her. A bland example, I know, but it was the first one I could think of. He also likes playing with the readers' expectations.
Of course, reading a book about American politics is an extra treat. It's the thing I really entertain myself with instead of watching tv. Ok, that's a half-truth, but reading articles about American politics is just as good as soap operas.
As for Austrian politics, I can't even remember a time when Alexander van der Bellen wasn't the Green party's chairman. What are they going to do without him I wonder?
No comments:
Post a Comment