The Literary Reflection, VII

Once again, and for the first time in a while, it's time to write a little about the books that have been read, but which don't quite support a post all of their own. There are only three this time, due to quite a few of the books on the piles being extremely thick, but why not plug on and do some doodles anyway?

'Three Men In A Boat' (1889) by Jerome K Jerome

It's a classic, and part of that tribe of texts written at the end of the nineteenth century which still feel modern even now. It feels amazingly fresh, and has a very unusual combination of humorous narrative and internal story-telling. An excellent book, which has the serious drawback of being so good, and so slight, that it's difficult to write about. Funny, witty, fittingly brief, and definitely a classic that lives up to its reputation on its now fourth or fifth re-read. Very good. Especially the bit with the mounted fish.

'The Ghostway' (1984) by Tony Hillerman

Hmm. This would be a great novel for me, if it weren't for one particularly and incongruously gruesome passage. Otherwise, it would be an automatic keeper. The idea of a Navajo detective in the Reservation's police force as the protagonist is sheer genius, and it's great to get into all the traditions and ways of the tribe, even as it's pointed out that they are traditions and ways which are dying out. The writing is excellent, with depth, and I didn't see the ultimate twist. However, there is a sequence where a hitman dismembers and mutilates a dead dog, and that's a major black mark, so black as to make continuing the whole thing problematic. We will see. Recommended, if you're less squeamish than me.

'Journey to the West' (volume 2) (16th C) by Wu Cheng'En and WJF Jenner

Finally, we have made it to the end of volume two, and it is still a wonderful sequence of humorous and fantastic capers. There is no letup in the amazement of this having been written (or codified?) in the sixteenth century. Apart from the occasional coarse moment, it's fantastic, but you have to be able to deal with an episodic epic to appreciate it, and have no problems with translated poetry with no apparent rhyme or reason. The prevailing question remains the same: How incredibly incompetent are the Tang Priest, Friar Sand and Brother Pig, that they need Monkey to bail them out every time? Will Monkey eventually fail and have an instant character moment instead of a long-term evolution? Will his associates ever improve to the point of being able to spend an hour alone without being captured by a demon? Two more volumes will reveal some of those answers, or none. There's no way to predict what will transpire. Will they even reach the Holy Scriptures?

O.