Reading Masterful Writing

I have been doing a bit of reading lately. When I say “a bit” in this case, I intend a falsely humble understatement. You see, I like to boast when I’ve done a substantial amount of reading, because frankly, I once had a very predictable habit of abandoning substantial reading endeavors and I like to think now that I may have conquered that tendency.

Recently, my wife was put onto The Count of Monte Cristo (Alexandre Dumas) for the purpose of a ladies book club / discussion group. She borrowed the 1500 page book from the library, and immediately upon starting it knew that I would also enjoy it. So she borrowed the audio version (43 hours on 35 discs) enabling me to listen in my truck (where I spend a considerable amount of time).

In case you are not already aware, this book is extremely addictive, or as the marketing blurb on the back notes, it is a thrilling page-turner. So, not being in my truck on evenings and weekends, I picked up the hard-copy anytime I found it having been put down in the house. I successfully read the book cover-to-cover, if it’s all right to use that expression when an audio version is also involved. I enjoyed every minute of it and was very proud of myself for sticking with it…and credit of course is due to Dumas for not tempting me to lose interest at any point throughout the novel. It is superbly written.

Reading that much put me into a reading mode, so to speak. So in a free moment this afternoon, I browsed the bookshelf in the living room and picked out Joy in the Morning (P.G. Wodehouse). This is a book I’ve read before, but if you’ve ever read Wodehouse, you know that one can never get enough of his writing. His books are worth the read even if you have the story completely memorized because it is enjoyable enough simply to admire his mastery of writing.

For your general enjoyment:

Narrator and key character Bertram “Bertie” Wooster says of Jeeves, “He did not reply for a space. A wooden expression had crept into his features, and his eyes had taken on the look of cautious reserve which you see in those of parrots, when offered half a banana by a stranger of whose bona fides they are not convinced. It meant that he had come over all discreet, as he sometimes does, and I hastened to assure him that he might speak freely.”

In an unrelated note, Wooster opines, “This whole business of jacking up the soul is one that varies according to what Jeeves calls the psychology of the individual, some being all for it, others not. You take me, for instance. I don’t say I’ve got much of a soul, but, such as it is, I’m perfectly satisfied with the little chap. I don’t want people fooling about with it. “Leave it alone,” I say. “Don’t touch it. I like it the way it is.”

*Note: Joy in the Morning is also known as Jeeves in the Morning. It was published under the different titles for the UK and US respectively.