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| Don Sylvester |
Amid all the wearying worthiness of so much of Radio 4's daily output these days it's a pleasure to stumble across a bit of pure pleasure-giving BBC broadcasting. And my recommendation today is yesterday's Radio 4 Drama, The Penny Dreadfuls Present: Don Quixote - a very funny take on a book which, like most people who've tried it, I've started but not finished. And it had an intelligent sting in the tail too (which I won't spoil).
It wasn't long before Sancho his new master stumbled across arguably their most famous adventure. It didn't earn this status because it was particularly remarkable, you understand, but because it was the first one and most people don't get very far through the book....
I've never tackled it, thinking it might be a bit of a plod. I do have medals for completing Moby Dick and War and Peace ...and I can proudly state I didn't miss out the battle scenes as did Mrs Brains. I can heartily recommend Tristram Shandy as a long old book that actually is hilarious, full of surprises and at times profound.
ReplyDeleteI made an attempt on Moby Dick last year and very much enjoyed it till I got to the very long chapter on whale species when, geekishly, I started checking out the facts and got completely bogged down. I must continue it. I'm with you on Tristan Shandy. In fact I'd flourish my stick like Trim here and now in celebration of it if Google Blogger allowed it.
DeleteWar and Peace was great. I couldn't put it down. Have never attempted Moby Dick. Don't think I'd stay the course. Incidentally, Bob Dylan talked at some length about it in his Nobel lecture. From studying it at school, I think he said, it was one of three books he chose as a key influence.
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