Posted by Peter Ceresole on July 27, 2009 at 21:51:35 user PeterC.
In Reply to: Re: Thoughts on posted by John Lambert on July 27, 2009 at 18:59:10:
I remember reading it with a feeling of awe. This was real stuff. This was the genuine article. I think when I finished the novel, I was nearly as exhausted as the Swallows.
Yes. I agree absolutely. If any of the books has to be measured as a powerful literary achievement, WD is it.
But for me that doesn't make it my favourite. Maybe as I get older the pleasure principle becomes uppermost- hence PM and WH, which have been my preferred ones for a decade and more. I re-read them more than the others. I suspect it may be because of the Ds, who from the moment I read WH were the characters with whom I could identify the most. Townies, you see. And Dot being forensic in BS; I loved that. Clever girls were always what I liked. But mostly, it's the superb descriptions of clear days, lived with interest, with complex lives superbly described.
And now, for a change, I shall go off and read about Sir Garnett racing down river... As vivid a passage as you could want.