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Has anyone read any ribald classics? I haven't, but I've just started reading a book called Mandragora by an indie author, H. D. Greaves. It's based on a notorious play, The Mandrake by Niccolò Machiavelli - of which I know absolutely nothing.
However, my complete lack of exposure to this kind of perverse, 'naughty' comedy drew me to this work. I'm about 25% in and enjoying it. I wonder if crass comedies like "Are You Being Served?" were derived from this type of literature?
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I finished this book and thought it was a lot of fun. It reminded me of a book version of Blackadder, a TV series I really enjoyed. Naughty, witty and, overall, delicious. I give it a strong 3.5 -> 4 stars.
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I'm going to start on Black Swan Green now by David Mitchell. I bought this book on sale a while ago and was encouraged by the responses from the literary book club when it was selected back in September 2012. So I'm only a year late.
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Also finished this one. I loved this, but I've always liked tortured youth coming-of-age novels. I was around the same age as the protagonist at the time the story was set, so there was just the right uncomfortable edge to it. I spent my adolescence in a boarding school, where the social pressures of youth were pretty obvious and inescapable. I always find it interesting to see that a boy feels as trapped in a township as I felt in a school. I'm giving it 5 stars because I thought the nostalgic element was enhanced by some pretty impressive poetic devices. I particularly enjoyed the repetition or evolution of certain thoughts and phrases in different situations to give the words or expressions different meanings.
And the small tie-in with
Cloud Atlas was a bit of fun as well because the whole notion of that particular novel becomes stronger by an echo of it being injected into a completely different story.
So now, I'm freed up to start
The Secret River for the literary book club. I bought this a while ago and had planned to read it, so I was delighted when it was chosen as this month's book club read. It gives me all the excuse I need to move it up the TBR list. I'm looking forward to reading it.