Friday, October 19, 2012

Life is too short

For my birthday I was given a Waterstone's voucher which enabled me to buy three books. The first was the excellent autobiography by the cyclist David Miller which I devoured over two, maybe three, days. The next was an apocalyptic-based novel entitled: On The Third Day. I had to give up – the author had decided to replace chapter format with micro-short sections. While I prefer the division of a narrative with the ebb and flow and cliff-hanging of chapters, what irritated here was the POV change between these short sections. (There were even POV leaps in some of these.) This disrupted the flow of the story. The other problem was the incessant use of short sentences. You know the type. It's a technique which grates. When it's used for description. Instead of for pace. So I stopped.
The relief of finding Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children is well-writing was a joy after that. True, the narrative occasionally appears forced to accommodate the photographs, but the writing carries it through. There are lessons to be had here, I think ...
 
Oh, and my photograph for the day? At first glance, it would appear we bred a peculiar type of child of our own here in Suffolk.
 
Don't do stupid – it's just not clever.
Total recorded cycled miles since 21st July 2012: 1524 

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