Outsmithing the Wordsmith

Have I been sucked into a vacuum? I'm beginning to wonder if my brain has been completely drained of all grey matter and only dust and detrius is left in its wake.

I am attempting to read the Gormenghast Novels by Mervyn Peake, a contemporary of JRR Tolkein. I was perusing an article that bemoaned the fate of modern writers and how they are just not up to snuff. The article writer mentioned that these books would appeal to those who liked both Harry Potter and Tolkein. I thought to myself, "SCORE! New stuff to read!" and tottered off to Amazon and bought all three novels used for under $10.

I am finding it as hard to get through as Tolkein's Silmarilian. I have tried to read that book on four different occasions. I can't get as far as page 100. Bah!

The problem with the Gormenghast novels is that every. word. has. meaning. And that meaning must be expounded upon by more meanings. Because the meanings make it all meaningful and worthwile. *sigh*

Don't get me wrong. I like to be challenged in my reading. But this? Is beyond tiresome. Adding to the brain drain fatigue this is giving me, I'm honestly not interested in the story. The characters are not interesting at all, all their little idiotic idiosyncrasies included. They are dull, inscrutable, and completely un-relatable. Not that I think that all characters in a book need to be relatable, mind you. You do need some inscrutable things going on to make a book interesting, IMO. But this is a bit ridiculous.

I'm going to keep pressing on, however, and see if I can't make a breakthrough here. I mean this is supposed to be a great work of fiction, on par with the whole Lord of the Rings etc., etc. And I love those books and re-read them frequently. I wanted something epic but above the level of Harry Potter. Well, I got that, didn't I?

On the subject of books, I also recently picked up Stardust by Neil Gaiman. It is utterly charming, sweet and a very quick read. They did a good adaptation of it for the movie, IMO, but like most things, the book was better. However I do have one quibble. The book is marked for the YA market. That means the 9-15 year-old set. There is one very noticeable and graphic sex scene in the book. And this makes it appropriate for children just how? Am I becoming a curmudgeon in my dotage? I remember sneaking my romance novels when I was 15, but that was at 15. Sex scenes don't belong in what is supposed to be a PG-13 market. The moral slide continues as I get more and more grumpy about these sorts of things.