Day Two Hundred and Forty Two
Jack the Giant Killer by Richard Doyle Page: 95 Finished
The Bookshop, The Gate of Angels & The Blue Flower by Penelope Fitzgerald Page: 221
Jack is a bit violent. Not exactly Grand Theft Auto…but seriously bloody. There is actually an illustration of a giant getting it in the head with a pickaxe! Not for the faint of heart.
I’m sort of enjoying Penelope Fitzgerald. Except that the first book is about a bookshop that closes down. And I’m also a bit tired of all the 20th century “literature” that I’m being forced (yes forced) to read. Many of the books are quite good but really very few are truly great and on the whole it just seems that there is way too much of it. I feel like Everyman’s 100 Essentials list should have been much more heavily weighted toward pre-20th century works and included more medieval works, more poetry and much less fiction. If Penelope Fitzgerald is “Essential” why isn’t City of God? Or Malory?
I do appreciate this opportunity to learn more about 20th century fiction and I believe that I’m doing well to have read these books but I’m not convinced that they are anything like essential.