The cover of this book and the intriguing title, ‘Timoleon Vieta Come Home A Sentimental Journey”, caused me to pick it up and bring it home with me in the first place. The shape and taste of the words and the feel of the paper enticed me to choose it as my “on the train to work” reading. And so I began ……
On Monday I was lucky as my usual morning travelling companion was absent and so I had a good 15 minutes to make a respectable start. So far so good.
I really like this book. I love the deceptive simplicity of the way it is written. The words don’t get in the way of the experience. But… can you feel the “but” worming its way to the surface? Here’s the part where I confess to being more than a lapsed reader. I am also a certified prude. I don’t enjoy explicit sex in books, which is one of the reasons that what is often disparagingly referred to as “middlebrow fiction” has been such a safe area for me in the past and was instrumental in introducing me to some of my favourite bloggers in the days before they actually had blogs.
In theory I could skip over the explicit parts of the book. That’s difficult to do. Like watching a scary film, you hav eto keep peeping through your fingers to see if it is all over so that you can get on with the main part of the story. And I do want to carry on, if only to find out why the dog is called ‘Timeoleon Vieta”.
Is there anyone out there who wants to share their thoughts with me on whether or not they would continue to read a book that contained large passages of descripion they they found distasteful?
C r a f t y P e o p l e ---- confessions of a lapsed reader 
Wednesday, November 4, 2009 at 9:20
This is a tough one. I read a lot of detective fiction and sometimes find there is too much upsetting violence for me to enjoy. I have given up books because of this, but as you are enjoying the rest of the book I think I’d have to advise carrying on and putting up with the finger peeping.