Posts from the ‘A Dance To The Music of Time’ Category

Do You Hate Yourself? Read This Novel.

If A Dance To The Music Of Time was a dinner, it would be a plain hamburger with no cheese, no ketchup, no mustard–nothing–with a couple of cardboardish rice cakes  meant to substitute for delicious, crispy, salty french fries.

All of this would sit on a plain, white plate with a white napkin and white plastic utensils. Next to the plate, a lukewarm glass of water would sit. No lemon. No ice. No straw.

When you finished that meal, you would say, “I just ate the most boring meal in the history of meals.” That’s what you would say. And you would be right. But what if that meal was a series of books?

Why would you eat a series of books? You wouldn’t. But you might read a series of books, and these books might bore you, not unlike that awful hamburger and rice cake combination.

All of that is a horrible lead-in to say I’m approaching the halfway point in the “Year of The Dance”–which is my year-long read through the 3,000+ page behemoth known as A Dance To The Music Of Time by Anthony Powell–one of the novels on the Time list.

Read more

“A Dance” Is Finding Its Rhythm

Maybe A Dance To The Music Of Time has finally worn me down. It’s beaten me up, bruised me, tossed me around like a Cabbage Patch Kid without a leg. Because, somehow, I’m willing to say the fourth book in the series, At Lady Molly’s, wasn’t that bad.

It’s not that anything changed with Anthony Powell’s style. It’s not that, all of the sudden, the plot took off and became action-packed and filled with suspense.

I still would say A Dance To The Music Of Time might be compared to the most boring reality show ever, a show in which the main characters sit around and talk about history and go to social parties to discuss the merits of Communism over a glassy of sherry.

All of that is still the same. I think the characters are just finally starting to grow on me. After nearly 1,000 pages of reading, I would hope a few of these characters would begin to seem interesting. And they have.

Read more

Book 1 of “A Dance”: A Question of Upbringing

At the first of the year, I told you I was proclaiming 2012 as “The Year of The Dance.” The thought being that I, along with you if you are so interested, will read through Anthony Powell’s behemoth 3,000 page novel, A Dance To The Music Of Time.

With the novel being broken into 12 separate “books,” I think it’s totally doable in one year. So I’m simply reading one book a month.

With that, today’s post is my brief look back at the first book in this series. If Time wants to consider Dance as one book on their list, then that would make A Question of Upbringing the first chapter. A 230 page chapter at that.

Read more