Because it was amusing

I ran into the dialectizer today and just had to see what it would do to my book reviews. I give you David Copperfield in:

Cockney

First off, right, I just 'ave ter mention that I listened ter David Copperfield ravver than read it, init? I 'ave the version narrated by Martin Jarvis (published by BBC WW) and 'is narration were nuffink short of brilliant. He right made the characters come ter life and coloured in the bloody story. It were like seein' a black and wite film in colour for the first time. I'm workin' me way frough all of Dickens books and am right glad I got this particular audio version. I'll certainly be 'ave a lookin' forward ter hearin' more of Jarvis. 'e made even the slower bits entertainin', alffough I fink I could 'ave done wivout copping ter know Guvnor Micorber quite as well as I did fough 'is narration (tongue in cheek). Sometimes Dickens does go just a bit over the top wiv 'is characters sometimes.

Even fough this is one of the most well known of Dickens works, right, it’s not one I would recommend ter some bloke as their first Dickens novel, init?It’s quoted in Wikipedia as bein' the bloody most autobiographical of Dickens’ works, right, wich I suspect is largely due ter it’s first geezer narration. David Copperfield 'imself tells yer about 'is life from the time 'e were a wee lad at The Rookery. The first 'alf of the book can be a bit slow in events at times, right, so if yer don’t care for Dickens or 'aven’t read any of 'is works yet, I could spot that it might be a bit tedious. The second 'alf more than makes up for this fough. I right found meself enjoyin' it once Copperfield reached an age where 'e were able ter control 'is own life somewot.

This butcher's hook, or peraps the fact that I listened ter it ravver than read it, made me realize that one fin' yer must 'ave ter enjoy Dickens’ works is a good imagination. Yer can’t just read about wot the characters are doin', yer 'ave ter picture their actions ter make it interestin', right? Once yer start ter do that, yer can begin ter appreciate 'is use of descriptive 'am sandwich ravver than just findin' it tediously long and circumspect. I suspect that’s always wot I’ve ravver liked about Dickens, but just 'adn’t realized it so concretely. The bloomin' scene where 'e mentions the bloomin' cell window bein' six or seven deep in men’s 'eads as the jostle for a better position takes on much more of a comic atmosphere wen yer picture it 'appenin' instead of just readin' about it.

If yer like Dickens, yer’ll luv this one, if yer don’t, yer may want ter try the audio butcher's hook (wich I can recommend eever way). I luvd it and will certainly read it again sometime.

Redneck

Fust off, ah jest hafta menshun thet ah lissened t'Abner Copperfield rather than read it. ah have th' vahshun narrated by Martin Jarvis (published by BBC WW) an' his narrashun was nothin' sho't of brilliant. He pow'ful made th' chareeckers come t'life an' coloured in th' sto'y. It was like seein' a black an' white film in colour fo' th' fust time. ah's wawkin' mah way through all of Dickens books an' is pow'ful glad ah got this hyar particular audio vahshun. I'll sartinly be lookin' fo'ward t'hearin' mo'e of Jarvis. He made even th' slower bits intertainin', although ah reckon ah c'd haf done wifout gittin' t'knows Mr. Micawber quite as fine as ah did though his narrashun (tongue in cheek). Sometimes Dickens does hoof it jest a bit on over th' top wif his chareeckers sometimes.

Even though this hyar is one of the dawgoned-est fine known of Dickens wawks, it’s not one ah w'd recommend t'someone as their fust Dickens novel, ah reckon. It’s quoted in Wikipedia as bein' the dawgoned-est autybiographical of Dickens’ wawks, which ah suspeck is largely due t'it’s fust varmint narrashun. Abner Copperfield hisse'f tells yo' about his life fum th' time he was a li'l lad at Th' Rookery. Th' fust ha'f of th' book kin be a bit slow in events at times, so eff'n yo' don’t care fo' Dickens o' haven’t read enny of his wawks yet, ah c'd see thet it might be a bit tedious. Th' second ha'f mo'e than makes up fo' this hyar though. ah pow'ful foun' mahse'f injoyin' it once Copperfield retched an age whar he was able t'control his own life somewhut.

This hyar book, o' perhaps th' fack thet ah lissened t'it rather than read it, made me reckanize thet one thin' yo' muss hafta injoy Dickens’ wawks is a fine imaginashun. Yo' kin’t jest read about whut th' chareeckers is doin', yo' hafta pitcher their ackshuns t'make it interestin'. Once yo' start t'do thet, yo' kin begin t'appreesheeate his use of dexcrippive language rather than jest findin' it tediously long an' circumspeck. ah suspeck thet’s allus whut I’ve rather liked about Dickens, but jest hadn’t reckanized it so corncretely. Th' scene whar he menshuns th' cell window bein' six o' seven deep in men’s haids as th' jostle fo' a better posishun takes on much mo'e of a comic atmosphar when yo' pitcher it happenin' instead of jest readin' about it.

Eff'n yo' like Dickens, yo'’ll love this hyar one, eff'n yo' don’t, yo' may be hankerin' t'try th' audio book (which ah can recommend eifer way). ah loved it an' will sartinly read it agin sometime.
Posted by TheBlackHoun'dog

Elmer Fudd
Fiwst off, I just have to mention that I wistened to David Coppewfiewd wathew than wead it. I have the vewsion nawwated by Mawtin Jawvis (pubwished by BBC WW) and his nawwation was nothing showt of bwiwwiant. He weawwy made the chawactews come to wife and cowouwed in the stowy. It was wike seeing a bwack and white fiwm in cowouw fow the fiwst time. I'm wowking my way thwough aww of Dickens books and am weawwy gwad I got this pawticuwaw audio vewsion, uh-hah-hah-hah. I'ww cewtainwy be wooking fowwawd to heawing mowe of Jawvis. Oh, dat scwewy wabbit! He made even the swowew bits entewtaining, awthough I think I couwd have done without getting to know Mw. Micawbew qwite as weww as I did though his nawwation (tongue in cheek). Sometimes Dickens does go just a bit ovew the top wif his chawactews sometimes. Oh, dat scwewy wabbit!

Even though this is one of the most weww known of Dickens wowks, it’s not one I wouwd wecommend to someone as theiw fiwst Dickens novew. It’s qwoted in Wikipedia as being the most autobiogwaphicaw of Dickens’ wowks, which I suspect is wawgewy due to it’s fiwst pewson nawwation, uh-hah-hah-hah. David Coppewfiewd himsewf tewws you about his wife fwom the time he was a wittwe wad at De Wookewy. De fiwst hawf of the book can be a bit swow in events at times, so if you don’t cawe fow Dickens ow haven’t wead any of his wowks yet, I couwd see that it might be a bit tedious. Oh, dat scwewy wabbit! De second hawf mowe than makes up fow this though. I weawwy found mysewf enjoying it once Coppewfiewd weached an age whewe he was abwe to contwow his own wife somewhat.

Dis book, ow pewhaps the fact that I wistened to it wathew than wead it, made me weawize that one thing you must have to enjoy Dickens’ wowks is a good imagination, uh-hah-hah-hah. You can’t just wead about what the chawactews awe doing, you have to pictuwe theiw actions to make it intewesting. Once you stawt to do that, you can begin to appweciate his use of descwiptive wanguage wathew than just finding it tediouswy wong and ciwcumspect. I suspect that’s awways what I’ve wathew wiked about Dickens, but just hadn’t weawized it so concwetewy. De scene whewe he mentions the ceww window being six ow seven deep in men’s heads as the jostwe fow a bettew position takes on much mowe of a comic atmosphewe when you pictuwe it happening instead of just weading about it.

If you wike Dickens, you’ww wove this one, if you don’t, you may want to twy the audio book (which I can wecommend eithew way). I woved it and wiww cewtainwy wead it again sometime.
Posted by DeBwackSheep


I'm easily amused, can you tell?

David Copperfield by Charles Dickens

First off, I just have to mention that I listened to David Copperfield rather than read it. I have the version narrated by Martin Jarvis (published by BBC WW) and his narration was nothing short of brilliant. He really made the characters come to life and coloured in the story. It was like seeing a black and white film in colour for the first time. I'm working my way through all of Dickens books and am really glad I got this particular audio version. I'll certainly be looking forward to hearing more of Jarvis. He made even the slower bits entertaining, although I think I could have done without getting to know Mr. Micawber quite as well as I did though his narration (tongue in cheek). Sometimes Dickens does go just a bit over the top with his characters sometimes.

Even though this is one of the most well known of Dickens works, it’s not one I would recommend to someone as their first Dickens novel. It’s quoted in Wikipedia as being the most autobiographical of Dickens’ works, which I suspect is largely due to it’s first person narration. David Copperfield himself tells you about his life from the time he was a little lad at The Rookery. The first half of the book can be a bit slow in events at times, so if you don’t care for Dickens or haven’t read any of his works yet, I could see that it might be a bit tedious. The second half more than makes up for this though. I really found myself enjoying it once Copperfield reached an age where he was able to control his own life somewhat.

This book, or perhaps the fact that I listened to it rather than read it, made me realize that one thing you must have to enjoy Dickens’ works is a good imagination. You can’t just read about what the characters are doing, you have to picture their actions to make it interesting. Once you start to do that, you can begin to appreciate his use of descriptive language rather than just finding it tediously long and circumspect. I suspect that’s always what I’ve rather liked about Dickens, but just hadn’t realized it so concretely. The scene where he mentions the cell window being six or seven deep in men’s heads as the jostle for a better position takes on much more of a comic atmosphere when you picture it happening instead of just reading about it.

If you like Dickens, you’ll love this one, if you don’t, you may want to try the audio book (which I can recommend either way). I loved it and will certainly read it again sometime.

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

I think I may have read this for last year’s challenge as well, and didn't really intend to read it again for this one, but it’s such a good book. The Secret Garden is one of my earliest memories of reading a book alone and is one of the reasons I fell in love with reading. It’s romantic without being overly soppy, positive and just a really good story.

Mary, a spoiled, neglected English child, living in India, loses her parents to typhoid and is returned to England to live with an uncle who neither knows nor really wants her. For the first time in her life, Mary is confronted with people who do not believe that life centres on her and she is forced to learn much about herself and the way in which she views the world. As the story continues, the reader watches her grow into a charming little girl with the extraordinary power to heal not only herself, but her cousin Colin as well, by simply realizing that sharing your pleasures with others is the key to happiness yourself. She shares her secret garden and in doing so increases her own pleasure in it. It’s a lovely, uplifting, story and is always a pleasant read. If only that summer could be stretched into childhood for everyone, we’d all be better off for it.

5 out of 5 for this one, whether you’re 5 or 50 or even 100.

Saturday by Ian McEwan

Saturday is my “New Classic” book for this round of The Classics Challenge 2009. I chose it after having read Atonement on the recommendation of friends, which was not as good as I had expected it to be, but made me curious to know about Ian McEwan’s other works.

McEwan wrote this book from a rather different perspective than usual and, it has to be said, proved his ability to write well by pulling it off. Saturday is a microspective view of one day of the life of Henry Perowne, a neurosurgeon on his day off. The narrator keeps a running description of every thought, action and reaction Henry has during that day, beginning with his waking in the night to discover a plane on fire in the sky to, well, that would be giving it away, wouldn’t it? The potential to bore the reader to death with such a blow by blow narrative is enormous, yet there is a compelling aspect to the prose that keeps the flow going so well, that there is little temptation to put the book down.

Henry is a successful man, with a successful wife, two wonderful and successful children. The picture is very nearly too perfect, yet remains believable (another tribute to McEwan’s writing ability) because the reader is allowed to see that he is neither superficial, nor ungrateful for what he has. With full knowledge of his advantages in life, Henry is looking forward to his Saturday of relaxation and release from the stresses of work, as we all do. Although he knows there might be minor difficulties ahead with the reunion of his daughter and her grandfather at dinner, he anticipates no serious trouble, and thus begins his day.

How many times does anyone begin such a day, only to have it turn into a disaster? Every death, accident or incident is prefaced by someone getting out of bed to start his day, and thus it is so for Henry as well, only this time the reader experiences the start to the day and the shock of events as they unfold. Henry’s morning is marred when he is involved in a minor car accident in the city while he tries to avoid the anti-war demonstrations taking place in London that day. This accident and the actions of the other car’s occupants shape the rest of Henry’s day, forcing him to contemplate moral issues ranging from his duties as a physician to the validity of war in Iraq. He tries to conquer his inner turmoil while not letting it affect the rest of his day and his interactions with friends and family.

The constant attempt to contain the seepage of his irritation with himself, his reactions and his refusal to address the situation for fear of further ruining his own day drain Henry and create the opposite effect. He becomes so involved with himself and his thoughts that he fails to see the bigger picture and the potential dangers. McEwan uses both the close examination of Henry’s thoughts and his temporary, but obvious, inability to see outside of himself as platforms for his themes. Showing Henry to be a flawed man prevents the book from becoming a ethical handbook for the different moral questions McEwan introduces. Since Henry is not perfect, his judgements may be just as flawed as himself, ergo his opinions are to be questioned and not viewed as law.

I’m finding it rather difficult to describe this book. It’s all rather intricately woven together, with many questions left unanswered because they cannot necessarily be answered, yet still must be considered and debated for society to progress and not regress. In the wrong hands, both subject matter and style could have been diabolical, but McEwan makes it work and makes it work well, leaving the reader with much to think about. Although some people may find it tedious in places, I’m still going to give this one 5 out of 5 because of the skill with which the work was executed.

Island Realm by Kevin J Anderson and Rebecca Moesta

This is another one of the books I bought in the series starter sale at Audible. It’s a little on the young side for me, but it was a decent, quick read all the same. I need to qualify that statement somewhat though. Had I been 10-15 years old, I would have loved the book and gone on to read the whole series. A lot of imagination went into the creation of the characters and worlds, which I think would be appreciated by younger audiences. It’s even suited to younger children who are a bit more advanced in their reading since there’s no serious violence, death or romance. I’m going to give this one 4 out of 5 even though I probably won’t personally read the rest of the series.

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

Another brilliant story from a man who was a master of telling a good tale, even if he is occasionally a tad wordy. I think if Dickens had had a good editor, his books would only have been half as long as they are.

Great Expectations is almost a reversal of the usual Dickens’ tale. Instead of beginning with a good, meek, kind-heated child who overcomes having been victimised by both his situation in life and the world around him, he starts with a young boy of lower class who has a decent, if poor home, good friends and love and turns him into an ungrateful being by providing him with unexpected and unmerited wealth. In this light, Great Expectations is a more mature, or realistic, work than many of his others. It is more likely that a child will become greedy than it is that he will remain good-hearted and meek regardless of being ill treated.

Pip is an average boy growing up in an average village with his sister and her husband Joe. He is expected to grow up and live the same sort of life as they, following in Joe’s footsteps at the forge. One night, entirely by chance and accident, the course of Pip’s life is changed when he meets an escaped convict out on the moors. Pip helps the convict by providing him with food and a file to remove himself of his chains. The point is, however, not how he helped him, but why. Pip didn’t do it out of pity or kind-heartedness, but out of fear. He was petrified of the convict and of the consequences of helping him out. Although his fear can be excused by the simple fact that he is a child, his actions having arisen from his fear and not from compassion for a fellow sufferer are pivotal for the development of the story.

After the convict is discovered and returned to the ship from which he escaped, life goes on pretty much as before. He eventually is sent for my Mrs. Havisham, who ostensibly needs him as a companion. In reality, she has designed Pip to grow up and love Miss Estella, who is destined by Miss Havisham to break Pip’s heart in revenge for her own jilting years before. Pip eventually realises what Miss Havisham is doing, but is still unable to avoid falling into the trap laid for him. His desperation at his unrequited love, his longing to break through the evil spell Miss Havisham has cast on both him and Estella, and his disappointment at not being able to do so all help to further focus Pip’s attention onto himself and his own misery.

Having set Pip up in the manner, Dickens suddenly ejects Pip from a life of toil without his beloved Estella into a life of idle luxury, when he comes into great expectations of wealth and property. He does not know who his secret benefactor is. He is only told that it will not be revealed to him until his benefactor deems it appropriate, thus Pip assumes it must be the only wealthy person he knows, Miss Havisham. Pip, grasping at straws, unknowingly uses his assumption to set himself up for even more heartache, namely by assuming that if Miss Havisham is his benefactor, that he must also be destined for Estella as well.

At this point the reader might assume that all will continue well for Pip, but his own fear, avarice and thoughtlessness take Pip on an entirely different course. Dickens sets Pip up like this in order to show that money alone will not cure social ailments, as perhaps some of his other works have suggested. Wealth can be its own curse and corrupter as well as being a boon, and Pip falls to it’s darker side. In this sense, Dickens’ title is apt. Expectations are after all, only expectations and not given facts. Just because a person is given the means to do good, does not mean that he will choose that course. As mentioned, Pip’s earlier experiences in life have already started to lead him down an entirely different path, which the introduction of wealth facilitates rather than changes.

It’s all actually quite clever when you think about it. Had Pip been another Oliver Twist who had absolutely nothing and no hopes of ever having anything, he might have been more kind-hearted and fallen less of a pray to worldly evils. He might have developed sympathy for others in the same situation as he. However, Pip was provided with the basics of life from the beginning and had people who cared about him. This paradoxically helped to make him the selfish creature he became instead of a second Oliver. It makes one wonder if Oliver would have been a less caring and happy creature had he had a different start to life or if it is his suffering and the resulting compassion that made him what he was.

Again, another good story with more good life lessons. Two thumbs up for Great Expectations.

More Thoughts on Library Programs

Hilarie left the following comment on my last post:

I enjoyed your opinions on Shelfari and LibraryThing. I am fairly new to both communities and found your comparison interesting. I find Shelfair to be more user friendly, and the interface is less intimidating than LibraryThing. I do have to agree with you that I have been surprised at some books Shelfari has not recognized.

This got me to thinking about Shelfari again and about why one person finds it more user friendly than another and I think I might have the answer. Shelfari is a fairly simple program. It does what it says and gives most people what they really need. The Library Thing is a bit more complicated. I think the reason I like complicated more is because it's what I'm used to. We have a company data base at work that's getting more and more and more complicated all the time. This has its drawbacks, particularly in lack of user-friendliness, but also it's advantages. It's advantages are that you can do so much more with the data. Create a filter here, there and everywhere to filter out data so you can complete tasks more quickly and give faster, better answers to customers. Use it once, and the next time something pops up, you turn to it again and create a new filter for more information gathering. The more you use it, the more you start to rely on it being there. I think that's why I had such a difficult time with Shelfari. I spent ages looking for things that aren't there, like how do I search my own collection? That feature's not available, but I couldn't even fathom not having it, so I spent quite a while looking for it and became quite frustrated with A, it's not being obvious where to find it and B, it's not being available at all. The Library Thing is more complicated, but has more features, like better searches, more references, more viewing options etc. This is what I'm used to, so it's what I like. Someone else who just wants a list of their books with a friendly community would be better off with Shelfari.

I'm also sure that the list of books both programs recognize will grow in future. The Library Thing does recognize more at the moment, but that's because it offers searches for many more databases. Again, this is important for me because I buy books from virtually every Amazon available (usually Germany, England or France), or from book stores here in Switzerland, who in turn purchase their books from all over the world. Shelfari doesn't offer this at the moment, but if you purchase all of your books in the US, that's not going to make a difference for you.

So basically, it's really just a question of needs and taste. I think there's a place for both programs, and if it's like the rest of the net, many people will be using both anyway. e.g., how many blogs do you have? :P

Library Programs

My library consists of nearly 700 books and I often have a difficult time remembering what I already have and/or don't have. I have Bookpedia on my computer and I love the program. It's helped me keep track of everything. however, it's not on on-line program, so all of my data is at home, where I have no access to it if I'm abroad. This is why I recently joined a couple of on-line library programs, namely The Library Thing and Shelfari. The Library Thing looked good to me, what with it's import program and the way the data base is set up. On the other hand, I had several friends on Shelfari and I didn't want to miss anything there. Seeing as how Shelfari is free, I thought, why not.

Now that I've worked with both of them a bit, I've decided I like The Library Thing a lot better. It's easier to use, has more and better features and it's faster. Now, I'm not knocking Shelfari. It's a good program if you're looking for a freebie (The Libraray Thing is free only up to 200 books). However, it's import program is poor, it didn't recognize over 100 of my titles/ISBN nos., it slow to react when you search for something, it lacks a search in your own library (necessary when you have 600+ books) and there are few tools and is just generally not as easy to use as The Library Thing. However, it is free and you can keep in contact with friends. I think I'll continue to use it for that reason, but not as a main source. I'll update what I buy and keep up with groups, but I'm not going to bother going back to fill in the gaps from my import.

Does anyone else have any thoughts on this?

A Dangerous Fortune by Ken Follett

Before I discovered audio books, my reading range had shrunk to books I considered to be safe, or books I was fairly certain I would like. I don’t really have a whole lot of real reading time, so when I did get the chance to read, I wanted it to be as good as possible. Audio books have changed this. Since I have more time, I feel I can be a bit more adventurous. I’ve always sort of stayed away from the more mainstream novelists like Grisham and Baldacci because I was afraid of (in my humble opinion) mediocre thrillers eating up my time. I prefer good mysteries to a thriller any day. Besides, I’d read the Da Vinci Code and loathed it and then I proceeded to throw all of the best sellers into the same category. This is neither fair to the authors, nor to myself, since they aren’t all Dan Brown and are potentially good authors.

Thus, I decided to try an author I’d always heard of, but had never read. My choice fell to Ken Follet’s A Dangerous Fortune. The novel begins at a boarding school in England which caters to wealthy businessmen’s children. Several boys decide to defy detention and go swimming in the local quarry. They all fear the punishment of a whipping by the head master with his cane, yet decide the hot weather makes it worth the risk. Little did they know that this would be the least of their problems before the day was done. That day indirectly decided the course of their lives for many, many years to come. Even as they grow up and enter into the world of business, banking for most of them, they are tied to that day like it’s a sack of lead weighing them down and keeping them from ever coming free of the taint. It begins an entire lifetime of blackmail, oppression, indebtedness and servitude for all of them.

The novel takes place in the later half of the 19th century and revolves around the fortune of the great Pilaster Bank and the new generation of bankers in the making. This sounds rather dull and might have been had it not been for Aunt Augusta, the self-appointed matriarch of the Pilaster family. She ruthlessly rules and manipulates the family and her social circle according to her own personal goals, delighting in the downfall of anyone who gets in her way.

In many ways, this book felt like Charles Dickens meets I, Claudius. Augusta is basically a 19h century Livia and her son, Eduard, Caligula. The prose and dialogue are well written, the plot realistic and the action believable. As a result, the characters have the power to evoke strong emotions and the reader is pulled into the story. The plot is also never dull, despite the financial setting. There’s always some sort of intrigue going on that keeps you on the edge of your seat wondering what will happen next and how the characters are ever going to get themselves out of their problems.

This book is more than just a mere thriller. It offers up quite a few interesting subjects for thought, despotism, the unintentional destruction caused by jealousy and avarice, both the evil and the good of power, just to name a few. Follett even inserts an element of social conscious and justice of which even Dickens would have approved. You could discuss it for days if you felt so inclined.

Two thumbs up for this one.

Ivanhoe

Ivanhoe is the fourth of my Classics Challenge novels and one I was looking forward to. In this particular case, I wish I had chosen to read the written version as opposed to listening to it as an audio book. I'm afraid I didn't care for the narrator. I think had it been better read, it would have been a fantastic book. As it was, I listened to parts of it on the faster setting, just so I didn't have to spend more time than necessary listening to the narrator. Often he made the characters sound like bad robots instead of actually infusing emotion into the reading as I'm sure was intended. This is just my opinion, mind. I know there are people out there who liked the narrator, so it's a question of personal taste.

The story is brilliant. There's intrigue, murder and bloodshed enough to keep just about anyone interested. It ought to be a must in schools to get children interested in the classics. Even though it is fiction, it still paints a fairly accurate picture of history and how life must have been at the time, although certain aspects may have been exaggerated or romanticised in order to make the story more palatable.

One of the less pleasing aspects of the novel is Scott's portrayal of the Jews and their treatment by the English people. It was all quite shocking to read. Most people wouldn't dare publicly profess such opinions of any race/creed these days, but in that era, it was quite common and this is a good reminder of that, and also of how far we have come in that respect. I thought Scott did this well, even if it did shock me. he didn't use the opportunity to "preach" to the reader, nor did he heavy handedly portray the Jew and his daughter as innocent victims while completely vilifying the Christians. Not all of the Jew's actions were commendable and not all of the Christian's reprehensive. That kept the narrative believable and prevented it from becoming ridiculous.

Scott himself billets the novel as a romance, and it is, but not quite in the manner we think of romances today. He uses the desired liasons as catalysts for the rest of the story, when in reality, much of it has to do with politics and power, as is usually the case when more than one man with a sword is present, or even when there is only one man and a sword. That is to say that more fighting and less love making take place as the story unfolds.

I particularly liked the ingenious way that Scott integrated the popular story of the honourable Robin Hood into the action. It was intriguing to hear all of the references to come up as the did and to try and guess what would happen next based on the knowledge of the Robin Hood tales. It made it all the more interesting.

This was another good book that I can recommend to anyone who likes a little action in their classics.