Goldfinch

Coming to an end of The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt - after a full week of enjoying that rich, loaded, subtly complex writing - and descending into the dread of the final third of this wonderful book. Because I'm reading it in digital format I've slipped into the 'I'm on 97%!' way of thinking that you get into, and at this late stage - without having read reviews or interviews, so i don't know for sure - or whether i'm wrong or stating the bleeding obvious - I'm wondering if it's a partial rewrite of 'Great Expectations'?  I mean in terms of the way the characters map onto each other - the calm, sweet, artisan uncle; the faded elderly society belle; the Estellaish object of hopeless desire and the dreadful feeling of criminals lurking at the fringes of the action...  as well as the loyal and troublesomely homoerotic best friendship.

anyhow - i loved this from beginning to end. A solid, entrancing novel - satisfying in the way that John Irving's novels always seemed to strike me.

The next thing is the beginning of 'A Hundred Years of Paperbacks' - which is the project that Stuart and I have been cooking up for the past week. It's a reading challenge that looks like it could take up the next few years if we let it...  i'll be back with further details soon, I hope...