Gormenghast?

[ssk7882]

Ooooooooh, Gormenghast!

One of my all-time favorite series -- or at least the first 
two volumes are.  (The first two novels fairly well complete
a plot arc; the third, which takes the story elsewhere, left me
pretty cold, although others' mileage obviously may vary.)
But _Titus Groan_ and _Gormenghast,_ counted together as one
novel, is always up there whenever I try to compose one of those
lists of favorite books.  My original paperback copies have 
literally fallen to pieces from re-reading.

Be warned, though: Peake's prose is *very* purple.  This is, of 
course, an enormous part of the appeal -- Gormenghast is a
masterpiece of grotesquerie and excess --  but if you don't like 
that sort of writing, then you may find the books a hard slog.  
In my experience, people tend to either love Peake's style or 
absolutely loathe it; there would seem to be little middle 
ground.  So if you're contemplating giving the books a try, I'd 
recommend opening one up right there in the bookshop or library 
and reading a few pages first, before you decide to take them
home.  You'll find out soon enough if it's the sort of thing
you enjoy or not.

As for the television series, I found it...eh.  It was okay, I
guess.  It didn't excite me much, but I thought that the cast
did a very nice job.

But then, I'm absolutely the wrong person to ask, as I hardly
ever think very highly of screen adaptations of books that I
adore.


-- Elkins, who always had a little crush on Prunesquallor