Thursday, September 18, 2008

rocking, half human, nom de plume

Beyond the breakers, I ride the swell and allow it to rock me gently as the sun bounces off the water.

A scruffy dog, which belongs to one of the waiters at our favourite restaurant, hungry for attention, has a half human look in its eye.

Having left Proust at home, I begin my holiday-reading with a short novel called 24 for 3 by Jennie Walker. It is about a woman who knows nothing about cricket. She finds herself floating between her husband, who likes to explain the game to her and her lover who enjoys making a mystery of it. She, in the role of narrator, meanwhile, likes to make a metaphor of it. Half way through the story, the theme seems to me to be a good idea and amusing. But I smell a rat. There is something wrong with the narrator´s tone and point of view. Would a woman really talk about sex as she does. Then on the penultimate page I read that Jennie Walker "is the pen name of Charles Boyle ... who lives in London with his wife and two sons". O my prophetic soul!
I decide that the the best thing about the book is the final page headed: A note on the type. "The text of this book, " it says, " is set in Berling, a modern face designed by K E Forsberg between 1951-58. Inspite of its youth it does carry the characteristics of an old face; the serifs are inclined and blunt, and the g has a straight ear." I think to myself that the type face is almost the best thing in the book, and the last sentence of the description of the type face, the very best thing.

1 comment:

tristan said...

ah, you read so much more clearly than i !

maybe i have a blunt ear !