22 Dec 2004

What I'm reading ...

I have started White Teeth by Zadie Smith.

I read this book before, but I am re-reading it [unusual for me] as it is the Jan Bookclub selection.

After a couple of chapters, I have to confess that I can recall very little from last time. It is slightly familiar, but I have no idea what the story will be about.

What is clear to me is Zadie Smith's amazing use of English, particularly the use of very accessible metaphors. Here are a couple of examples:

"Archie's marriage felt like buying a pair of shoes, taking them home and finding they don't fit. For the sake of appearances, he put up with them."

"He was a man whose significance in the Greater Scheme of Things could be figured along familiar ratios:
Pebble : Beach.
Raindrop : Ocean.
Needle : Haystack."

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