Took me four months to read “Seven Pillars of Wisdom” by T.E. Lawrence (“of Arabia”) and I skimmed some of the details of tribes. I was reading other things at the time; could only handle so much of it at once.

Fascinating book, a mix of tedious minutia about Arab tribes and fighting the Turks in Arabia during WWI, chapters of deep philosophical musing, some shocking life details, and insight into his semi-neurotic imposter syndrome. He was an interesting guy.

Probably not worth your time - his works are all very similar in terms of tone and over-the-top writing.

You might try watching one of the Fry & Laurie adaptations of the Jeeves stories. Laurie’s depiction of Bertie is brilliant.

James Joyce tips his hat and gives up the throne.

Sorry to hear it. His approach to historical fiction always carried the possibility of becoming a trite formula -

2004* wants its article back

*year of the first Kindle

old-time movies have got you:

• romantic dialogue

• steamy kiss

• scene of train entering tunnel

• and on the next day …

Read it when it first came out and it was a sensation - nothing like it had appeared begfore and people went bananas.

Hofstadter is a good writer but he badly needs an editor - he takes twice as long as necessary to say something (usually because he thinks of several cool examples and includes all of them)

It’s quite common for your opinion of an author at one age to differ when you get older. Books you like now will seem different in your 50s.