I've been reading The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay during my lunch breaks. I'm about two thirds of the way through, and I'm thinking that I would like it even more if it actually was a comic book. Or a movie. The thing is, I'm enjoying the story, and love the dialogue in the book, but I've been skimming pages and pages of description that have little relevance to the story. Chabon apparently has never met an adjective he didn't like. That's fine. He's very good at describing things so perfectly that you're absolutely in the world of K&C, and he's not boring about it. It's just that it's hard work to be constantly building these meticulously detailed scenes in your mind, and it gets to be a drag after, well, chapter one.

In a movie, all the world building is done by by the production staff, so one's mind can listen to the dialogue, enjoy the plot, occasionally look at the scenery, and still have time to remember to have some more popcorn. And be done in two hours.

Speaking of overly wordy books about heroes and bold adventures, I continue to make slow headway through The Silmarillion, a little bit every night before I turn out the lights. Not the best way to do it, because I'm usually sleepy, and I invariably have to go back a page or two just to get the characters straight again, so it's slow going. Last night was fun, though. I'm in the middle of the story of Beren and Luthien, at the part where Sauron captures Beren and Felagund and the rest of their party, and throws them naked into a pit to be eaten by werewolves. Meanwhile, outside my house there was a raging thunderstorm, with louds cracks of thunder and blasts of light. Set the mood perfectly...