In the Middle of Things

I'm starting this blog in medias res, or in the middle of things, you could say, since at this point I'm about 18 books into my quest. (See the list, in the left hand column.)  I started this project in the summer, and since then I've read a few histories, some novels, and a science book.  I'll be telling you about those books as I go along, taking a detour off the here-and-now road to discuss The Beak of the Finch or The Professor and the Madman or one of the others.

At the moment, I'm in the middle of a novel called The Gun Seller.  It was written by Hugh Laurie, who many of you probably know as the star of the TV show House.  I really like the show and the actor, which is one of the reasons I decided to get the book.  Curiously though, the book was published in 1996, long before the TV show got started and the actor became well known to the U.S. public.  It's Laurie's only novel to date, though he's apparently done other writing--screenplays, articles, songs. (I got biographical information from the only official website that I know of for Hugh Laurie, from Fox.) 

Laurie's obviously a multi-talented fellow, but I'm not sure what to make of the novel.  It's apparently intended to be a not-quite-serious take on a spy novel, something I figured out right away from the tone and the excessive verbiage.  I thought, is this guy serious?  There were so many words!!  I must confess I was put off by that when I first started the novel--so much so, in fact, that I stopped reading it.  It was just too hyperactive, if you can imagine a book being hyperactive.  Well, here's a sample:

Now, my question goes like this: do you break the arm quickly--snap, whoops, sorry, here let me help you with that improvised splint--or do you drag the whole business out for a good eight minutes, every now and then increasing the pressure in the tiniest of increments, until the pain becomes pink and green and hot and cold and altogether howlingly unbearable?(3)

That was only one sentence, mind you, and it was two paragraphs into the opening scene. Can you blame me for being a little bit put off?  I guess it is supposed to be humorous, but I found it nerve wracking, so I set it aside and read a couple of histories and a serious mystery novel before I returned to it, but I must say, even though I know it's supposed to be like that, the wordiness still distracts me.  I can picture Hugh Laurie saying the words, though, which helps me get into the spirit of things.

I'm still only about 2/3 the way done--partly because it's not a book you can really entirely get into (for the reasons mentioned).  But I'll talk more about that and the book's other features in my next post.