The Joy of Erudition > Recent Status Updates

In publication order, this is Book 2, and that's how I'm reading it. So far this is a story-within-a-story, with the familiar characters from Book 1 (publication order, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe) returning to Narnia, but they quickly meet a dwarf who starts telling them the story of Prince Caspian.

Lovecraft is the only one I've ever heard describe penguins as "grotesque".

"It would not do to be without a light in these Cyclopean catacombs, hence in order to make the abyss trip we must give up all further mural deciphering."

FINALLY!

This part is hilarious:

"In the decadent sculptures there were signs of thinner vegetation everywhere, and of a decreased country life on the part of the Old Ones. Heating devices were shewn in the houses, and winter travellers were represented as muffled in protective fabrics."

These "winter travellers" are grotesque giant winged aliens with 5 eyestalks and radial feelers. And wearing scarves, coats, and mittens?

Lovecraft chose to tell this story in possibly the most boring way possible. The last few chapters have just been the scientist giving us the dry history of the ancient alien creatures as portrayed on the wall carvings they found.

It's par for the course for Lovecraft, but I really wish he would write scenes with dialogue and actions, instead of everything being written like a report or a diary entry.

The plot of this book is "Psychopathic poison-freak main character murders or tries to murder all of the likeable characters".

This is part of my project of reading everything that led up to The Thing. I started with Poe's Arthur Gordon Pym a few years ago, and I'm surprised that Lovecraft actually mentioned that book within this story, as a character had read it.

So far, this is very technical and businesslike with its expedition minutiae, except for the references to the Necronomicon.

‘I hate things that try to take away what you are. I want to kill those things, Mr Anybody. I want to kill all of them. When you take away memories, you take away the person. Everything they are.’

BUT *HE* MUST PAY THE FERRYMAN, he said accusingly, in a voice of crypts and graveyards.
‘Not until I’m on the other side,’ Roland said firmly.

Chris de Burgh agrees!

"He couldn’t find her without the horse, everyone was sure of that."

Why is everyone sure of that? He found her without the horse in order to give her the horse in the first place!

I can see what people were saying about how his own impending death must have been weighing heavily on his mind while he was writing this.

Granny Weatherwax glared at the Feegles. “You’ll have to walk. We’re travelin’ to Lancre Town. The address is Tir Nani Ogg, The Square.”

“Tir Nani Ogg,” said Tiffany. “Isn’t that—?”

“It means Nanny Ogg’s Place,” said Granny, as Feegles dropped off the broomstick.

==

Whaaaat? Has her name been a reference to Tír na nÓg all this time?! Now I need to examine the names of his other witches from the early books.

I don't think it's a coincidence that this winter-themed book begins with a "cold open"!

She asks the cook about a jar of dried leaves in the kitchen cupboard, and the cook says, oh, that's poison, so I keep it in the back of the cupboard so people don't use it for cooking. It's never explained why she has it in the kitchen at all!

The halfway point comes right at the end of yet another of the endless procession of life stories of every heiress of the Mayfair family. A perfect place to take another break so I can read some more reasonably-sized books.

"A young member of the order, an American from Texas named Stuart Townsend, asked to make a study of the Mayfair Witches with a view to direct investigation, and after careful consideration the entire file was placed in his hands."

Is this a coincidence or a joke? Anne Rice is known for having actors in mind when writing characters, and Stuart Townsend actually played Lestat in Queen of the Damned 12 years later.

"Our reports on the Mayfairs throughout these decades are voluminous and repetitive."

You don't say!

The reason this book is 1200 pages long is that it follows the lives of every individual heir to the Mayfair legacy, from her conception, through her life, to her death, and then we start all over again with the next descendant. I guess it's going to keep that up until we finally get back to present day and resume the story we started at the beginning.