Thursday, June 3, 2010

RLS: Master of Description

I've been working steadily on the Robert Louis Stevenson collection. I had forgotten how much I loved The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde. This is Stevenson's classic tale of man's inner struggle between his "evil" self and his "good" self. The description of Jekyll's last few days and hours...how he tried very hard to get his old self back and vanquish the evil Mr. Hyde was quite effective. It showed exactly how difficult it is sometimes for our better nature to win out.
 
And I had forgotten Stevenson's descriptive powers--particularly showcased in the short story "The Merry Men." I could feel the sea spray on my face and hear the howl of the wind and mad, chanting of the "merry" waves. "The Body Snatcher" (the most recently finished) is a tale worthy to be included in one of Hitchcock's spine tingling collections...perhaps it has been. It has one of the best surprise endings so far.

I took a little break form RLS today...after the weekly visit to the library book sale--I of course came away with "new" books in hand--I sat down and re-read Murder in a Mummy Case by K K Beck. This light mystery set in the 1920s was just what was needed as I waited for Brad to pick me up after work, to read on the way home, and to finish up as dinner was cooking. As a bonus...I had forgotten that it has a bit of an academic twist to it, so picking it up to own (having read it many moons ago) was definitely a good idea.

Now, I return to RLS...next story: "The Beach of Falesa." I don't think I've heard of this one before.

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