read two books this past week. one was a crime-fiction, well-schooled in murder by elizabeth george, that my sister gave me probably 12 or more years ago. found it in my room in madison. the writing is decent, not extraordinary, but with certain qualities that make it fun to read. the second, flags in the dust by william faulkner, is one of the more moving books i have read this year. dealing with the sartoris family in mississippi, as so many of his novels do, this one was not published until many years after it was written. his publishers claimed it was 3 or 4 novels without enough of a connection. if ever there was a reason not to listen to publishers and editors, this would be it. as far as a grand narrative spanning lifetimes and historical events, like a tolstoi novel perhaps, it has more of a collected short stories feel. four main story lines separated by characters but all have a bearing on another as in the end, they are all essentially family. beautifully written in faulkner's often dense and distracted prose (stream of consciousness thrown in at times), it foretells so well the coming of realismo magico or magical realism of a garcia marquez or alejo carpentier. the final 40 pages or so are densely pathetic, stirring emotion and announcing a finality through death and birth. the novel implies that no matter how hard one struggles against fate, there are certain people who are simply born into a pattern that they are doomed to fulfill. the female characters are somewhat exempt, but to them falls the difficulty of living with and outliving the arrogance, stubborness and finally tragic outcome. but is it tragedy if you seek it? although the story in many sense affirms the inability to evade fate, it clearly shows the fate as chosen as it is inevitable.

rare novels affect the reader for any appreciable time after the story ends. nevertheless this text has clearly driven the writing of a good friend of mine down in mexico (indeed he recommended it to me), and having read it i see his own work in a different light. as well, it is clear the effect that faulkner's writing had on garcia marquez and his stories cien anos de soledad y el general en su laberinto. helping my friend edit his text i have been struck by the difficulty of writing well. sounds obvious, but when you read a text so clearly and comprehensibly written that it seems easy, you thoughtlessly compare the writing of others to it and deprecatingly demarcate the failures. unfair really.

i am now about halfway through another book called "the once and future king". king arthur story but told from a rather different perspective. if you have the time, i highly recommend it (very easy read, probably intended for younger audiences in general) as it truly is fun to read.