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<DIV>In a message dated 4/8/2007 3:46:25 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
vermoulian@yahoo.com writes:</DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: blue 2px solid"><FONT
style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" face=Arial color=#000000 size=2>I notice
Bruce Trinque, noted Patrick O'Brian scholar<BR>and afficianado, has joined
the Urth list. </FONT></BLOCKQUOTE>
<DIV>An aficionado, yes. A scholar, no.</DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: blue 2px solid"><FONT
style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" face=Arial color=#000000
size=2>Welcome,</FONT></BLOCKQUOTE>
<DIV>Thank'ee, thank'ee. Now, over on the Patrick O'Brian list we keep
around some grog to welcome new members. I don't suppose ...</DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: blue 2px solid"><FONT
style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" face=Arial color=#000000
size=2><BR>Bruce! It'd be interesting to hear how you compare POB<BR>and
GW...<BR></FONT></BLOCKQUOTE>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV>I find the reading of them to be vastly different experiences. POB's
prose sweeps me along, while that of GW demands my close, close attention,
frequently stopping and going back to se what I had missed -- and ninety percent
of the time I find that Wolfe is simply employing a narrative technique of
plopping in new names and references to old incidents without laying in
preparatory groundwork. I think that O'Brian adheres fairly closely to
traditional narrative techniques, while of course Wolfe delights in
experimenting with new ways to challenge his readers (not that O'Brian does not
occasionally lay a trap for the unwary).</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>I frequently listen to O'Brian novels as audiobooks while commuting; I
cannot conceive of doing that with Wolfe (finding it necessary to go back and
re-read).</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>I have recently re-read the Short Sun trilogy, then took a break with a few
history volumes, the read (for the first time) "The Knight", then another break,
then "The Wizard", and now another break before I tackled "Soldier of Sidon" (I
have read the first two Latro books some time ago and plan on browsing through
them -- but not re-reading -- before I embark on the new one). I find
these breaks between Wolfe novels to be necessary to avoid overload, while I can
read one POB novel after another.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT lang=0 face=Arial size=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" PTSIZE="10">Bruce
Trinque<BR>Amston, CT</FONT></DIV></FONT><BR><BR><BR><DIV><FONT style="color: black; font: normal 10pt ARIAL, SAN-SERIF;"><HR style="MARGIN-TOP: 10px">See what's free at <A title="http://www.aol.com?ncid=AOLAOF00020000000503" href="http://www.aol.com?ncid=AOLAOF00020000000503" target="_blank">AOL.com</A>. </FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>