Late additions to the Reading List....

[Nigel E. Richardson]

A couple of Pynchonesque novels from this side of the water:

LEMPRIERE'S DICTIONARY - Lawrence Norfolk (1991)
Long (623 pages), dense, strange, funny and packed with wordplay, 
insane digressions, learning, conspiracies and invention. Norfolk is a 
self-confessioned Pynchon and Gaddis fan and it shows. Set in the 
early 17th century and involving the East India Company, the seige of 
La Rochelle, Tristero (yes), Henry Fielding's brother, robotics, a 
character named Farina, mad chases, quests and plots. It's a totally 
crazy book, and not totally successful but it's a hell of a weird 
read....

POMPEY - Jonathan Meades (1993) Possibly the most deliberately nasty
book I've ever read, a family saga that runs from the mid-40s to the
70s, weaves in and out of real and imaginary history, sex, drugs,
murder, fireworks, canine porn stars, pygmy hunts, low culture,
fascism and words that are hard to find even in the Complete OED, 
involving the mad, the bad and the sick. Very black, very inventive
and very funny if you can stomach it. 
---------------------------------------------------------
Nigel E. Richardson
nigel at impolex.demon.co.uk 
http://metro.turnpike.net/N/ner/