HeyJaredBook Idle
Life at the tempo of one page and then another. Virginia Woolf reading group.
- Indexed issues, last 90 days
- 4
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- Sep 27, 2026
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- Jul 26, 2026
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A novel must be a house fit for free characters to live in (opens the original)
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Before I start, I wanted to mention that I had a (very short) story published over at – please read, please like!ProportionalityRecently I read a post by Matthew Lamb about the craft of biography writing. (The full post is here.) In it he formulates a principle of proportionality: By which I mean that the form and content of the biography should be proportionate to the form a
Poorly arranged indexes – a lonely cri de coeur (opens the original)
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This is an extended quibble about indexes – those alphabetised directories at the ends of books entrusted with unlocking the book’s valuable stores of information. Sometimes useful, sometimes an insult to logic and common sense. I have only one goat and it gets got with surprising frequency when I turn to the back pages of non-fiction books. Subscribe nowWhat bone could I possibly have to pick with indexes? Read on.1. Main gripe: illogical hodgepodge of nested entriesI do not like inde
‘A better writer than you think’ (according to A.S. Byatt) and ‘Readable even when in hospital beds awaiting drastic surgery’ (according to Lady Ellenborough, whoever that is) (opens the original)
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Georgette Heyer is famous for her Regency romances in which some sort of moneyed rake goes head-to-head with an innocent, bubbly (or possibly smart, plucky) heroine and, after much sumptuous description of Regency-era clothing and cuisine, falls in love with her and reforms himself. Recently I read two of Heyer’s romance novels and didn’t like them all that much, notwithstanding Heyer’s impressive command of historical detail and 19th century idiom. It surprises me that Heyer’s romances enormous
Reading incomprehension (opens the original)
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While not the dullest tool in the shed, the shed of human intellect is vast and I’m nowhere near the top shelf. I am, for example, a slow reader and often have trouble understanding what I’m reading and, like many dull tools, have developed compensatory skills. The skill of doggedness, for example; a willingness to persevere when nothing makes sense. I’m not particularly dogged in other departments of life, but I am with reading. I’m willing to read the passage over again. I suppose eventually e
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