Catch-22

I tried twice with the audiobook version of this book and maybe got one third of the way into it before quitting. It was brought to me by the Verge bookclub, so I thought I'd persevere with it, and bought the Kindle version. That's when it began to make sense. I guess some books just aren't suited to the audiobook format for me.

As with Les Misérables last year, which I gave up on twice, this has become the book of the year for me. This is no throwaway pulpy book. The language itself is utterly gorgeous. It kind of has a Python-esque wit and humour to it, intelligent and dense, while seeming somehow shallow. It's difficult to explain. I found myself highlighting phrase after phrase in the Kindle app and laughing out loud in parts. It's the sort of writing that makes you want to share the phrases with loved ones. If only I could read this in a group and talk about it like we used to talk about Spitting Image on a Monday morning in the playground.

Again, as with Les Misérables, this is a book I would dearly like to return to and to have a nice printed copy of. It's the kind of book that, having read it through once, it would be useful to have in a Kindle app to dip in and out of in a waiting room or at a bus stop. The language is that good.

I loved every bit of it. The message to take away from this is that, more often than not, classics become so for a very good reason and that perseverance really can pay off!