All The King's Men

All The King's Men, by Robert Warren Penn, copyright 1946, renewed 1974, published as a Book of the Month Club book through arrangements with Harcourt Publishing.
(My next few blogs will be about this book.)

I had not gotten far when I realized this man had very descriptive verse. In fact the first page had me reminiscing about a highway I used to travel, that fit the description of Highway 58 so well that it may have been that highway. "You look up at the highway and it is straight for miles, with the black line down the center coming at and at you, black and slick and tarry-shining against the slab, and heat dazzles up from the white slab, so that only the black line is clear..."(chapter 1 page 1)
I have been hypnotized on a road like that and you have to break your concentration on the road or hope another car comes your way.

But it was from that description that I wondered what else has Robert Warren Penn written, and was correct to discover that he was a poet. His work is very lyrical and though I have only read the first few pages, I think I will enjoy the book. The setting is in the South in the 1930's, because he talks about cotton fields and reminisces about the 1920's. The author also uses words that we would not use today, unless we were writing a book set in the past and we wanted to be authentic in the derogatory terms used at the time. I will not write them for you, it is better left to the author.

Hopefully, I will read this faster then I attempted to read The Ambassadors.
Other books on my reading agenda are:
Uncharted, by Angela Hunt: I actually finished this but will be discussing it at bookclub near the end of the month so I may critique it at that time. After a lively discussion about Heaven and Hell.
An Irish Country Christmas, by Patrick Taylor: I fell in love this author after visiting Ireland. I found one of his books while I was waiting for a train. But I do not read a series out of turn, unless by mistake. So I copied his name down and went in search for the first book. A very fun read.

Have fun reading.