Watership Down - The Prelude
The Prelude
It all began on the night of the 6th day of the Lunar New Year (23 Feb 2007) when I was back home in Ipoh, and could not get to sleep. It was frustrating just lying down on your bed with your eyes closed, willing yourself to sleep, only to discover an hour later that you are still as mentally alert as ever. Never shall I drink two cups of coffee again in a single day.
Anyway, since I could not sleep, I decided to read a book. As I rummaged through the bookshelf (this was my parent's house, so my regular reading material was not with me), I came across the book Watership Down. It was a book that I have heard much about, but never really got down to reading it, as it looked like a rather thick and boring tome. Actually, it was not so much the size of the book (500 pages) that intimidated me, but the mere thought of all the flowery descriptions a la Lord of the Rings. More often than not, many authors like to write long flowery proses about the flora and fauna of the English countryside, which to me is really filler material to increase the author's word count (if they are paid by the number of words). I am really quite happy enough if the author says "The rolling hills were beautiful", and then end it there. No need to describe the dandelions, the cowslips, and the strawberries. In fact, it would be even better if they could write it in the format of a play (which I usually prefer due to its economy with words), and then intersperse it with prose that serve to advance the plotline.
Enough digression already. As I have said, I could not sleep, and had all the time in the world, I figured that reading a thick and boring tome might help me to sleep, and that was where I was wrong. I found myself reading 10 pages, and another 10 pages, and then another 10 pages until I had finished almost 100 pages.
It all began on the night of the 6th day of the Lunar New Year (23 Feb 2007) when I was back home in Ipoh, and could not get to sleep. It was frustrating just lying down on your bed with your eyes closed, willing yourself to sleep, only to discover an hour later that you are still as mentally alert as ever. Never shall I drink two cups of coffee again in a single day.
Anyway, since I could not sleep, I decided to read a book. As I rummaged through the bookshelf (this was my parent's house, so my regular reading material was not with me), I came across the book Watership Down. It was a book that I have heard much about, but never really got down to reading it, as it looked like a rather thick and boring tome. Actually, it was not so much the size of the book (500 pages) that intimidated me, but the mere thought of all the flowery descriptions a la Lord of the Rings. More often than not, many authors like to write long flowery proses about the flora and fauna of the English countryside, which to me is really filler material to increase the author's word count (if they are paid by the number of words). I am really quite happy enough if the author says "The rolling hills were beautiful", and then end it there. No need to describe the dandelions, the cowslips, and the strawberries. In fact, it would be even better if they could write it in the format of a play (which I usually prefer due to its economy with words), and then intersperse it with prose that serve to advance the plotline.
Enough digression already. As I have said, I could not sleep, and had all the time in the world, I figured that reading a thick and boring tome might help me to sleep, and that was where I was wrong. I found myself reading 10 pages, and another 10 pages, and then another 10 pages until I had finished almost 100 pages.
