Book Fifteen - Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Part One

I suspect I shall enjoy this book despite its somewhat flowery narrative. Here are a few quotes from the first paragraph of chapter 3. (Chapter 2 was about Mussolini. Seriously.)

The inscrutable goats of Mt Aenos turned windward, imbibing the damp exhalation of the sea at dawn that served the place of water in that arid, truculent, and indomitable land.

Why, if I’ve heard goats described as inscrutable once, I’ve heard it a dozen times.

Their herder, Alekos, so unaccustomed to human company that he was short of words even in his inner speech…

Now this I like. Brilliant description.

… his goats too would do as Cephallonian goats had always done; they would sleep at noon, concealed from the sun on the vertiginous northern slopes of cliffs, and in the evening their plangent bells might be heard even in Ithaca, carrying across the silent air and causing distant villagers to look up, wondering which herd was passing close.

Basically what we have in this scene is mysterious goats living in a desert next to the sea whose goat herder enjoys his work even though he has to climb steep cliffs but at least his goats are real easy to keep up with what with their loud bells and all.

So we went from chapter one - a fascinating story of a man who cured deafness with the removal of a decades-old pea - to Il Duce to goats. I like quirky and I like a book that keeps me on my toes, so overall I’d say I’m good to go on this one.