Thursday, June 5, 2008

Loving Robert Ludlum

I was reading a romance--a genre-changing romance from the early 70s, but I found the attitudes toward the heroine so upsetting I had to move to something else. Robert Ludlum? Still--not particularly attractive attitudes toward women, though the hero is broken early in this book, and I'm thinking, true to Ludlum, he'll cleanse his soul and come to his senses by the end.

However, I'm loving the "old" Ludlum. I'd never read anything by him until my brother-in-law and mother-in-law told me they enjoyed him in the mid-80s. The first one I picked up was The Aquitaine Progression, and I'm pretty sure I opened that book, read the first page, and didn't budge as I raced for the finish. This is The Chancellor Manuscript, and I've never read it, though I binged on Ludlum after that first one. I'm still within the first 50 pages, but I'm so seduced, I don't want to do anything except read. (This is a glorious feeling, one I should definitely stop to enjoy.)

However, I have my own work to do. The girl is at work. The beloved is behind his newspaper right now, but soon he'll be on a brief road trip on his motorcycle, and I need to jump into my own stories. If only I could infuse my work with the energy and charm of a fine Robert Ludlum!

2 comments:

Mary Malcolm Duncanson said...

Isn't it great when you find an author you want to absorb? I think there is no better feeling than when you find a book you truly can't put down, one that keeps you up late at night, makes you late for your own work (or stories). I've never read any Roberrt Ludlum but I'll have to check him out now. Thanks for letting us in!

Anna Adams said...

Hey, Mary! Hope you love Robert as I do. He sure does understand plot! And talk about raising the stakes.

I keep meaning to take lessons from reading, but I just forget and end up lost in the story.