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Although I've only read Birchwood I have to admit that I fell in love with this man's prose. Never before has an author made be look up so many words in the dictionary, but I don't mind. I have been meaning to read The Sea, my friends say it's his best novel yet.


"“I AM, therefore I think. That seems inescapable. In this lawless house I spend the nights poring over my memories, fingering them, like an impotent casanova his old love letters, sniffing the dusty scent of violets. Some of these memories are in a language which I do not understand, the ones that could be headed, the beginning of the old life. They tell the story which I intend to copy here, all of it, if not its meaning, the story of the fall and rise of Birchwood, and of the part Sabatier and I played in the last battle.”

Excerpt From: Banville, John. “Birchwood.” Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 1973. iBooks.
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@roguexunited
I love his writing & I totally agree with the need to keep Google or the dictionary close at hand!
The Sea is fantastic, you really should read it - IMO possibly his best book. There is a film version also & if I'm not mistaken I think Banville wrote the screenplay.
Have you read any of his Benjamin Black books - very different but I like them.

I have read one, The Lemur. The style is much more relaxed but there are still some elevated words creeping in the narrative. I enjoy both of his styles. What I choose to read depends on my mood though.