As regular readers will be aware I have been reading James Fenimore Cooper�s The Last of the Mohicans for some time now. And, unusually for me, I only stopped part way through to read one other book, which I finished within a day.

I finally finished Mohicans last night, and I�ve been pondering on why it took me so long to get through it. At around 400 pages it�s not a particularly long book, the story is not especially complex, and while the language has its 19th Century foibles, I didn�t feel like it was a struggle to read.

I did have to concentrate fully though. More than with most contemporary novels. A result both of the language and a constant reference to the same characters by different names to a substantial, but not Tolstoy-esque, extent. And therefore it was a slower read. It was not something I could pick up in a room full of other people, or with the TV on in the background. I�m usually not great at reading in front of the TV anyway, something Betty does quite successfully, and on the couple of occasions I tried it with Mohicans I would find myself suddenly three pages ahead of where I started and having absolutely no idea what had happened. So I was only getting through two or three pages a night and not that much more at weekends.

I�m not sure if it was first written as a serial, but Cooper did have a way with finishing a chapter on the cliff-hanger of sorts and then picking up again at the beginning of the next chapter, television style.

But there is one thing that bugged me in the first chapter, and continued to annoy me all the way through was Cooper�s continual use of commas where there was no need for them. Commas where they did not belong. And I�m pretty sure it slowed down my reading of the book with all the unnecessary pauses and then having to go back and read a sentence again without the unnecessary pauses.

I am no grammatical expert. In fact, for someone with an honours degree in English, I have very little formal training in grammar. I�m also prone to writing the odd extra long sentence broken up by commas, but it just seems that there are too many pauses in a lot of Cooper�s sentences.

A few completely random examples:

�Uncus acted as attendant to the females, performing all the little office within his power, with a mixture of dignity and anxious grace, that served to amuse Heyward, who well knew that it was an utter innovation on the Indian customs, which forbid their warriors to descend to any menial employment, especially in favour of their women.�

First things first, that probably shouldn�t be one sentence. But that aside why is there a comma after �power�, and shouldn�t there be either a comma after �customs� or after �employment�, but not both?

�He turned away while speaking, and was about to leave the place through the avenue by which Duncan had approached, when a growl caught his ear, and caused him to hesitate.�

Not so ugly, but wouldn�t �when a growl caught his ear and caused him to hesitate� be more effective?

�Of them all, the straggler who brought up the rear, appeared alone to betray his real thoughts, without fear of observation or dread of consequences.�

The only comma in this sentence that is really required, in my humble opinion, is the one after �all�, though I can cope with the one after �thoughts� if absolutely necessary.

Is it just me, or is this comma overkill? Try reading that last sentence aloud: �Of them all� pause �the straggler who brought up the rear� pause �appeared alone to betray his real thoughts� pause �without fear of observation or dread of consequences�.

I have never before read a book where commas, or punctuation of any kind, bothered me or even drew itself to my attention. But once I fixated on it in Mohicans I was continually drawn to it and it made me frustrated. I�m wondering if my increased role as an editor at work - part of training Howdy - and the fact that I�m self-editing my manuscript has reactivated my editorial brain to a level it hasn�t been at since I worked on the newspaper at uni. When I pick up a new book to start reading tonight will I have a desire to take to it with a red pen?

Or should that be: when I pick up a new book to start reading tonight, will I have a desire to take to it with a red pen?