Going Underground

I love a bit of sci-fi, particularly what Margaret Atwood calls 'Ustopian' stories (http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/oct/14/margaret-atwood-road-to-ustopia), so when someone recommended 'The Machine Stops' by E. M. Forster, I immediately went online and bought a copy.

I read the Penguin Modern Classics version of 'The Machine Stops', which also includes 'The Celestial Omnibus'.

'The Machine Stops' tells the story of an Earth where the everyday needs of human beings are provided for by The Machine, an omnipresent piece of technology.  Everyone lives in hexagonal rooms underground, able to summon whatever they need by pushing one of a myriad of buttons on the walls.  Humans become more and more reliant on The Machine, becoming lazier and lazier until they rarely leave their cells and value recycled films the over first hand experience of the Earth's surface their ancestors knew so well.

'The Machine Stops' by
E. M. Forster (Penguin
Modern Classics, 2011)

Like the very best Ustopian stories, 'The Machine Stops' shows great foresight.  I was surprised to find out that it was originally published in 1909.  It just goes to show that concerns about our reliance on technology have been around for almost as long as the technology itself.

Although I found the idea interesting, I found the writing a bit plodding.  It felt a little like a writing exercise that someone had decided to publish rather than a fully-fledged story, which was a bit of a shame.  However, it feels very much like a story ripe for reformation and reinterpretation in other media.  The climax could make a great horror film.

The second story, 'The Celestial Omnibus', had an equally dark, but much less plodding style.  It tackles literary snobbery by contrasting an enthusiastic young boy taking his first steps into literature with an older man, who reads to show off.   In an almost fairy tale style, 'The Celestial Omnibus' tells the story of what happens when the boy investigates a sign pointing 'To Heaven' that seems to point to a dead end alleyway.

I would actually recommend these stories as thought provokers, but think it would be better to read them in other editions including a bit more background information.  They've certainly intrigued me enough that I want to try some more Forster, so there's another name to add to the list!

It's not my fault, It's Dr Johnson's!

I spotted the following while checking some information for my last blog post:


"Dr. Johnson advised me to-day, to have as many books about me as I could; that I might read upon any subject upon which I had a desire for instruction at the time. "What you have read then (said he,) you will remember; but if you have not a book immediately ready, and the subject moulds in your mind, it is a chance if you again have a desire to study it." He added, "If a man never has an eager desire for instruction, he should prescribe a task for himself. But it is better if a man reads from immediate inclination." 


(from Boswell's 'Life of Johnson', available at http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1564/1564-h/1564-h.htm)

That's my excuse for having so many books and I'm sticking to it!!

You'll cut yourself on that Wit of yours...

To begin, an apology.  I know I've been particularly rubbish this month and I'm very sorry for it.  I've hardly read anything at all and what I have read was basically a tongue-in-cheek dictionary, so not even something I can get my teeth into properly and write interestingly about for you.  There are very good practical reasons for me being so crap, but the aim of this blog is to talk about the books I have read rather than moan about why there are a lot more books that I haven't.  So, back to the task in hand...


I've just finished 'Dr Johnson's Dictionary of Modern Life' written (or compiled, I'm not sure which) by Tom Morton, based upon a number of Twitter posts.  


(Dr Samuel Johnson, just in case you can't place him, was a famous 18th century English lexicographer, who is credited with writing the first modern-style dictionary of the English language, published in 1755.  Before him, dictionaries tended to just be lists of useful words or translations into other languages.  Johnson created the first dictionary as we would understand and recognise it today.)   


To state the obvious, Morton's dictionary is book of definitions of modern things, e.g. gadgets, celebrities, TV programmes, bands etc, written in the style of Dr Johnson, complete with emphatic Capitals and words abbreviat'd. 


Stylistically, it feels pretty much bang on the money and there were times when I had to remind myself that the good doctor was no longer in and feverishly commenting on the personalities and ne'er-do-wells of contemporary Britain.  However, once the novelty of this had worn off, I started to pay closer attention to the definitions themselves and this is where things started to get a bit uncomfortable for me as a reader.

I think that even the best and wittiest comedians nowadays can slip into the trap of picking on easy targets, especially if they have to deliver regularly on weekly panel shows.  I'm always disappointed if the best a comedian can come up with is something about a politician's weight or forgetfulness and Alzheimer's.  I know we all have off days, but I always hope that they can do better and it worries me when studio audiences don't seem to care/notice that something that's a bit below par has been said, almost like they're so awestruck that they'll laugh because they're expected to.  There were times reading this book where I felt that the definitions weren't being witty, they were just being cruel.  And I think that's the point - it's one thing to write in the style of Johnson, it's another to find something well-observed and witty to say.

On the whole, this book would be a great Christmas present for the language aficionado in your life.  It'll provide much amusement as the turkey and brussels go down, although it will probably be one of those presents that gets put on a shelf Boxing Day and forgotten about.  But that doesn't mean it won't bring joy to the world in that 24 hours and I for one would have been very glad to receive it as a gift.

Come Again?

In the preface to 'The Picture of Dorian Gray', Oscar Wilde suggests that "There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book.  Books are well written, or badly written.  That is all."  If ever a book made me think of this quote, it was Ariel Levy's 'Female Chauvinist Pigs'.

'Female Chauvinist Pigs: Women and the Rise of Raunch Culture' is polemical work which looks at how women have fallen into the trap of mimicking and idolising either an extreme form of female sexuality (such as the pole dancer, stripper or porn star) or a hard-nosed, aggressive male stereotype (the sort who would oggle pole dancers etc).  Chapters look at the issue from different angles, including the effect on young men and women, it's manifestation in 'boi' culture among New York lesbians and how the author believes the whole issue relates back to consumerism, power and the codification of sexuality.

'Female Chauvinist Pigs'
by Ariel Levy
(Pocket Books, 2006)

There was a lot of really interesting information and ideas in this book, but it is really badly written.  Even looking beyond the fact that no concession seems to have been made for the British market (Levy is an American writer and the book is clearly aimed at someone with a basic understanding of relevant law and events in that country), there's no clear, logical structure or flow to take the reader on a journey through the writer's ideas.  The introduction alone felt rather like an angry, foot-stamping, ranting, tantrum, which was exhausting to read, and, afterall, has anyone ever really had their mind changed by someone shouting at them?

The terrible structure was made all the worse by the fact that there is a lot of really interesting information in this book.  I found the chapters looking at US Feminism and how it led to the 'Rise of Raunch Culture' ('The Future that Never Happened') and the effect of this trend on young people ('Pigs in Training') extremely interesting, but still hard work.  Although the interviews quoted were a great for grounding the subject, ultimately they weren't enough.  More actual statistics would have helped as it was difficult to tell whether the issues discussed were as severe as suggested because so much of the argument felt like it was based on here-say and a very narrow sample of interviews.

This is a book I would love to see rewritten with some more thorough research and better structuring so that it becomes a logical, comprehensible discussion and a cogent argument for reflection and change.  The focus on different groups/topics in different chapters is fine, but how information is conveyed within those chapters really needs looking at.  Unfortunately, until this happens, I'm afraid that wouldn't recommend it to anyone, which is a real shame as I do believe there is a very important issue being discussed here, possibly even the biggest issue in modern feminism.  The trouble is that unless feminists come up with calm, cogent arguments, they can easily be dismissed as hysterical and we'll all be back to square one.

A Little Bit of Politics...

I have just finished my first, really serious book since starting this project and I would definitely recommend it to anyone born in 1979 or after, any parent of someone born in 1979 or after and any one with an interest in what's happening to the generation born in 1979 or after.  Basically, what I'm saying is that everyone in the UK should read this book.

'Jilted Generation' by Ed Howler and Shiv Malik is a polemical analysis of the challenges faced by this age group in the UK, how these difficulties came about and, to an extent, on what can be done about them.  The authors have focused on four main areas; housing, jobs, inheritance and politics.

'Jilted Generation: How Britain has
Bankrupted its Youth' by Ed Howker
and Shiv Malik (Icon Books, 2010)

I found this book absolutely fascinating.  You'd have to have spent the last decade living in a cave to not know that life can be far from easy for the post-79 generation of late.  The housing boom has priced them out of the market, they're finding it harder to get started in a career, the cost of Higher and Further Education is rising and they're facing the long term prospect of an unimaginable national debt.  Basically, it ain't pretty.  This book, in simple-ish language (that even I understood), explained how this generation has ended up in this predicament.

I have been a bit dubious in the past about whether the post-79 generation really had anything to complain about.  It's easy to dismiss them as a spend-thrift, transitory generation that manages to afford huge TVs, complicated phones and tiny MP3 players but not save for house deposits.  They seem to have so much more than previous generations, but you don't have to look to hard to realise that all these things are really just trinkets.  It's almost as if they're all comfort shopping because they're waiting to start a proper life.  That's all very well for the retail sector, but it's indicative of something rather scarier in the long term and bigger pictures.

My one minor criticism of this book is that it seemed to run out of steam a bit towards the end.  It was almost as if having noticed and analysed the problem, the authors bottled it when trying to come up with any answers.  To be fair, though, correcting the 'now, now, now' focus of politicians is not something they can probably do much about!  It probably doesn't help that I'm quite a 'what can I do?' sort of a person and by the end of the book wanted a pull out check list of practical things to do to start getting this potentially devastating situation sorted out.

What this book does do fantastically well is highlight the difficulties faced by the 'jilted' generation and explain what has caused them in simple terms.  As such, it's well worth a read if you care about the future of the UK and I will be recommending it to lots of my friends.  Hopefully the authors will bring out a sequel discussing possible ways to improve the situation in more depth.  Or, better still, maybe enough politicians and voters will read this book to start a change in thinking which will actually do something to help the post-79 generation before it's too late.

Medical Matters

I finished 'Blood, Sweat and Tea' by Tom Reynolds at lunchtime.  I absolutely loved it.

'Blood, Sweat and Tea' is a collection of blog posts made by Reynolds (not his real name) about his work for the London Ambulance Service.  Each post gives a fascinating glimpse into a service that's probably taken a little too much for granted and the people who use and abuse it.

This book's subject matter was what made it.  The standard of English wasn't always spot on (I'm not sure if that's something to do with it's conversion to an ebook or the simple fact that the writer worked shifts, so probably blogged when exhausted), but the stories told and opinions expressed really gave a wonderful insight into what must be a very difficult job.  I can't ever imagine doing something like that (I can't even watch 'Casualty' or those pseudo-documentaries about people's embarrassing illnesses), so to hear the voice of someone on the front line was genuinely fascinating.

I suppose that's the wonderful thing about blogging.  So much of what we get told about things is either controlled by PR and marketing departments or chosen for it's shock value by media companies and journalists, so it's unlikely we ever get a sense of the real picture.  Through an honest blog, you can find out about the personal experiences of other people in a way you couldn't elsewhere.  I rather like that thought.

Because of its origins, 'Blood, Sweat and Tea' was an easy read (despite the subject matter!) and a real page turner.  Because it was made up of lots of short-ish posts, I found it very easy to pick it up to read even when I only had a few minutes to spare.  I laughed, I cried and I sympathised and was sad when I finished it.  Just as well there's a sequel!  Although, perhaps I should concentrate on the books I already have first!

Me and My Kindle

It's nearly a year since I was given my Amazon Kindle and think it's about time I reflected on how I've found using it.

Usability
It's actually surprised me how instinctive and easy to use the Kindle is.  I will stress that although I'm not particularly techy and, of course, the primary structure of an ereader was never going to be that complicated (text, on screen, turn pages).  I probably don't use half of what I could on the device, but what I do use does the job.  I think the strength of these sorts of devices is going to be their simplicity.  I know you can read books on tablets and other things, but then you're paying extra for a lot of distractions that, as a reader, you may not want.  I have had a few problems with the keyboard, it could do with being slightly higher, but, again, it does the job and I might just be a terrible typist!

Crash and Burn?
To be honest, I've probably not used it as much as I could have simply because it frightens me when the Kindle crashes.  It usually only does this when I've been browsing Amazon for a while.  Or it's having trouble picking up a wi-fi signal.  Or when I'm moving lots of books to different folders.  Or it's running out of battery.  Or it's just been charged.  Basically, I've found it can be a bit temperamental at times and, because so many books are saved on the Kindle, I get scared every time it crashes and I have to restart it because it temporarily shows no books on the device.  The thought of losing the 100 or so books I have on there chills me to the bone.  Just think what it would be like if your own collection of books were to catch fire.  Shudder! I'm hoping it's a temporary thing, though, much like the rubbish battery life on smart phones.  Hopefully technology will move on and by the time I need to replace my Kindle it'll be a bit less tetchy!  But, so far, my problems have always been sorted out using the old rule of 'turn it off and turn it on again'.  Let's just hope that keeps being the case!

Battery Life
The battery life is amazing!  I was really worried once I realised that you had to leave it on all the time, but I've probably only charged it about four times in the time I've had it.  I do keep the wi-fi turned off though, which I understand helps extend the battery life a great deal.

Books and Prices
Now, there is a vast array of free books on Amazon and elsewhere on the web, some really obscure and unavailable in print, so it's great fun rummaging around the internet trying to find something interesting to read. Although a lot of books are still unavailable as ebooks, it looks like the publishers are quickly working through their back catalogues.  I love the option on the Amazon website which allows you to tell them if you want to read a book on Kindle.  Hope they listen!  There are also a lot of self-published books available, so it's a nice thought that it may be the start of  the whole 'bestsellers' system becoming more democratic.

My one complaint in this area is that newer ebooks are often more expensive than their hard copy counterparts.  This may be partly because they're VAT-able (unlike paperbacks etc) and that publishers have a firmer grip on their pricing structure (so I read somewhere).  Amazon does run special offers every so often, though.  They did some books for £1 around Christmas and Easter this year and I've just picked up a current bestseller for £1.99.  It ultimately comes down to what you want and why you're using the Kindle.

If cost isn't your main concern, you'll be fine, just like if your aim is to save space or be more environmentally friendly.  Like most decisions, it's a balancing act between what you want and what is being offered.  For me, I really do think I'd buy a lot more and use it a lot more if the books were cheaper, but being as I have so much to read already, would that be such a good thing?!

Samples
I absolutely love that I can get free samples of books before buying!  I am a total magpie and this is a fantastic way of seeing whether a book is something I want to read.  Whoever came up with this idea deserves a big, wet kiss and a free holiday!

Glad or Sad?
On the whole, I'm glad I've got a Kindle, although I doubt I'd ever have bought one for myself.  It would have felt far too much like an extravagance!  But I am very grateful to Prince Charming for getting me one and hope  it's made his life a bit easier now there are fewer teetering piles of new books filling up the flat!

In a Bit of a Flap

I have just finished reading a book so slim that I've managed to lose it!

The book in question is 'The Pigeon' by Patrick Suskind, the shortest volume in my collection with a tiny 77 pages of rather large type.  Suskind is best known for 'Perfume', one of the few books I've read in record time (a day and a half to be exact - who'd of thought I could achieve such speed?!).  It was my affection for 'Perfume' which made me want to read 'The Pigeon'.

'The Pigeon' by Patrick Suskind
(Penguin, 1989)

'The Pigeon' is the story of Jonathan Noel and how the unexpected encounter he has with a pigeon throws his detached and ordered life askew.  But is the end of Jonathan's chosen life?

I'm finding it extremely hard not to make comparisons between this book and 'Perfume'.  Both focus on an extremely insular and isolated individual and display Suskind's uncanny ability to evoke the claustrophobic lives people can create for themselves.

A word of warning to the delicate.  Suskind can write images of great beauty and precision, but also create passages which evoke feelings of extreme disgust and revulsion.  At one point, 'The Pigeon' actually make me feel sick, so I was glad I wasn't reading it on the train or something.  Sometimes I really wish I could turn my imagination off!  It was pretty short, though, and, like the violence of 'Perfume', part of the way Suskind weaves stories using dichotomy.

Whilst it may not be everyone's cup of tea, I found 'The Pigeon' is an interesting study of one man's descent into isolation and fear and a parable for us all about getting stuck in a rut.  Like 'Perfume', it's likely to stay in my mind for a while yet.  Which is just as well as I've no idea where the printed version is!

Getting into Bad Habits!

After a very slow month reading-wise, I've finally finished 'One Corpse Too Many' by Ellis Peters, the second in the twenty-strong series of novels featuring medieval detective Brother Cadfael.

In this outing, the Abbey of St Peter and St Paul is caught up in King Stephen's 1138 siege of Shrewsbury.  After the town falls and the King has taken his executed the castle's defenders, Brother Cadfael is called upon to help give them some dignity in death.  But when he counts the number of bodies, he realises there is something amiss - he has one corpse too many.  Although the King gives him permission to find who murdered the unexpected cadaver, it's a race against time to do justice before the armies move on...

'One Corpse Too Many'
by Ellis Peters (Sphere, 2010)

This book really shouldn't have taken me three weeks to read.  It's only 282 pages long for crying out loud!  But I think a combination of lots of other things going on generally and the fact that I've read some of the later novels already didn't help.  It was hard to get a sense of urgency and peril when I knew what happened to certain characters in later books.  In retrospect, I rather regret reading them in such an eclectic order.

While on the subject of the other novels, I would definitely recommend 'Monks Hood' (book 3), 'A Morbid Taste for Bones' (Book 1) and 'Brother Cadfael's Penance (book 20).  I've not read all the books in between, but I'm definitely going to work through them in order from now on!

If I hadn't known what I did, I would have enjoyed this book very much.  It's a good plot yet relatively simple and, as always, Ellis Peters creates a wonderful sense of time and place.  I've always loved that element of the books, it's somehow escapist despite the crime and violence!  The only criticism I have is that the big 'love in' towards the end felt a bit sudden and over the top after the rest of the book, which was a shame.  I guess Peters was just an old romantic at heart.  It's a funny old world.

I'm Still Here...

OK, I know I've been completely rubbish this month and am on the very verge of failing in my project when I've barely begun.  But let's face it, a get-up-and-go organised type would never get themselves into a position where they had 450+ unread books in the first place!  The good news is that although I've not been reading or blogging as much as I'd have liked, I've not been buying any books either (though I have been sorely tempted many, many times).  And I've shaved five books off the list, so that's saved me a minimum of a month trudging though books that I feel I ought to read rather than have any particular desire or need to read.  So, what have I been doing?

Well, I have been reading a bit.  My current companion is the unlikely detective Brother Cadfael, who is presently giving a stalker the run around in 'One Corpse Too Many' by Ellis Peters.  Other than that, I think I've let myself get a bit distracted by admin.  I've rearranged my books a couple of times (at the moment they're in rough order by length, although I think I'm going to change it again to by author, or possibly by author except where I have several books by one author, when I will pick one for my main stack and relegate the others somewhere less tempting.  That's at least a day's procrastinating...) and have been regularly tweeting and checking my blog stats.  Unsurprisingly, I've not been getting many visitors.  After all there's nothing new for you to see!

So, it's time to get back on track otherwise I'm never going to reach a point when I don't feel guilty about walking into a bookshop.  Makes me feel a right old perv looking and not buying!

Back to Brother Cadfael it is then...

Getting into the Spirit of things...

My latest book may not be the sort of thing that many people would read, but I hope you'll find my thoughts on it interesting.  I've just finished 'Joyful Voices' by Doris Stokes, an omnibus of her last two autobiographies 'Voices of Love' and 'Joyful Voices'.

In case you're not aware of her, Doris Stokes was a famous medium in the 1970s and '80s.  More specifically, she was called 'clairaudient' because she heard the voices of dead people rather than seeing manifestations of them.  In this book, she talks about her day-to-day life and encounters with grieving families, celebrities and, of course, those in the Spirit World.

'Joyful Voices' by
Doris Stokes
(Sphere 2007)

It can be easy to dismiss people's beliefs as ridiculous, but it's harder to dismiss the person.  That's certainly true of Mrs Stokes.  Whether you agree with her belief in the afterlife or not, it's hard to think her a bad person when she seems to just want to help people to come to terms with their loss.  She comes across as quite a kind hearted person and the book is carried along by her constant optimism and hope for better to come.

I rather liked the style of the book.  It's episodic and chatty and very easy to read, much like a magazine, so it wasn't at all hard going.  It was certainly what I needed after my encounter with Ernest Hemingway!

While it may not be high literature, the book is still an interesting curiosity.  It's fascinating to hear her normalise hearing voices and of particular interest was the transcript of her last sitting at the end of the book. It even led to me looking up some clips of Mrs Stokes on You Tube.  It's genuinely fascinating to see how her at work and I would recommend the clips to anyone interested in finding out more about her activities.

If you want to know more about Mrs Stokes, however, I would suggest that you don't start here.  I've read Mrs Stokes' first omnibus, 'Voices', which included 'Voices in My Ear' and 'More Voices in My Ear'.  I enjoyed the book very much, so, when I saw this one, I snapped it up too.  Unfortunately, it's not as good.  It's not really the author's fault, she was ailing and in her late sixties by the time she wrote her last two books and as a result she just doesn't get about as much as she used to.  As such, the stories become a bit repetitive and, in a strange way, mundane after a while.  The celebrity name dropping becomes irritating too, particularly as I didn't recognise some of the names at all.  There are even whole chapters dedicated to poems sent to her, which is both kinda sweet and irritating at the same time.  Equally, although she's right to not to preach through her books, it's a shame that she avoids the bad press entirely, as it would be interesting to hear her side of the argument.  It's almost as if she's saying "It's up to you love, but which is the nicer idea to live with?"

They say that if you open your mind too much, your brain will fall out, but you don't learn much by keeping it too closed either.  If you're interested in this sort of thing, start with 'Voices'.  If you're not interested in this sort of thing, I'd stay well away.  You're probably not going to enjoy it as the best you can hope to do is insulting a harmless old lady.  And that's a bit low, don't you think?

Beaten by Hemingway!

Hasn't been a good week for the quest really.  If you've been following me on Twitter (@Girl_LovesBooks), you'll know that I decided to take on a book of Ernest Hemingway short stories, 'The Snows of Kilimanjaro'.  I love short stories and tales of exotic and interesting places, so this, combined with Hemingway's excellent reputation, made me think it was a good bet for me.

'The Snows of Kilmanjaro'
by Ernest Hemingway
(2004 Vintage Classics)

Unfortunately, as early as page six, I really wasn't doing very well with it at all.  It wasn't engaging me and the story wasn't even sinking in, so that I wasn't able to recount anything that happened after I'd read about it.  It was also taking me a horribly long time to get through, which wasn't very helpful when I have so much to get through!  By page ten, I'd decided to give up on the first story and try the second, but pretty much the same thing happened.

I'm incredibly disappointed to have completely failed on this one, particularly with such a reputable writer.  I usually have a rule about finishing the first couple of chapters of something before I decide whether to keep going or not, but I didn't even manage to do that this time round.  The shame!

I'm happy to say, though, that there aren't that many books that I haven't managed to finish.  Off the top of my head, the only ones I can think of are 'Jennie' by Paul Gallico (quite liked it, but found it lacked enough pace to keep me interested), 'Ratcatcher' by James McGee (From what I remember, even though I love this sort of historical fiction, I felt is was a bit too cliched for me sadly) and 'The Gallow's Curse' by Karen Maitland (again, I just didn't connect with the story and unfortunately it became a drag for me to read).  I also found 'The Anatomy of Ghosts' by Andrew Taylor hard going, but I did get through it.  It was a good story, but again lacked pace in places.

The fact I've not finished any of these books is certainly no reflection on their quality though.  I find there are a lot of things which influence what I read, ranging from mood to time of year, never mind the quality of the book or the writing!  I've always found Philippa Gregory's work to be hard to get into, but once you've orientated yourself to the time, place and key characters, the books are fantastic and I consider her one of my favourite authors.  Daphne Du Maurier can be difficult sometimes too.  It took me three or four attempts to read 'The King's General', but I'm extremely glad I did it in the end.

So, for the first time I'm crossing a title off my list that I haven't managed to read.  With 474 books to go, I'm sure it won't be the last time this happens either.  I think I'll go for a safer bet next time to cheer me up.  Have narrowed it down to six already...

No More Heroes...

I have just finished 'I am Legend' by Richard Matheson, a relatively short book often cited as a classic of Science Fiction and Horror and the first book to combine the two great genres.  I've not seen the Will Smith film, but may do having read the book.

'I am Legend' by
Richard Matheson
(Film Tie-In Edition,
2007, Gollancz)

'I am Legend' is the intense and claustrophobic story of Robert Neville, (quite possibly) the last man standing after a plague has swept through the human race and made vampires a nightly reality.  Trapped in his own world and left with nothing but memories and his survival instinct, the book tracks Neville's character over three years as he battles demons without and within.

Although this was a fantastically written book, capturing and developing the character of Robert Neville to great effect, I'm finding it hard to be passionate about it.  Then again, that may just be the nature of the genre.  After all, how many people want to recommend something they know may scare?  I don't really want to give people nightmares!  To be fair, though, this book isn't particularly gory, even for my relatively low horror threshold.

Speaking for myself, I found this book completely engrossing.  The first half presents a fascinating, close quarters analysis of how someone might react and behave in such extraordinary circumstances and highlights the author's incredible imagination.  In the second half, as Neville's mood moves from despair to acceptance, the pace of the novella changes and the plot starts moving towards its almost inevitable climax and conclusion.

Also - always the sign of a classic - the book doesn't feel at all dated, despite the fact that it's 57 years old.  I love it when that happens.  It's nice to know that when change comes, it doesn't automatically make everything that came before irrelevant and obsolete.  It's horrible to think that the meaning of things we care about today may be completely lost to future generations, just as the significance of cave paintings or carved deities can only be guessed at by even the most eminent of modern academics.

Hmm, I'm clearly in a very philosophical mood today!

Anyway, back to the book.  I would recommend it if you like these sorts of apocalyptic tales, but I don't think there's enough of a meal here for even the most sharp-toothed literary analyst.  Then again, I doubt it was ever meant to be high culture, so, if you can, enjoy it for what it is.  An engaging twentieth century classic.

Either this Wallpaper goes or I do...

I've just finished a Dover Thrift collection of six short stories by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, 'The Yellow Wallpaper and Other Stories'.  I bought it because my class read 'The Yellow Wallpaper' at school and now I'm older, I wanted to re-read it.

'The Yellow Wallpaper and
Other Stories' by Charlotte
Perkins Gilman (Dover Thrift
Edition, 1997)

This collection includes six stories, all published between 1892 and 1914 and all unexpectedly relevant and modern in their message.  I think my favourites were 'Making a Change', the story of a young family cracking under the strain of a grumpy new baby, and 'Mr Peeble's Heart', about a dutiful husband who finally does something for himself.  BUT my very favourite was 'Three Thanksgivings', the story of a widow standing on her own two feet despite the protestations of her own selfish, adult children and a predatory money lender.

Considering how long ago these stories were written, it's amazing how modern the voice used is and how relevant the issues and situations still are.  Gilman is a feminist writer, so she's highlighting and exploring relationships in a way that was unusual pre-Great War and it's very refreshing.  But don't let that put you off.  Unlike many feminist writers, there is a lot of humour in what Gilman writes.  She uses a lot of wit to make her points and the stories are much the better for it.  After all, no one likes being preached at!

Overall, I'm so glad I read this book.  It wasn't at all what I expected and I can't wait to read more of Gilman's work.  It's another pleasant surprise among the many pleasant surprises that I'm having on this quest!  Let's hope it's not the last!

A Little Bit of R&R...

I picked Dara O'Briain's 'Tickling the English' up after 'Brave New World' because I felt a bit sorry for my brain and thought it could do with a bit of light relief!

'Tickling the English' by
Dara O'Briain (Penguin, 2009)

I don't know whether it's my imagination, but there seem to be a lot of books about by comics nowadays, which made me a bit sceptical before I started reading.  I hoped I wouldn't feel ripped off by a callous money grabbing venture of the 'Oh, he's been popular this year, let's give him a book contract in time for Christmas' variety.

This book is essentially a collection of musings comparing and contrasting the English/British character, structured around some of the more interesting shows Mr O'Briain did as part of his 'Talking Funny' tour in 2008/9.  It meanders a bit, encompassing the people he meets on tour, polls and statistics and the enduring appeal (and stamina) of Ken Dodd, but by the end manages to draw everything together into a logical conclusion.

The style of this book was quite nice and just right for what I wanted at that time.  It wasn't completely vacuous (as I'd feared), but certainly wasn't heavy going either.  In fact, it was just pleasant.  There were a few moments where I felt a bit lectured to and wished there were more anecdotes about the shows, but that wasn't what the book was about.  On the whole, it was a nice, easy read.

However, this was very much the result of timing.  I would recommend this as a relaxing holiday read for the kind of curious mind which can't read anything completely devoid of information, but if you're hoping for a laugh-a-minute page turner, this isn't really it.

Do I think it was a money grabbing exercise?  If it was, I get the feeling that Mr O'Briain was dubious about it and wanted to use the opportunity wisely to make a point of importance to him.  Whether that was what his agent had in mind is another matter!  I'm not going to complain about the commerce of creativity though.  If it wasn't for the bestsellers, there wouldn't be the niche literature, so I see no problem with a world where both exist side by side.  I only get annoyed when one pretends to be the other...but that's another story.

I'm glad I read 'Tickling the English'.  It's good to chill out once in a while and that's exactly what I've done!

Don't Dys My Topia...

What a week!  I finished 'Brave New World' by Aldous Huxley last weekend, but this is the first chance that I've had to post about it.  I have found time to start another book though, so hopefully, despite everything, the wheels won't fall off my project and I'll keep the same pace.  Although I've only been going a month, I'm actually quite pleased with how things are progressing.  Just hope you're still finding my project interesting!

'Brave New World' by
Aldous Huxley (Flamingo
Modern Classics, 1994)

'Brave New World' introduces a vision of the future based on universal 'happiness', then proceeds to dissect it's pros and cons through the eyes of a number of key characters.  It is the year 632 After Ford and the modern world is using a combination of Henry Ford's production line techniques, Sigmund Freud's psychology and complex genetics to purpose-breed humans for specific life roles.  From the Alpha Plus humans (the Rolls Royces of genetic engineering) to the drone-like Epsilon Minus population (more like everyday, robust Fords), everyone's loves and hates are pre-programmed so that they are not only designed for specific jobs, but to be happy in them.  While the cloned lower castes contentedly undertake dull, repetitive jobs in the factories, the higher classes run the major state facilities, such as the Central London Hatchery and Conditioning Centre.  It is here that we learn of the how modern humans are decanted rather than born, programmed rather than educated and drugged rather than doubtful.  Starting at the Hatchery, we meet the characters who will face crisis after discovering that there is more to life than the children of Our Ford have to offer.

I liked this book immensely, even though it was a bit of a challenge.  It's brilliantly written, but it's definitely fuel for the brain.  It's thought provoking from beginning to end and almost timeless in its ideas.  Most would class it as Science Fiction,but I think it's much more than that.  To me, it's about the philosophy of science and ethics and the points where ideas about what's best for people and society clash.  In fact, it's more like an essay or a discussion than a book and that's what makes it interesting.  'Brave New World' creates a picture of a flawed society where at least the majority of people are happy, then asks whether the sacrifice of art, literature, religion and love make it worth it.  Although it's often spoken about in the same breath as George Orwell's 'Nineteen Eighty-Four', it's far less black and white and challenges you to consider what's worth sacrificing for a generally happier world.

I've decided it's time for something a bit more light hearted next, so let's hope I'll race through it and be back to blog soon!

Little Beauties

Ok, I've been mulling this over for a few days now and I've given up.  I've finished reading 'The Doll', a recently published collection of rediscovered Daphne Du Maurier short stories and I've tried to find a funny or clever way to say what I think of it, but, to be brutally honest, I don't think there is one.  So here goes.  I absolutely loved this book.

'The Doll: Short Stories'
by Daphne Du Maurier
(Published 2011
by Virago Press)

I've been gradually working my way through Du Maurier's books for a few years now and, assuming this project goes to plan, quite a few more will eventually feature in this blog.  I don't like to rush it when I find an author I like who has passed away, I work on the theory that they won't be producing anything new any time soon, so it's better to savour each work one at a time rather than gobbling them up and getting cognitive indigestion.  Du Maurier's work has been described as 'Romantic Gothic' and, so far, I've got to admit I've preferred her when she's being more Gothic than Romantic.  That's probably why I found 'Frenchman's Creek' a bit dull, but loved 'The King's General' and, of course, 'Rebecca'.

If, unlike me, you prefer the wild, romantic Du Maurier, then you probably won't get as much enjoyment out of 'The Doll' as I did.  This is a collection of some of her earlier, 'lost' short stories published in her early twenties and you can feel the influence of earlier gothic novelists, such as the Brontes, throughout.  Every story is a well observed, reflective exploration of often warped or dying relationships and unpleasant identities.  There's an amoral vicar, men who get what they want then leave the women they loved behind, selfish social climbers who don't realise they're selfish social climbers, people who react to every 'sign' when making decisions and those who ignore even the most obvious ones.

This is also a fascinating collection because you get the feeling that Du Maurier was finding her voice when writing these stories.  She tries different perspectives, styles and narrative devices, making this a real must-read for anyone interested in creative writing or English Literature.

Really, my only niggle is that I felt the collection was named after perhaps its weakest inclusion.  Although the idea behind 'The Doll' was interesting, I felt that it really wasn't the best of the stories included here and was perhaps only included because of its rather ambiguous plot and the fact it features a young man obsessed with a girl called Rebecca.  Certainly, this story won't be the reason I re-read the book again in the future.

Now my enthusiasm has been restored after the moderate disappointment of 'Frenchman's Creek', I can't wait to get back to some Du Maurier later in the year.  Just as well really, I've got another 17 of her other books to go!

Top of the Blocks...

At last!  Finally finished the 646 page epic 'Murder Most Royal' by Jean Plaidy!  OK, that makes it sound like a chore, but the only real chore was holding up long enough to read it and having to carry it round with me (see earlier post!).  Glad to say no further injuries have been incurred, but I'm being careful not to drop it on my foot or anything now that I've finished it.

'Murder Most Royal' by
Jean Plaidy  (Published by
Arrow Books, 2006)

As always, Plaidy created a great sense of time and place in this retelling of the story of Henry VIII's second and  fifth wives, Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard, cousins who were both sent to the block for infidelity, a treasonable offence in a queen.  The story also includes Jane Seymour (wife number three) and Anne of Cleves (wife number four), though they were hardly touched on.  This was very much Anne Boleyn's show and, even if Henry didn't love her as much as the book suggests, you get the feeling that Plaidy certainly did!  The majority of the book is focussed so much on Anne, it feels like Plaidy completely forgot about his other wives and suddenly realised she needed to talk about them too about two thirds of the way through.  By comparison, their stories feel incredibly rushed and I almost wished she'd written three books rather than one.  From what I understand from other books and documentaries, these wives were actually quite interesting in their own right and I almost feel sad that they've been overlooked once again in favour of the more glamorous queens.

The thing I normally like about Plaidy's books is that she often talks about the bigger picture, including politics and the stories of people I know less about.  A good example is hearing about Katherine of Aragon's family in 'Katherine the Virgin Widow' (great book).  Unfortunately, the focus on Anne Boleyn got in the way of this a bit here, so it didn't feel so much of a rounded picture of the time.

I know it's a real nit pick, but sometimes Plaidy's tendency to use old language winds me up a bit too.  It can feel like she's learnt something new and is determined to use it at every opportunity!  Yes, it's probably intended to add to the sense of time and place, but I don't want it to feel like I'm translating every time I read a piece of dialogue.  I had enough of that with the Yorkshire brogue used by Emily Bronte in 'Wuthering Heights'!

Anyway, on the whole I enjoyed this book, certainly enough to want to see it through to the end, even though I knew what happened.  Not one of Plaidy's best and certainly not the one I'd recommend people to start with, but she wrote so many books, it's hard to get too upset about one that's not quite as good as some of the others.  It's not like I'm going to send her to the Tower over it or anything!

Voices from Beyond the Grave...

It's not my fault.  Personally, I blame Daphne Du Maurier.  Although I can't, of course, because she died in 1989, so I guess it must be someone else's fault after all.  Anyway, the long and the short of it is that I've cracked and bought another book.  I've been trying to stick to a 'two-out-one-in' rule (because sometimes life's so miserable that some retail therapy is a vital necessity), but once I knew a new collection of Du Maurier short stories had been published, I couldn't really help myself.  It's amazing really that she's still managing to produce work even though she's been dead 22 years, but it just goes to show how darn talented she is!

Here Comes the Son...

I love a bit of Science Fiction.  It's brave, it's clever and it's often quite bonkers.  What's not to like?!

'Behold the Man' by Michael
Moorcock (published by
Gollancz, 1999)

Earlier this week, I finished reading the 124-page novella 'Behold the Man' by Michael Moorcock.  This is the story of Karl Glogauer, directionless, neurotic and and an unlikely stand in for Jesus Christ.  But, after a traumatic trip into the past, that's just what he ends up being.

On the face of it, I rather liked this story.  It's about myth and myth making, how the mundane can become the magical and, above all, how belief in something better or higher than ourselves could be something we need as human beings.  In particular, it examines the conflict between Atheism and the need to believe on a personal level.  These are issues which are as pertinent today as they were in the 1960s, perhaps more so as Atheism goes from strength to strength, apparently ignoring why people feel the need to believe in the first place.

The book did annoy me a bit though and not through any fault of the author.  The blurb on the back pretty much told you the whole plot, which was a shame because it may have been easier to relate to Karl as a character if we shared his journey with him.  It made me feel a bit like I was waiting for Karl to catch up with me rather than taking in the story properly, so I think I will be re-reading it just to make sure I've not missed anything.

That said, a word of warning - there's a lot of sex in this book considering its size!  It's a shortcut to tell you about Karl's moral framework and highlight how confused he is (we see him as obsessive teenager, feckless lover, wandering lothario and indifferent bisexual), but it's not everyone's cup of tea.  It was probably incredibly shocking when the book was first published in 1969, but times have changed and most of us can tell the difference between what's there to shock and what's there to make a point.

On the whole, 'Behold the Man' is an engaging curiosity which will probably remain a relevant read for a while to come.

Now, what next..!

The Man with No Shame...

I've been offline for about a week, so you should be getting two for the price of one today!

Last Sunday, Prince Charming and I finished a talking book version of 'How to Lose Friends and Alienate People' by Toby Young.  I've seen the movie (can't remember a thing about it) and heard the rumours (allegedly, Young was annoying people so much, he got banned from the film set), so I was a bit quick on the draw when I started the book and thought I already knew what I was getting.

'How to Lose Friends and
Alienate People' by Toby
Young  (Film tie in, published
by Abacus  2008)

For those of you unfamiliar with it, 'How to Lose Friends...' is the story of Toby Young's time working in New York in the 1990s and early 2000s.  It begins with an unrefusable offer from editor Graydon Carter giving Young a chance to work on Vanity Fair magazine.  It's basically downhill from there for Young due to a weird combination of culture clash and Young's inability (or refusal) to read situations well.

In the end, this book was a bit of a surprise.  After everything I'd heard, I'd expected the tale of an arrogant, low rent, gossip column hack marauding around New York like a bucking bronco, deliberately stepping on toes and upsetting egos to get a good story.  Although the results were sometimes the same, Mr Young came across as something very different, a flawed character who wants to do well, but somehow manages to mess it up.  It felt a bit like he'd gone into a Wild West saloon for a quiet drink and somehow ended up in a gunfight at high noon.

Although he comes across as undeniably arrogant, the character portrayed in the book is also hopelessly naive, desperate to be loved and respected and a hopeless romantic.  He's well educated and self-aware, but somehow this all deserts him the moment he's face-to-face with anyone famous.  As such, he almost seems to lurch from calamity to calamity until he is inevitably fired from Vanity Fair.

To find out whether the book ends with self-realisation and redemption, you'll have to read it yourself!  I would recommend it, though,  because it's a fascinating read, particularly if you're interested in journalism and the magazine publishing industry.  I'm certainly intending to read it properly at some point.  I really ought to get through some more of my other books first though!

Lovely Spam, Wonderful Spam!

'Delete This at Your Peril: 

The Bob Servant emails' 

by Neil Forsyth 

(2010/Berlinn Ltd)

Well, not really.  I hate spam.  Who doesn't?  Well, Bob Servant for one!  I've just finished reading Neil Forsyth's 'Delete this at your Peril: The Bob Servant Emails', a book of email dialogues between the very naughty boy Bob Servant and various would-be email scammers.  While most of us delete or report spam emails asking us to help out broke African princes or accept dodgy money laundering jobs, Bob replies, often pushing the conversation in the most surreal directions.  (Talking big cats anyone?)  Despite this, I was amazed to read how long Bob managed to keep the three ring circus going before the spammers finally gave up and realised they were not going to get what they wanted.  It was also fun to see the different directions he went in when he received the same emails from different people.  

On the whole, this was an amusing rather than hilarious book, although it did have its laugh-out-loud moments (I think the conclusion of ‘Bobby and Benjamin are New Friends’ was probably my favourite!).  It would make a great little gift for anyone with a twisted sense of humour who gets as irate as a dead parrot owner about unwanted emails.

First Impressions (or Pride and Prejudice)

Now, I like to believe that I'm not a typical girly girl, that I'm pretty level-headed and interested in most books regardless of whether they're aimed at men or women.  I'm happy reading the odd bit of chick lit or a blood thirsty adventure story and that is reflected in the 479.  I've been known to sneer at a anything that looks a bit soppy and have told myself that I'm reading historical fiction because it's a way of learning about the past.  Looking at my shelves though it's pretty clear that I've been both proud and prejudiced and am really just a sucker for big, fat historical romances with posh frocks on the cover.

'Murder Most Royal' by Jean Plaidy
Published by Arrow Books (an imprint of
Random House) in 2006.  RRP. £8.99

One such book is the gargantuan 'Murder Most Royal' by Jean Plaidy, one of the three books I'm currently reading.  It's so massive, I'm sure that I've strained my hand trying to hold it up.  I've been working my way through the book's 646 pages for a few weeks now and, like the other Plaidy novels I've read, it's completely absorbed me without my noticing.  I love it when you get so engulfed in a book that it takes you a few moments to realise where you are when you finally look up from it.  'Murder Most Royal' tells the story of Henry VIII's second and fifth wives, Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard, their rise and downfall.  I'll let you know if I manage to finish it without further personal injury!

Once Upon a Time...

...There was a princess with a problem.  She lived in a tiny flat in a provincial town with over 450 books.  Her Prince Charming was very kind and let her indulge her book buying habit, but after the shelves of two book cases snapped under the strain, it became clear that it would take more than a fairy godmother to sort this one out.  So now The Girl Who Loves Books (TGWLB) is on a quest.  She must work her way through 477 paperbacks, hardbacks and ebooks, surviving foreign lands and strange times, to bring the addiction under control and, hopefully, find her happy ever after...