Dangerous Liaisons

Arrragh!  I've been trying to decide what I want to say about 'Notes on a Scandal' by Zoe Heller for hours now and I keep going round in circles.  It's driving me nuts.  Have written at least four versions of this so far and it's getting silly.  Fingers crossed for version number five...

The final book I finished last week was 'Notes on a Scandal' by Zoe Heller.  I really enjoyed the film version of this story and hoped that the source material would be just as good, if not better.

'Notes on a Scandal'
by Zoe Heller
(Viking/Penguin Group, 2003)

'Notes on a Scandal' tells the story of pottery teacher Sheba Hart and her affair with underage pupil Steven Connolly in the words of her colleague and eventual close friend Barbara Covett.  Without Sheba's knowledge and intending to 'set the record straight', Barbara puts pen to paper to record what Sheba has told her and what Barbara herself has seen and heard.  As Barbara describes the complex relationships surrounding Sheba, it becomes clear that the women are not a natural partnership and Sheba may not be the only one guilty of an inappropriate obsession.

The more I think about this book, the more my head hurts.  Barbara acts a bit like both a filter and a funnel - she's clearly an unreliable narrator only reporting things to suit her life view, but she also gradually picks off the extended network of characters we meet at the beginning of the book until it's just her and Sheba against the world.  As such, the reader can't take things at face value and has to get as much as possible from characters when they appear as they may never be seen again!  Consequently, I feel like I don't know what to think and as though I could easily have missed something very significant without even realising it.

I also think the book could have done with some notes of its own as an introduction.  'Notes on a Scandal' seems to pick up on the particular Zeitgeist of 2003, when it was published.  That was the year of the Soham murders trial and new UK legislation to do with sexual offences, so child safeguarding was quite a hot topic in the media at the time.  I had to look this up afterwards and knowing that before I started reading would have added a whole new layer to the book.  The scandal is assumed to be Sheba's affair, but is the book also a lesson about looking for danger away from the obvious?  For all her faults, Sheba didn't intend to harm Connolly and he is portrayed as the more active instigator of the relationship.  Sheba could have just as easily become obsessed with a colleague or someone she bumped into down the shops, so why couldn't the vastly more predatory Barbara also be a threat to pupils as well as colleagues?


Comparing the book and the film, I think I've let myself down a bit by watching one before reading the other.  The film creates a creeping sense of doom because it has a chronological narrative structure which follows the timeline of events.  The book, however, starts at the end, which makes it much harder to create any sort of suspense, especially if like me you know roughly what happens.  I think the film also improves on the book in other ways, but I don't want to go into to much detail for fear of spoilers.  I preferred the ending of the book, but think the film just captures the sense of menace much better.  After all, it's Barbara's job as the book's narrator to make everything seem nice and normal.

On the whole, I think that this book was a lot more subtle than I expected.  Pretty much as soon as I'd finished it I decided that I'd need to read it again at least once to see if I could 'get it' a second time around.  I'm assuming it's just me being lazy though - it could as easily be that that not being in the 2003 Zeitgeist means there's implicit references that I will never get.  I don't think I'll know until I try reading it again.


The book feels so subtle and manipulative that it's a credit to its author, but it's like a pale imitation which hints at the anger, passion and complexity portrayed so well in the film.  It's thought to be unusual, but perhaps this is an instance where the film actually is better than the book.  I can think of other examples - 'Fight Club' by Chuck Palahniuk springs to mind - but maybe these are the exceptions which prove the rule.

So, if you haven't read it, give it a go, then watch the film.  If you have watched the film, you might want to read it, but you might be better off with something else.  On the theme of obsession, I'd recommend the first three Ripley novels of Patricia Highsmith.

Now, time to choose something else from the shelves!

Say What??!

You may not have heard, but the UK has been having some pretty nasty weather lately.  Normally around this time of year we'd be getting the two weeks of sunshine traditionally called 'the summer', but instead we've had nearly a month of strong winds, torrential rain and temperatures so low you need to lie on the floor to see them.  My dreams of sitting in the cautious spring time sun and getting some reading done have been replaced with afternoons on the sofa with a blanket, warm drink and hot water bottle!

'Weird Things Customers
Say in Bookshops'
by Jen Campbell
(Constable & Robinson, 2012)

It was on just such an afternoon last week that I read 'Weird Things Customers Say in Bookshops' by Jen Campbell (Follow her on Twitter: @aeroplanegirl).  Unusually for me, this is a current bestseller - I read the title in a book chart and decided to take a closer look the next time I was in a bookshop.  That shop turned out to be Tenby Bookshop and the look led to a purchase.

(Tenby Bookshop is a bit of a quasi-misnomer really - it is a shop in Tenby, but only about a quarter of the shop floor contains books.  It's mainly quality gifts, which struck me as a bit odd.  I'm used to seaside bookshops really being newsagents with a few holiday reads in, so Tenby clearly attracts a higher class of clientèle!  Oh, and me!)

'Weird Things...' breaks the rules and does exactly what it says on the cover.  It's a collection of funny and frightful things said in bookshops in the UK and around the world.  The first two sections represent things said in the Edinburgh Bookshop, Edinburgh, and Ripping Yarns, North London, while the last chapter covers everywhere else.

This book really brightened up my afternoon.  I literally laughed out loud while reading it, much to the annoyance of Prince Charming who was trying to watch telly at the time.  Most of the quotes are funny, but there are also many which make you gasp at the audacity of some people.  I'm sure that most booksellers are lovely people, but surely its preferable to leave your children with a trained childminder than an otherwise-occupied shopkeeper?  And the number of heartless bastards who asked shops to make recommendations before openly stating they would be going online to buy was unbelievable.  I was stunned that some people can be so self-centred that they think this sort of thing is OK.

I have a lot of friends who work/have worked in retail and this collection is a surprisingly accurate reflection of the sorts of stories they've told me, which was reassuring as some of the things said were almost too mad to be true.

This collection was very well selected.  It could easily have ended up taking the mickey out of stupid customers, but fortunately this doesn't go too far.  It's also of a very good length.  It's long enough to offer variety, but not so long that it starts to get severely repetitive or dull.

Due to its popularity (and probably an abundance of source material!), I'm suspect 'Weird Things...' will have a sequel.  I may not buy it myself, but it would be a great stocking filler (Hint for Prince Charming!).  I think the fact that this book wasn't published with the usual deluge of Christmas stocking fillers in November/December has actually made it stand out - it could easily have been lost amongst them and deserves better.

So, if you want something to cheer you up in these dark days of rubbish weather, double-dip recession and goodness knows what else, I'd buy yourself a copy of this.  But from an independent bookshop please!  I'm led to believe that there are a few left...

What a Difference a Day Makes

I've had a bit of a reading rush this week and finished three books within five days.  Very unlike me, think I need a lie down in a dark room!

The first book I read was 'Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day' by Winifred Watson, one of Persephone Book's most popular books and a bestseller.  Having read this funny, charming novel, I can see why.

After a mix up at an employment agency, dowdy, middle-aged governess Miss Pettigrew is sent to work for glamorous night club singer Delysia LaFosse.  Before she knows what is happening, she's swept up in the chaotic lives of Miss LaFosse and her friends.  Acting as Agony Aunt to them, she faces unpleasant gangsters and wayward fiancés and begins to grow the confidence and self-esteem her life so far hasn't given her.

'Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day'
by Winifred Watson
(Persephone Classics, 2008)

Now, I'm a little suspicious of 'Cinderella' stories.  I find it annoying that Hollywood so often tells us the only way that a woman can get Prince Charming is by having a makeover - I think it misses the point of the story.  Cinderella had the attributes of a princess, which is why when she's dressed like one and sent to the ball, she stands out from the crowd of power-hungry aristocracy and pushy-parented local gentry.  It's true that Miss Pettigrew does get a makeover in this book (thinking about it, that was the point at which I put the book down for a week or so), but that's really just the start of it - it's not just about the frock, it's making her look and feel like she belongs in Miss LaFosse's social sphere so she begins to feel at home, grow in confidence and shine.

The thing I enjoyed most about this book was the dialogue.  Mrs Watson clearly had a real gift for writing witty repartee and it genuinely made me laugh out loud.

Because it's funny and is set in the pre-war years, it's easy to compare 'Miss Pettigrew...' with the work of PG Wodehouse, but there's a sadness to the former which you'd never get in a Jeeves and Wooster novel.  Miss Pettigrew is haunted by the fact that her wonderful day will end and that going back to her 'real' life means poverty and homelessness.  Wodehouse is too lighthearted for that - the worst that can happen is the hero will have to marry the wrong girl.  They'll never be disinherited, they'll always have a fortune behind them.

This means that, by contrast, when Miss Pettigrew starts to grow in confidence and get pleasure from the odd circumstances she's found herself in, the reader gets something akin to real joy from it.  And that's what makes this book a real pick-me-up.  We all hope that nice things happen to good people, so when they do, even in books, it's hard not to be happy about it.

If you like modern day chick lit and like to be charmed by adorable, if slightly bonkers, characters, I'd recommend you give this a go.  The 1930s style is a bit odd at first, but I soon got used to it because of that amazing dialogue.  Just imagine it as a Noel Coward-style play and you'll get along just fine.

Oh, and a big shout out to the wonderful people at Persephone Books.  I have a special love for this publishers as my ancestors used to run a business from their Holburn shop!  Just seems right somehow!  Their catalogue currently stands at 98 otherwise unavailable 20th century classics, including novels, cookbooks, short story collections and probably a lot more.  I have two more of their distinctive grey covered books on my shelves at the moment, so I'm sure they'll crop up again eventually!  Let's hope their other books are up to Miss Pettigrew's standard!

Happy Birthday!

It is a year to the day I started this blog!  Whoop, whoop!  Let the party poppers pop, the songs be sung and the cake be eaten!!

OK, maybe I should tone down the celebrations just a little.  To be honest, I've not really done as well as I'd have hoped, but, let's face it, this bookworm was never going to change her spots (or whatever worms have!) overnight!

I have made some progress though and I'm pleased with that.  I've not bought anything like as many books as I did before starting this project, so my list of things to read hasn't grown that much really.  Honest!

I've also have read some amazing books since May 2011, some of which had been sat on my shelves for years literally gathering dust.  'Brave New World', 'The Help' and 'Jilted Generation' immediately spring to mind.  I really can't believe I let these gems just sit there for so long.  It does give me hope, however, that there are probably a lot more goodies just waiting there to be picked up and read.  If that doesn't give me the energy to keep going, I don't know what will.

So, time for a bit of maths.  In the last 12 months, I've ready 23 books.  Not quite two a month then.  If I carry on at that rate, that means it's going to take me nearly 20 years to read everything.  Just as well I can self-censor, I wouldn't want anyone knowing what words spin through my head at the thought of that.  Picking up the pace would seem like a good idea!

One thing I have learned in the last year, though, is that my greatest enemy is my own curiosity.  I love to read because I want to know about things, which is a nice thing to want, but an impossible thing to achieve.  Also, being nosy means that I am quite easily distracted.  Y'know, by the usual sorts of things, but mainly what I could read next and things on the web.  Don't get me wrong, the internet is an amazing thing that I'm very grateful for, but it can be rather distracting!  Equally, if I don't understand something I read, it can be a useful tool.  So, swings and roundabouts.

Every new year should begin with a resolution, so here's mine.  I'm going to be a lot more focussed in the next 12 months.  And I'm going to aim for at least two books a month (I think that's the least I should do).  But, to  be fair to myself, I think I also need to be more ruthless.  If I'm not getting on with a book, I need to know when I'm beaten.  I really think that every book has its time.  Sometimes you're just not at the right place in your life to fully understand and get the most out of something.  So I need to learn to recognise that too.  Then perhaps I won't take two months to read a book of short stories.

Very importantly, thank you very much to everyone, friends and strangers, who has encouraged me in my project so far.  I hope you're enjoying the blog and the tweets (@Girl_LovesBooks) and you'll stick with me for just a bit longer!