A good book
Monday, June 9, 2008 ~ No Comments
We all know that there are many excellent writers out there who blog just as there are many bloggers who are excellent writers. This latter point is proven by the publication of You’re Not The Only One, a collection of stories written by people who blog, and which was compiled to raise funds for War Child.
So, if you want a good read, go buy it. Or if you just want to support a charity that works with the children trapped in war-torn countries, go buy it and then hand it in to a charity shop (two lots of karma in one go!).
For full details of the book, how it was compiled and who is in it, go and see the woman that made it happen.
How many books is too many?
Thursday, March 13, 2008 ~ 7 Comments
I have a lot of books. I have a lot of unread books. I keep saying I’ll go through the ones I’ve read and ditch some but I never do. Instead I buy more. I don’t know why I do that. Why do I do that? Why do I buy more? I have enough as it is, many unread. So why, as I have many books, do I buy?
It’s a compulsion, etched into my mind, an inherited trait that I can’t fight, an itch that remains out of reach no matter which way I toss and turn.
I have books on all sorts of topics, fictional stories that others have recommended, factual books on many topics, from mental wellbeing, web design, philosophy, gardening, exercise, movies and more. Just about all of them are kept for some tenuous reason or another but I really need to let go…
But that doesn’t help solve the puzzle of why I keep buying new books, especially as I have so many that remain unread, some of which I purchased several years ago.
I’ll quite happily admit that I bought a few books with ‘betterment’ in mind (and ‘of mind’). Be they a classic novel or a book on the great philosophical thinkers (bought from Meg I think) I deliberately chose them with a view to becoming better read, whatever that means, although I quickly ditched those in favour of the really highbrow stuff (The Da Vinci Code for example) so that reasoning has back-fired.
I wonder if I buy books because I don’t trust my memory and I’m scared I’ll forget the name or author of that one killer book? Perhaps I need to do is hack my brain to chuck the name and author of a book into a list, rather than just order it “because it’s only £4.99″. I mean we all know what lies at the end of that road, “it’s only £4.99″ soon becomes, “yeah but I’m gettin’ 4 books for under £20!”, swiftly followed by “Ohhh one more for free shipping…”.
I buy books based on author, David Mitchell, Ian Rankin, Alice Sebold, and ignore them for the latest James Patterson. Hell I’ve probably read more pages from Esquire magazine in the past 6 months than I have pages of a book. I know I go through spells of reading but this is becoming an increasingly dry time. A fallow spell of unbroken spines, if you will.
Why do I read? For enjoyment largely. I enjoy the escape, the way time slips past in the shadows as you immerse yourself deeper and deeper into the words on the page.
If this were a movie, this is where you’d get a CGI scene with the words floating up off the page and spinning up and round me as I sit, transfixed.
Ohh and whilst I remember, you bloggers who have had books published (I count 5 on my shelf) aren’t helping!
You know what, perhaps a clear out would help. Allow me to refocus on the books I’ve not read. Yes yes, a clear out is in order.
Let’s not be too hasty though… let me just check what Amazon have on sale…
Black Swan Green
Thursday, October 4, 2007 ~ No Comments
Another holiday book, by a favourite author, and it’s as every bit as good as his previous novels, whilst remaining (like the others) completely different to anything he’s written before.
In the book, you spend just over a year with a 13 year old boy called Jason as he plots his way through the various minefields he encounters. Set in the early 1980s, pop culture references litter the novel and, as an 80s kid, whisked me back to that time of in my life. Jason is a kid who not only struggles to fit in, being smarter than average and he enjoys writing poetry whilst knowing that it’s a bit “gay” and could get him beaten up, but who also struggles with a stutter.
Jason narrates the story and it’s a credit to David Mitchell that you empathise so strongly with his lead character that you begin to sense how he is feeling before it is fully articulated. Admittedly it may be because I see some of myself in Jason, but that doesn’t detract from, as usual, the wonderfully engaging style that Mitchell brings to all his novels.
Dealing with various life changing events, including the impact of the Falklands War on a small rural community in England, I was so caught up with the book that I almost felt cheated when it was over.
If you haven’t read any of David Mitchell’s books before then this may be a good place to start as it’s, probably, the most accessible. However, they all share a similar trait in his wonderful depictions and vivid wordplay that brings his stories to life, dancing from the page.
Highly recommended.
Salmon Fishing in the Yemen
Thursday, October 4, 2007 ~ No Comments
Blimey, it’s been ages since I wrote a book review.
This was passed to me by my Mum, and was quickly added to the book pile for taking on holiday.
The story is simple enough, a rich man from Yemen wants to introduce salmon fishing to his local area. He has millions to spend and uses his contacts in the UK to get some assistance from a government fisheries agency. Told via emails, diary extracts and interview notes, the story flips from view to view, but mainly follows a middle-aged fishery scientist as the project to get salmon to the Yemen takes him on a personal journey.
The story unfolds nicely, although it’s pretty straightforward with a little twist introduced towards the end (which I won’t spoil), the pacing is ok, and…
Well, I’ll be honest, I’m not really sure what to make of the book. It wasn’t bad, not at all, but it just didn’t really grab me. Some parts of the story were a little too contrived and the dialogue, as such, just felt a little forced.
Suffice to say it was an enjoyable holiday book. It wasn’t taxing to read, and kept me mildly entertained between visits to the pub… 
Recently I have…
Tuesday, July 24, 2007 ~ 6 Comments
… laughed until I cried at the way Louise’s cousin tells stories. She is hilarious.
… bought some new music. More on that in another post though, but it’s been a while. I can always tell when I’m need a new ‘fix’ because I invariably start listening to old favourites on a regular basis.
… been enjoying the chorizo and black pudding tapas that Louise made. Recipe may follow if she can remember what she put in it.
… been cursing Sky+. I had recorded the European Grand Prix and settled down on Sunday evening to watch it (whilst flicking back and forth to the Open golf). What a race! 5 laps to go and Alonso is harassing Massa to try and take the lead when up pops a message on-screen. “End of Recorded Programme”. WTF?! OK, there were some delays because of the rain but I thought Sky+ could handle programmes that ran over their alloted time. Feckers.
… been loving the BBC and Peter Alliss. Like Murray Walker, he will be sadly missed when he decides to hang up the microphone. One choice phrase from Sunday, describing the impact of the championship on local businesses and of their return to normality: “The local newspaper shop will cancel the order for 9000 papers and go back to the usual order of 10 copies of the Dundee Courier and a copy of Men Only for the vicar.”
… sent away two race applications, both a little late so I might not get a place. One 5K in Hamilton in a couple of weeks time, the other a 10K in Cumbernauld in September.
… enjoyed the professionally quashed double-take I received whilst getting fitted for my kilt for my friends wedding. When I asked when the kilt would be ready to pick up, the salesman said he would just phone “Ehh.. Mr. Humphrey I guess… or is it Mr. Beattie, it doesn’t say”. To which I replied “Well yes, either of them would do”. He twitched slightly before glossing over it. Well done Mr. Salesman.
… spent most of the last two days alone. Well not alone but as good as, for “she who must be obeyed” has had her nose stuck in some book or other. Apparently joking about “just reading the last chapter” is verbotin.
… been writing up some posts for my other blog but struggling to finish them for some reason, just can’t quite pull the threads together properly.
… “enjoyed” a hill session on Sunday morning. Apparently some of our jogScotland coaches have sadistic tendencies! I thought they were all nice and fluffy but no, give them a whistle and soon you are sprinting up hills, repeatedly, until all the oxygen on the planet disappears and your legs go all wobbly. Jim, the coach who took us, said that we’d look back on it and realise we’d enjoyed it, everyone laughed. Dammit though, he’s right.
Feeling bookish
Friday, March 23, 2007 ~ 12 Comments
My new job is taking a lot of my time, and as it’s kick started my dormant professionalism, it’s also sapping my book reading time as well. Coupled with that I do seem to be on a non-fiction bent of late, I’m part way through “Make it Stick” and have just ordered some books with titles that include the words “simplicity”, “Nurnberg funnel” and “minimalism”. I blame Malcolm Gladwell.
Don’t get me wrong, I still have a teetering stack of unread books at home but they are mostly novels and I’m just not in the mood to start them.
So, whilst Louise is just discovering Dan Brown and is disappearing off to bed at 9pm so she can fit in a couple of hours of reading, I’m stuck staring at my stack (I said STACK!) and wondering what to read next. In short (but let’s face it, when have us bloggers ever bothered with ’short’), has anyone got any book recommendations?
And yes, I know that recommending books and music for people is always tricky, but the archives can help you there. Mind you I’m currently try to suss out what the next “blink” or “tipping point” book is, and from my limited research there doesn’t seem to be another “must read” book doing the blog rounds at the moment, but feel free to prove me wrong.
DOH. What an idiot.
I’m forgetting that THE book of the moment is Shaggy Blog Stories! My copy arrived yesterday, so that’s first in the list, but after that…
Books wot I red
Wednesday, November 8, 2006 ~ No Comments
After much deliberation and swithering I ended up taking 5 books with me last week. Well, technically that’s not true. After much deliberation and swithering I ended up packing 3 books and then bought another two at the airport (I know, I know!). So, here are some brief thoughts on the ones I read.
1. The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell.
Always late to the party, this is a book which most people who would want to read it probably already have. So, suffice to say that I found this hugely interesting although not as immediately personal as Blink. Gladwell delivers a lot of fairly complex information in an excellently languid and accessible style, and whilst he is largely standing on the shoulders of other people, his skill as a communicator is what makes his books so readable. If you haven’t read it, read it. It’s utterly fascinating.
2. The Liar by Stephen Fry
Bought on a whim at the airport, and I’ll admit that I was expecting a lot from this book. Whilst it didn’t disappoint (I really should have taken a dictionary with me as well) it wasn’t as smart or funny as I expected. However that’s not to say that it isn’t witty, irreverent, and wonderfully constructed. A wry look at the world of Eton, Harrow and other such ‘institutions’ it has every buggering thing you expect.
3. A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian by Marina Lewycka
This book now holds a singular place in my book reading history. For the first time ever, whilst waiting to fly home from Malaga airport, I spotted a man that was also reading this book. Ok, not that big a deal.
And I’ll also be honest and say that I’ve not finished this yet, but I’m thoroughly enjoying it and it is already rating highly on the MMLOGOLAAL scale (”Makes Me Laugh Or Giggle Out Loud And Annoys Louise” it’s a very precise rating system).
Other books taken but not read - a Jeffery Deaver (can’t remember which one), some trashy novel by one of those sexy blog ladies (you know the one), and the manual for my new camera. Ohh and I did start reading Girl With a One Track Mind but, frankly, when you are on holiday with your sister-in-law, there are some things which, well, let’s just say they are best left to the imagination. Although I’m intrigued to see that Louise has it on her bedside cabinet…
And whilst we are on the topic of books, congrats to the lovely Clare Sudbery for completing her second book. I’ll be purchasing a signed copy as soon as is possible, mainly because I really enjoyed her last one!
