Tuesday, November 18, 2003
bollocking hell. just lost my copy of Wild Sheep Chase, probably on a train coming back from Hertford after my first day on the job (as street campaigner for RNIB). It was my grand plan for the hour long tube ride home and instead I had to sit trying not to cough and reading over peoples shoulders. What a bastard. I'm hoping that a team member might have picked it up and it's not entirely gone...I was looking forward to that!
Monday, November 17, 2003
Count of Monte Cristo by somebody...
Am determined to finish this within the year. I started in January, loved but stopped as work load got to much, restarted after exams but didn't take it to America as I needed the bag space and have now forgotten all the characters. Still only a month to go and still a couple of hundred pages at least.
Wild Sheep Chase by Murakumi
very noir pastishe and all the better for it. some very beautiful phrases i think i'll have to find a use for. or a notepad space for.
Am determined to finish this within the year. I started in January, loved but stopped as work load got to much, restarted after exams but didn't take it to America as I needed the bag space and have now forgotten all the characters. Still only a month to go and still a couple of hundred pages at least.
Wild Sheep Chase by Murakumi
very noir pastishe and all the better for it. some very beautiful phrases i think i'll have to find a use for. or a notepad space for.
Thursday, November 13, 2003
The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
It took a week to get the courage to read the rest of this book and as I'd suspected, once I started, there was no way that I was going to do anything other than finish this book. Luckily I didn't manage to read the rest in one day - without skim reading the last few chapters - as events conspired to keep me busy (pub with Ranelagh) and I got two days' worth from this book. It was as I'd hoped from the first chapter, very warm, real, scary and beautiful. The book charted the family's progression from a family of five to one of four and yet never lost sight of their development as individuals as well. Other close friends, and the murderer, also changed as the years passed and the overall tone of the book was so upbeat - that all events are there to change us and make us into who we are - that I was initially confused when several hours later I had to confront the reality of the death of a loved one, even if it was from a distance.
It took a week to get the courage to read the rest of this book and as I'd suspected, once I started, there was no way that I was going to do anything other than finish this book. Luckily I didn't manage to read the rest in one day - without skim reading the last few chapters - as events conspired to keep me busy (pub with Ranelagh) and I got two days' worth from this book. It was as I'd hoped from the first chapter, very warm, real, scary and beautiful. The book charted the family's progression from a family of five to one of four and yet never lost sight of their development as individuals as well. Other close friends, and the murderer, also changed as the years passed and the overall tone of the book was so upbeat - that all events are there to change us and make us into who we are - that I was initially confused when several hours later I had to confront the reality of the death of a loved one, even if it was from a distance.
Tuesday, November 04, 2003
Wow. Was lying down to take a nap and just intended to start Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold, which has intersted me ever since I read an interview with her in the Observer several months ago (when, I think, the book began making waves in America). However the first chapter was so amazing - so shocking, yet witty, painful, yet charming and overall, well, sweet and then, violent, the mix was so perfectly balanced that I just couldn't continue or sleep. Wow.
Sunday, November 02, 2003
Life of Pi by Yann Martel
OK, I'll admit that I put my life on hold (well, delayed packing) in order to finish this book. However, this is not that rare since a) I love the act of reading and b) HATE packing above all else. Yet, I can't deny that the book improved. In the last moments, the author finally allowed the reader to think for themselves and let this affect the outcome of the novel (well, slightly). It reminded me of other books such as 100 Years of Solitude and Mauphin's The Night Listener in that the ending forces you to re-evaluate what yuo've read before (and like Marquez book, was almost provokatively gross beforehand). I still disagree with most of the author's assertions and was underwhelmed with the style, and content, of this book but can at least now appreciate it's appeal.
OK, I'll admit that I put my life on hold (well, delayed packing) in order to finish this book. However, this is not that rare since a) I love the act of reading and b) HATE packing above all else. Yet, I can't deny that the book improved. In the last moments, the author finally allowed the reader to think for themselves and let this affect the outcome of the novel (well, slightly). It reminded me of other books such as 100 Years of Solitude and Mauphin's The Night Listener in that the ending forces you to re-evaluate what yuo've read before (and like Marquez book, was almost provokatively gross beforehand). I still disagree with most of the author's assertions and was underwhelmed with the style, and content, of this book but can at least now appreciate it's appeal.
