Recent Reading

   Let me tell you about a few other books I've read recently. I've decided I'd rather tell you a bit about a lot of books than either get stressed about being so late with proper reviews or just not writing about them at all.

Hodder & Stoughton, £18.99

   I had never read any Tad Williams until a few weeks ago. I realise this is a ridiculous state of affairs for someone who identifies as a fantasy fan, but there you go. I had the very lucky chance to read an advance digital edition of his newest book 'The Dirty Streets of Heaven' and really enjoyed it. Bobby Dollar is an angel who's putting in his time on Earth trying to get the souls of the departed into Heaven. He's a very small part of a huge bureaucratic machine, operating his little beat in California, having little idea who his ultimate boss is or what the point of the whole thing is. He's an intriguing character - a heavenly being who enjoys his booze, fast cars, and is fascinated by a sexy demonic opponent. His story is a cool cross between classic crime noir and modern urban fantasy - a winning mix, it would seem!

Penguin, £5.99

   I finally read a book I'd been meaning to read for a long time - 'The Moonstone' by Wilkie Collins. I got the gorgeous new Penguin English Library edition - if you haven't seen these, they really are beautifully designed, and the inside print has been redone, which is often a quibble of mine when the classics are rejacketed. An image which frequently popped into my head as I was reading was of Agatha Christie reading the book and thinking "I could do this, and probably in a quarter of the space". Which is to some extent a criticism, but I did enjoy the read. Collins' characters are exceptionally well-drawn, from Betteredge the epitome of a perfect servant to Miss Clack, an infuriating evangelist. Ill-fated couple Rachel Verinder and Franklin Blake are divided when a magnificent Indian diamond (the Moonstone) is stolen on her birthday. What is the meaning of the rumour of a curse on the diamond? Who were the mysterious Indian jugglers seen near the house on the night in question? What part do the sinister 'shivering sands' play? It was the original detective mystery, so if you're a fan of that genre, off you go!

Vintage, £16.99

   I haven't been reading much non-fiction lately, but one unusual book I found really piqued my interest - Frank Westerman's 'Brother Mendel's Perfect Horse'. This is a fascinating discussion of the 20th century history of the Lipizzaner horse in the context of world wars, upheaval all over Europe, and in particular a general obsession (brought to its height by Hitler and other prominent Nazis) with race and purity. "For a Lipizzaner to be recognised as such, Austria applies a set of obligatory physical standards... Inadvertently, these... resemble the Nazis 'Aryan tables'." Westerman explores the movement of Lipizzaners all over the continent, as scientists struggled towards a perfect horse, discusses the rise and fall of opposing trains of thought on genetics, and all in a very accessible, personal but objective, journalistic style. If you're at all interested in the social history of the last century on the continent, or indeed a fan of the Spanish Riding School in Vienna, this book is a great new perspective - a mix of history, science, travel writing, and memoir... and a great read. 
   What's next on my pile? Well, depending on mood and opportunity, I'll be tackling Mary Elizabeth Braddon's 'Lady Audley's Secret', Philip Reeve's 'Mothstorm' and 'Mortal Engines', James Smythe's 'The Explorer', Alexandre Dumas' 'The Queen's Necklace', H.G. Wells' 'The War of the Worlds', Mette Jakobsen's 'The Vanishing Act', Laurence O' Bryan's 'The Istanbul Puzzle', and Silvana De Mari's 'The Last Elf'. And that's just to start with!
  

         

A Reading Maze

Orion, £7.99

   I'm reading three books at the moment. I don't know how many people do this, but I can't imagine any other way of organising myself.

   Last week, I started reading Justin Cronin's 'The Passage'. I was gripped right from the start by this one, beginning as it does with subtly and implicitly horrific goings-on in the Amazon Jungle. If it wasn't for the sheer size of the book (1000 pages in my paperback edition), I think it would be a great introduction to the science fiction/fantasy genre for anyone, given how frequently we come across the post-apocalyptic trope in TV and cinema. I know I'm arriving very late to the game with this one, but when I saw the sequel 'The Twelve' arrive into the shop, I knew the time had come.

Hodder & Stoughton, £7.99

   One of my problems with this book was that I don't usually read scary, spooky, or freaky books. So, after reading for a while each night, I needed a chapter of something else to allow me to sleep and keep the nightmares away. Something such as Jasper Fforde's latest Thursday Next blockbuster 'The Woman Who Died a Lot'. This is a series, and an author, that I unreservedly recommend to absolutely anyone. Thursday Next is a literary detective: in earlier books she works for SpecOps 27 and spends her days investigating fake Shakespeare manuscripts and discouraging Tennyson zealots; later on in the series she goes to work inside the Bookworld, which is to say inside books themselves, tackling Grammasites and retrieving stowaway characters. A few minutes of the wit and levity of this book have been enough to banish nightmares of vampire monsters.

Penguin, £9.99

   Another problem I had with 'The Passage' is that its size renders it very impractical as a book to bring along when I have an appointment with the orthodontist (two 30 minute bus journeys and some waiting). So I turned to a new discovery, Peter Mayle's 'Toujours Provence'. I had read 'A Year in Provence' (loved) and 'Encore Provence' (liked), so I was thrilled to find this one second-hand. It's just as engaging and evocative as the first, and a lovely neat size for carrying around in a handbag.

Penguin, £9.99

   Another obstacle to finishing 'The Passage' cropped up in the form of our book club choice 'The Man in the High Castle' by Philip K. Dick, which I frantically read over two nights this week. I have to admit (sacrilegious though it may be) that I wasn't crazy about this one. This 1960s-set tale of a world in which the Axis powers triumphed in the Second World War features a USA divided between Germany and Japan, a rocket commute between Germany and California which takes 30 minutes, a controversial banned book which explores the alternative history of the Allies winning the war, and some very distinctive dialogue as the formal and hierarchical Japanese culture adjusts to the English language. It was not a very popular book club read, but we got a good discussion out of it, so that's the important thing!

   So we're now two weeks later, and I've got three half-read books to show for my efforts. I can't wait for the feeling of achievement I'll get when I finish them all!    

The Wheel of Time

   What exactly is it about Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series which has captivated so many millions of readers for the past 22 years? This is a vast epic of good and evil, of farm boys becoming near-gods, of monsters and magic. The world is intricately and immaculately drawn, the characters are many and varied, and the magic is original and intriguing. 

  Over the years, many criticisms have been made - primary among them being the sheer length and density of the series, a criticism with which I wouldn't disagree. But all the same, there's just something that keeps us coming back every time. For me, there is a very major reason why this series means so much to me.

   Years ago I picked out 'The Eye of the World' as my uncle's birthday present for my brother Oisín. When he had read and enjoyed it, I read it myself and also loved it. We were off! After that I bought each book, read it, and then immediately passed it on to him to read. It was something we could always chat about, and the source of a really strong bond between us. When we had a joint 21st and 18th birthday party, it was smaller than it could have been because we had most of the same friends. A few months after that party, on September 15th, 2007, Oisín took his own life. Even in the middle of that trauma, I was shocked and really moved by the coincidence of Robert Jordan's death the very next day. 

   Reading the newest books has been the definition of a bittersweet experience for me, at the same time loving the book itself and knowing that Oisín would have so enjoyed reading them and talking about them. He would have loved the excitement, the pace, the resolution. I would have enjoyed arguing about who our favourite characters were (he always called my favourite character, Mat, a 'whiner') and exclaiming over amazing climaxes and denouements. 

   I can't wait to read the final book in the series, and I'll be wishing that Oisín could have read it too.

Have you learned anything today?

   I've been reading Gretchen Rubin's 'The Happiness Project', and pondering and planning my own project. One of the aspects of happiness she discusses early on in the book is the idea of growth. For me at the moment, this seems synonymous with learning. So, to help myself, and possibly to amuse or edify some of you, here is a list of things I have learned so far today:

• Indian Runner ducks are RIDICULOUS looking.
• Beatrix Potter's entire body of work was probably inspired by this picture:
• My niece Ellie says 'I can't believe it!' a lot (I don't see her very often).
• She says that, but she believed me immediately and completely when I told her that some monkeys had put her missing lunchbox up the tree in the garden.
• My sister does not tidy her bedroom. Ever.
• When you're as short as I am, the couch is fine for sleeping on. 
• 5 1/2 hours is not enough sleep.
• Some cats play fetch - what's great is when he remembers he's a cat and not a dog JUST before returning the thrown object to you, so he dumps it just out of your reach instead of bringing it back to you. Every time.  
• The newer 'Where's Wally' books are full of visual puns, picture of 'upsetting the apple cart', anyone?
• The patches of hardened skin, usually infested with whale lice and barnacles, on the heads of Right whales are called callosities. Great word!
• The Fin whale's lower jaw has an asymmetrical colour pattern - white on the right side and dark on the left. 
• Angel names are fantastic - Azrael, Hael, Raphael, Achaiah.
• A lady in my book club has the Hebew equivalent of my name, Yafa. 
• There is a species of Japanese snail which can shed part of its foot to escape from predators, in the same way that some lizards do. 

That's all I can think of right now, maybe I'll remember some more (or learn some more) later!

   

Short Short Story?

   This morning I had a half-dream in the time between my alarm and getting up: 

   The grey boys stood in silent rows in the walled yard. When the wind came, they folded forward from the ankle, dominoes, and then straightened. They were being trained or punished for something, but in that place there were no answers. 

   The Other darted through them, and a ripple of rebellion was his wake. The hooded men came hunting the Other, but his presence had changed the boys, and they shielded him. The search continued, the balance shifted, and the grey boys found their power in that burning world. 

The Pirates! In an Adventure with Vegetarianism

Bloomsbury, £6.99

   During the last two weeks, I've been reading my way through Gideon Defoe's hilarious Pirates series 'The Pirates!' in adventures with Scientists, Moby Dick, Communists, Napoleon, and the Romantics. Due to just a few little references here and there, the books are not really suitable for children, but these (mostly extraneous) parts were removed in the screenplay, and the first book in the series was recently made into a great animated movie by Aardman Animations (of Wallace and Gromit fame). 

Bloomsbury, £6.99

   The Pirates in question roam the seas not really doing any pirating, in their not-very-good-at-all ship, with a Pirate Captain who knows nothing about the sea and sailing, but whose wisdom and general magnificence are well-known to his devoted crew. Said crew consists of the pirate with a scarf, the albino pirate, the pirate in red, the pirate with a monobrow, and Jennifer. The Pirate Captain's main preoccupation is with his luxuriant beard, while the pirate crew spend their time discussing the best thing to do with a drunken pirate (soak him in a barrel until he grows flippers, put a plaster on his back), comparing people to fonts, comparing people to types of trees, and deciding what clouds look like. In order to decide which pirate gets to tell his anecdote first, the Pirate Captain has drawn up a list of topics - any story with mention of ham gets ten points, one with mention of nudity gets seven points, one with murder gets five points, and so on. And yes, that does seem like assigning strangely high entertainment value to ham. But not to these pirates. They positively live for ham. One of the Pirate Captain's most precious possessions is a prize ham which he keeps in a display case in his office, and a pirate feast is considered incomplete without a ham. 

Still from the 2012 film from Aardman Animations

   Now, thrilling as all this undoubtedly is, it so happens that ham is one thing that is absolutely turning my stomach at the moment. About two months ago, I joined a gym and, as part of my general healthy turnaround, revamped my diet to include a lot more protein and veg, and less bread. A couple of weeks of protein (eggs, tuna, lean meat, supplements) at each meal has been enough to mostly turn me off meat. I made lovely lamb chops last night, could only manage two bites, and instead made do with my lovely peas and spring onion mash. Is this the start of some half-arsed sort of vegetarianism? I have to say I fancy the idea at the moment. I'm sure I could get my protein from my eggs, beans, nuts, and supplements. Besides, all I've been reading lately is about how environmentally-unfriendly meat-eating is when it comes to land use and water consumption, so maybe it's just as well. I'll make do with reading about ham instead of eating it.

Prehistoric Mythologies and Technology

Harper Collins, £16.99

   I've been neglecting this blog recently because I've bought an iPhone and have been spending so much time discovering, reading, downloading, texting, talking, and being on Twitter a lot. Last night I bought my first ebooks (enovellas?) and read one of them (Brandon Sanderson's 'Infinity Blade: Awakening'). I've come to the conclusion that this screen is just too small for much reading more than tweets, emails, or recipes. 

   In real-book land, I've just finished reading Alan Garner's stunning newest book - 'Boneland'. Here's a book which you certainly couldn't read on a phone. The strange and confusing nature of the story make this one of those books where the reader is frequently turning back pages to check or reread something, wondering if a word, sentence, or paragraph was missed in haste. This fact, combined with the handy length (150 pages), mean that it's one I'm planning to reread straight away. 

   'Boneland' is the fifty-years-later follow-up to children's fantasy classics 'The Weirdstone of Brisingamen' and 'The Moon of Gomrath', which are great favourites of mine. This one, however, is decidedly not a children's book. Garner's prose is somehow both economical and lyrical, concise and succinct as well as beautiful. Garner states in an interview here ( http://m.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/aug/31/reading-group-alan-garner?cat=books&type=article ) that he works hard at achieving this style, writing and rewriting and whittling for brevity. It works perfectly to conjure atmosphere, mystery, and menace, reminding me a lot of one of my favourite books (mentioned in my last post also), 'The Owl Service'. 
   The book's curious structure, with no chapters and the parallel dual storylines of Colin (familiar from the previous books, now an astrophysicist) and his prehistoric predecessor as guardian of The Edge can make it a difficult read. As the story gathers pace, however, these concerns evaporate. Words whirl together to form a perfect new mythology of Earth, Universe, stars, physics, madness, and a deep connection with the past. Now I just have to read it again.