BETWEEN THE ASSASSINATIONS by Aravind Adiga
The assassination of Indira Ghandi occurred in 1984 and that of her son in 1991. The series of stories that make up this book are set during this time period. In many other parts of the world social and economic happenings were happening apace, but in India, nothing much changes. The more it changes, the more it stays the same. Aravind Adiga has followed up his Man Booker prize winning 'The White Tiger' with an equally hard hitting collection of stories detailing the wretchedness and hopelessness of the lives of the average Indian in an urban setting.
Adiga has made up a small city, Kittur, somewhere on the south-western coast of India, north of Calicut and south of Goa, in the state of Karnataka. Having lived in a south Indian city much bigger than this one, the city of Kittur is very true to life I felt like I had been transported back to the city that I had lived in - the traffic, the markets, the squalor, the dirt, the desperation of the lives the vast majority of people live. The south of India being very Hindu, the caste system and its role in directing the lives of the minions who are born into it, dominates the stories and characters that Adiga has created. He is not a fan of the caste system and the appalling injustices that result from it, and neither does he come up with any solutions to fix it. Having lived there, some twenty years after this book is set, I also don't think there is any way to fix it. And this of course is the tragedy of the life of the average Indian.
Adiga transforms the reader into a tourist, treated to a guided tour of the city. At the beginning of each of the fourteen chapters the reader learns a bit about that particular part of the city, and then Adiga launches into the wretched life of yet another impoverished person. The stories are not interlinked by characters, but by the awfulness of their existences. It is compelling reading, the characters are beautifully drawn, their lives written with love and compassion, but also utter hopelessness.
THE GINGER TREE by Oswald Wynd
This novel was first published way back in 1977, and has been reprinted several times so must be a popular story! This book was given to me to read by an elderly couple, her Japanese and he European. They were married in Japan some 47 years ago, such a mixed marriage being unusual for those days. They suggested I read this because it gives a lot of insight into Japanese society from around 1900 to WWII. Things of course started to change in Japan after the war, but prior to that very little had changed for hundreds of years.
The story is narrated by way of a diary and letters by a young Scottish woman, Mary Mackenzie, who is sailing out to China to marry an army man. She has decided to marry to get away from Scotland and the unexciting life she has there. The marriage of course is a disaster, despite a daughter being born, and Mary has a very brief affair with a Japanese career soldier, gets pregnant, is ostracised from the expat community in Shanghai and flees to Japan. She remains in Japan until 1942 when the book ends. Over the years Mary experiences all sorts of traumas and trials and ends up making a very good life for herself in Japan, becoming financially independent, which I imagine was a most unusual accomplishment for any woman of that time, let alone a European one in pre-war Japan.
So the story is relatively trite, and the characters are fairly predictable, but the best thing about the book is the insight we get into pre-war Chinese and Japan society and how Europeans fitted in or didn't. I found it difficult to completely engage with this story, mainly due to its style of narration. Mary sends letters to her mother in Scotland and to a French woman whom she met when living in China. The rest of the story is via diary entries. So we have a very personal and intimate narration style, but I felt very detached from Mary and how her life was unfolding. I almost felt like an observer rather than a confidante of her. Nevertheless a good read which gives a good insight into a society and time most people would know little about.
WHERE UNDERPANTS COME FROM by Joe Bennett
Who would have thought that the story of a pair of underpants bought from that icon of New Zealand retail, The Warehouse, could be so interesting. Underpants are an article that we, in 1st World countries regard as essentials. Virtually all our clothing purchases are discretionary, but underpants are things that we ALL wear, it is the universal garment, the one garment of necessity that we all wear. Sure you can buy at The Warehouse or you can buy at a top end lingerie shop. But I expect that almost all of them are Made in China. Let's not get too picky with the likes of La Perla and so on! So Joe has an epiphany and decides to find out exactly where his special Warehouse purchased undies come from.
And what unfolds is a fascinating journey giving us an insight into modern day, China. He travels firstly to Shanghai, where amongst other sights and sites he visits, he goes to the world's largest, and it is very very large, container terminal. The authorities casted around for a suitable site close to Shanghai. An island offshore was deemed suitable, the long standing residents were sent somewhere else in China, a 30km bridge was built from the mainland to the island, and this massive, huge container terminal was built. On it are HUGE warehouses stocked full of every single item that the Western world uses in its daily lives. It is absolutely mind boggling. Joe travel throughout China to find out where and how the elastic in his pants is made, and where the cotton is grown, harvested and spun. Throughout his travels his observant and keen eye documents everything going on around him, the lives of the people, the massive upheaval taking place with the millions migrating from the rural areas to the urban areas for the dreadful manufacturing jobs they feel they need to have. He has plenty to say about the far reaching, overwhelming power and influence the government has over the lives of the common man, as well as the indomitable, uncrushable spirit of the common man to better himself and maintain his personal dignity in the process.
After reading this I begin to understand the powerhouse that is the Chinese economy in our capitalist and materialistic world. They own us, and every other Western country too. I expect that one day China will own the world. It really makes me wonder that we are so far out of touch with our world and immediate environment that we have resorted to even importing frozen veges from China. Read this and it may help you rethink your shopping habits.
READING FOR MAY - Major Pettigrew's Last Stand; Dissolution; Ordinary Thunderstorms
ORDINARY THUNDERSTORMS by William Boyd
I finished reading this latest William Boyd novel about a week ago and just have not been able to figure out what to write about it. And I can't figure out why that is!! There is no deny it is an excellent read; I think the problem is that is so hard to define what type of novel it is. Is it a murder mystery, or a Bourne Identity theft type of thriller, or a modern day fable parable type thing? Whatever it is, it is a damn fine story, an action-packed, intricate plot with just enough rope to keep the reader dangling and wondering who will get who first.
In one of those being-in-the-wrong-place-at-the-wrong-time moments, Adam Kendrick, in London from the US for a job interview, finds himself on the run, wanted by the police for murder, and a shady bunch for the information he may possess. Living on his wits and on the streets, he has to stay one step ahead of those who are looking for him.
Great plot, small number of well drawn characters, and tightly held together, this is compelling reading. All of William Boyd's books that I have read - 4 or 5 now - have fantastically complex and human characters, full of baggage and consequently very realistic and life like.
This would be a great book for a holiday or a curl up on a wet, winterly afternoon. Be grateful you have a cosy warm room to read in, and you are not sleeping under a hedge in London town with nasty people after you!
DISSOLUTION by C.J. Sansom
We just cannot seem to get enough of murder mysteries, especially from English writers, who are devilish experts at whipping up unlikely victims, and not just one at a time. These stories take place in slightly sinister, gloomy and ever so slightly scary settings. There are very odd people with very imaginative motives, any of whom could be the murderer, and red herrings galore, pouring out of every ancient crevice or thatched cottage or porcelain teapot. And best of all, superbly well written, edge of the seat stuff. And this book is another in that genre, replete with all of the above except the porcelain teapot.
Set in 1537, in Henry VIII's England, shortly after Anne Boleyn loses her head, Thomas Cromwell is Henry's right hand man. His major responsibility, at least as far as this story is concerned, is to bring the monasteries to their knees, close them down, strip them of all their wealth and consequently all the power of the Catholic Church. No easy task as we know from the fabulous The Tudors series on TV. Cromwell has a number of commissioners whose jobs it is to travel to the monasteries to achieve these tasks. One, Robin Singleton, is sent to a Benedictine monastery in Sussex, where he promptly loses his head. Matthew Shardlake, a hunchback lawyer, with his young assistant Mark Poer, are sent to the monastery to solve the murder and continue with the dissolution of the monastery. Sharldlake is a die-hard supporter of the reforms taking place but as events unfold finds himself questioning what is going on. But this is bye the bye.
In their quest to solve the murder, further deaths occur; corruption and avarice and lust run amok; not one single person appears to be innocent, and our two intrepid sleuths have a big task on their hands.
As you can imagine rural England in 1537 is not a pleasant place to be. The author evokes how ghastly, and cold, and damp and revolting it all is fabulously. His descriptions of the monastery buildings, the beautiful church, the misty and dangerous moors all contribute to the atmosphere of danger and fear that are part of every good murder mystery. Plus of course the mostly unsavoury and unappealing characters that make up the story.
Added to all of this is the historical factor. I don't know much about this period in English history, but I learnt an awful lot, even such things as the logistics of travel between Sussex and London. The all pervading influence of both Cromwell and Henry VIII is terrifying, even in the far reaches of the countryside. Both these people hang like a dark threatening cloud over the whole story.
This is very compelling reading, a great story extremely well told. Very measured in its pace, it does pick up towards the end as the element of danger increases. Highly recommended.
MAJOR PETTIGREW'S LAST STAND by Helen Simonson
Major Pettigrew is 68 years old, a very proper, buttoned up widower who lives in a picture perfect English village. The book opens with him in the shock of grief on hearing the sudden death of his brother Bertie who lives nearby with his wife and daughter. He has a chance meeting with Mrs Ali, a Pakistani lady, coincidentally a widow, who runs a small convenience store in the village owned by her late husband's family. For them both it is love at first sight, although of course this realisation takes a while to occur! As their friendship develops they both have to deal with the prejudices that inevitably arise as the result of such a relationship in such a small conservative English rural community! And the behaviour is not pretty. But as the title says, Major Pettigrew makes his last stand, and he and Mrs Ali live happily ever after. I have given the ending away, but it is fairly obvious, like all good tales, that they will end up together!
This is a gentle story, that strolls along in a very controlled fashion as befitting Major Pettigrew and the fine, upstanding man he is. Bit by bit the prejudices and stereotypes of the community unfold. It is predictable in so many ways, but also very engaging, wryly humorous in that very English way. Even though I enjoyed it, I didn't quite feel that I am the target audience, perhaps being a bit young, not yet of the age of 50! But I could see my mother and her friends reading it and relating more to the characters than I did.
I finished reading this latest William Boyd novel about a week ago and just have not been able to figure out what to write about it. And I can't figure out why that is!! There is no deny it is an excellent read; I think the problem is that is so hard to define what type of novel it is. Is it a murder mystery, or a Bourne Identity theft type of thriller, or a modern day fable parable type thing? Whatever it is, it is a damn fine story, an action-packed, intricate plot with just enough rope to keep the reader dangling and wondering who will get who first.
In one of those being-in-the-wrong-place-at-the-wrong-time moments, Adam Kendrick, in London from the US for a job interview, finds himself on the run, wanted by the police for murder, and a shady bunch for the information he may possess. Living on his wits and on the streets, he has to stay one step ahead of those who are looking for him.
Great plot, small number of well drawn characters, and tightly held together, this is compelling reading. All of William Boyd's books that I have read - 4 or 5 now - have fantastically complex and human characters, full of baggage and consequently very realistic and life like.
This would be a great book for a holiday or a curl up on a wet, winterly afternoon. Be grateful you have a cosy warm room to read in, and you are not sleeping under a hedge in London town with nasty people after you!
DISSOLUTION by C.J. Sansom
We just cannot seem to get enough of murder mysteries, especially from English writers, who are devilish experts at whipping up unlikely victims, and not just one at a time. These stories take place in slightly sinister, gloomy and ever so slightly scary settings. There are very odd people with very imaginative motives, any of whom could be the murderer, and red herrings galore, pouring out of every ancient crevice or thatched cottage or porcelain teapot. And best of all, superbly well written, edge of the seat stuff. And this book is another in that genre, replete with all of the above except the porcelain teapot.
Set in 1537, in Henry VIII's England, shortly after Anne Boleyn loses her head, Thomas Cromwell is Henry's right hand man. His major responsibility, at least as far as this story is concerned, is to bring the monasteries to their knees, close them down, strip them of all their wealth and consequently all the power of the Catholic Church. No easy task as we know from the fabulous The Tudors series on TV. Cromwell has a number of commissioners whose jobs it is to travel to the monasteries to achieve these tasks. One, Robin Singleton, is sent to a Benedictine monastery in Sussex, where he promptly loses his head. Matthew Shardlake, a hunchback lawyer, with his young assistant Mark Poer, are sent to the monastery to solve the murder and continue with the dissolution of the monastery. Sharldlake is a die-hard supporter of the reforms taking place but as events unfold finds himself questioning what is going on. But this is bye the bye.
In their quest to solve the murder, further deaths occur; corruption and avarice and lust run amok; not one single person appears to be innocent, and our two intrepid sleuths have a big task on their hands.
As you can imagine rural England in 1537 is not a pleasant place to be. The author evokes how ghastly, and cold, and damp and revolting it all is fabulously. His descriptions of the monastery buildings, the beautiful church, the misty and dangerous moors all contribute to the atmosphere of danger and fear that are part of every good murder mystery. Plus of course the mostly unsavoury and unappealing characters that make up the story.
Added to all of this is the historical factor. I don't know much about this period in English history, but I learnt an awful lot, even such things as the logistics of travel between Sussex and London. The all pervading influence of both Cromwell and Henry VIII is terrifying, even in the far reaches of the countryside. Both these people hang like a dark threatening cloud over the whole story.
This is very compelling reading, a great story extremely well told. Very measured in its pace, it does pick up towards the end as the element of danger increases. Highly recommended.
MAJOR PETTIGREW'S LAST STAND by Helen Simonson
Major Pettigrew is 68 years old, a very proper, buttoned up widower who lives in a picture perfect English village. The book opens with him in the shock of grief on hearing the sudden death of his brother Bertie who lives nearby with his wife and daughter. He has a chance meeting with Mrs Ali, a Pakistani lady, coincidentally a widow, who runs a small convenience store in the village owned by her late husband's family. For them both it is love at first sight, although of course this realisation takes a while to occur! As their friendship develops they both have to deal with the prejudices that inevitably arise as the result of such a relationship in such a small conservative English rural community! And the behaviour is not pretty. But as the title says, Major Pettigrew makes his last stand, and he and Mrs Ali live happily ever after. I have given the ending away, but it is fairly obvious, like all good tales, that they will end up together!
This is a gentle story, that strolls along in a very controlled fashion as befitting Major Pettigrew and the fine, upstanding man he is. Bit by bit the prejudices and stereotypes of the community unfold. It is predictable in so many ways, but also very engaging, wryly humorous in that very English way. Even though I enjoyed it, I didn't quite feel that I am the target audience, perhaps being a bit young, not yet of the age of 50! But I could see my mother and her friends reading it and relating more to the characters than I did.
APRIL READING - The Girl Who Played With Fire; Year of Wonders;
YEAR OF WONDERS by Geraldine Brooks
Also known as 'annus mirabilis', the year 1666 was the subject of a poem with this title by Johm Dyrden about the events of that year in England, namely the Great Fire of London and the Great Plague, plus war with the Dutch. The author also refers to the phrase in her Afterword at the end of her novel, with God telling Moses to 'do my wonders', which included the first plague in recorded history visited upon the Egyptians.
Ms Brooks has based her novel upon the actual events that took place in the village of Eym in Derbyshire which was struck by a plague in 1665-1666. The village chose to quarantine itself from the rest of the local area in the hope the illness might outrun itself and thus restrict its spread.
The narrator of this fictionalised account is 18 year old Anna Frith, recently widowed with two young sons. She takes in a boarder who unwittingly appears to have been the carrier of the illness to the village. The illness is horrible in how it attacks the victims and Ms Brookes' descriptions are not attractive! The disease quickly takes hold in the community of approximately 350 people. The Rector, typically of the times, has a very powerful influence in the community of largely illiterate, superstitious agricultural families. His decision to isolate the village from the community at large comes at a huge cost over the course of a 12 month period.
Fear grips the villagers, with the local medicine woman/midwife and her daughter being early victims of the mob violence and climate of fear. Anna and the rector's wife, Elinor, take it upon themselves to continue to care for the people with herbal remedies and tonics and so on. Little good it does! But it enables Anna, as the narrator, to be out in the community and so able to report on what is happening to the villagers and their daily lives. Not pleasant, and I am so glad I live in the time period I do! Eventually, over the 12 month period the disease does run its course but the population is reduced by two thirds as a result.
Throughout it all Anna just manages to retain her sanity despite enormous personal loss and emerges like a phoenix from the ashes into a strong and extremely capable young woman. Her life subsequent to this story would make a further wonderful novel if ever Ms Brooks decided to write about her again.
If you are looking for a pleasant bed time read, this is not it. The subject matter is harrowing, the style of writing is very correct, formal and beautifully descriptive. Not modern at all. As the novel evolves, Anna begins to question what God is all about, that despite all the worship etc of Him, He still thinks it is ok to deliver this plague. At the core of all this is how human beings behave when their very lives and survival are threatened by something they have no control over.
I can't say I really enjoyed reading this, and I would not put it in my top 10 or 20. But such is its power that it has stayed with me, and I continue to think about it nearly a week after finishing reading it. Ms Brooks is a fabulous writer, I don't know how people can write such amazing things that continue to haunt us and make us think more deeply.
THE GIRL WHO PLAYED WITH FIRE by Stieg Larsson
Google this title and pages and pages of stuff come up. This writer and his books are a phenomenon in the thriller genre. Totally gripping, intricate plot and plot development, very well drawn and unusual characters, and of course plenty of token violence just to keep us breathlessly turning the pages.
Lisbeth Salander returns, naturally, as one of the main protagonists. This time she takes centre place in the story as she attempts to stay one step ahead of being arrested for murder, 3 murders in fact. Assisting her is Mikael Blomkvist, journalist extraordinaire, and a number of characters from the first book who are also convinced of her innocence. Sex trafficking and prostitution of young women is the underlying theme of this book, which runs a parallel with the lack of control Lisbeth had over her early life.
Some reviews say the first book is better, some say this is one better. They are both equally good. I still don't want to see the movie as I don't see how they can cram all the stuff in the book into 2-3 hours. Riveting reading though.
Also known as 'annus mirabilis', the year 1666 was the subject of a poem with this title by Johm Dyrden about the events of that year in England, namely the Great Fire of London and the Great Plague, plus war with the Dutch. The author also refers to the phrase in her Afterword at the end of her novel, with God telling Moses to 'do my wonders', which included the first plague in recorded history visited upon the Egyptians.
Ms Brooks has based her novel upon the actual events that took place in the village of Eym in Derbyshire which was struck by a plague in 1665-1666. The village chose to quarantine itself from the rest of the local area in the hope the illness might outrun itself and thus restrict its spread.
The narrator of this fictionalised account is 18 year old Anna Frith, recently widowed with two young sons. She takes in a boarder who unwittingly appears to have been the carrier of the illness to the village. The illness is horrible in how it attacks the victims and Ms Brookes' descriptions are not attractive! The disease quickly takes hold in the community of approximately 350 people. The Rector, typically of the times, has a very powerful influence in the community of largely illiterate, superstitious agricultural families. His decision to isolate the village from the community at large comes at a huge cost over the course of a 12 month period.
Fear grips the villagers, with the local medicine woman/midwife and her daughter being early victims of the mob violence and climate of fear. Anna and the rector's wife, Elinor, take it upon themselves to continue to care for the people with herbal remedies and tonics and so on. Little good it does! But it enables Anna, as the narrator, to be out in the community and so able to report on what is happening to the villagers and their daily lives. Not pleasant, and I am so glad I live in the time period I do! Eventually, over the 12 month period the disease does run its course but the population is reduced by two thirds as a result.
Throughout it all Anna just manages to retain her sanity despite enormous personal loss and emerges like a phoenix from the ashes into a strong and extremely capable young woman. Her life subsequent to this story would make a further wonderful novel if ever Ms Brooks decided to write about her again.
If you are looking for a pleasant bed time read, this is not it. The subject matter is harrowing, the style of writing is very correct, formal and beautifully descriptive. Not modern at all. As the novel evolves, Anna begins to question what God is all about, that despite all the worship etc of Him, He still thinks it is ok to deliver this plague. At the core of all this is how human beings behave when their very lives and survival are threatened by something they have no control over.
I can't say I really enjoyed reading this, and I would not put it in my top 10 or 20. But such is its power that it has stayed with me, and I continue to think about it nearly a week after finishing reading it. Ms Brooks is a fabulous writer, I don't know how people can write such amazing things that continue to haunt us and make us think more deeply.
THE GIRL WHO PLAYED WITH FIRE by Stieg Larsson
Google this title and pages and pages of stuff come up. This writer and his books are a phenomenon in the thriller genre. Totally gripping, intricate plot and plot development, very well drawn and unusual characters, and of course plenty of token violence just to keep us breathlessly turning the pages.
Lisbeth Salander returns, naturally, as one of the main protagonists. This time she takes centre place in the story as she attempts to stay one step ahead of being arrested for murder, 3 murders in fact. Assisting her is Mikael Blomkvist, journalist extraordinaire, and a number of characters from the first book who are also convinced of her innocence. Sex trafficking and prostitution of young women is the underlying theme of this book, which runs a parallel with the lack of control Lisbeth had over her early life.
Some reviews say the first book is better, some say this is one better. They are both equally good. I still don't want to see the movie as I don't see how they can cram all the stuff in the book into 2-3 hours. Riveting reading though.
MARCH BOOK CLUB
A lot of reading was done in March. In fact we had almost everyone present at the meeting so lots of talk too.
Being read this past month and brief comments of :
Confessions of Edward Day by Valerie Martin: A number of us have read and very much enjoyed Property by the same author which won the Orange Prize. This relatively short but exceptionally well written novel is narrated by the wife of a plantation owner who is a brutal master to his slaves and a pretty awful husband too. From all accounts Edward Day would appear to be a much easier read, a romp and entertaining. Perhaps it is good Property was read first!
Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Stroud: this year's Pulitzer Prize winner. Bleak but a very good book.
Return to Paris by Colette Rossant: the second book in a memoir series, the first being Apricots on the Nile and the third being The World in My Kitchen. We read the first one some years ago and very much enjoyed it. This one takes us to Paris where Colette was taken by her mother at the conclusion of Apricots. Just as enjoyable and interesting as the first one, with delicious sounding recipes.
Ordinary Thunderstorms by William Boyd: this is another author we have read a lot of over the years and this is his latest novel. Very credible, totally compelling and riveting says the first reader of this.
An Equal Stillness by Francesca Kay: Beautifully written emotional tragedy
The Life and Death of Laura Friday by David Murphy: After I gave this a great review (see blog) someone else finally read it and also loved it. Very funny with good movie potential she said!
The Journal of Dora Damage by Belinda Starling: Very weird, strangely attractive and compelling, vivid portrayal of life in 1850s London.
Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger: This is the woman who wrote The Time Traveller's Wife which had mixed reviews in our group. This latest does not appear to be popular at all!
The Blue Notebook by James Irvine: This was mentioned in November book club notes. Slowly more people in the group are reading it, same excellent reviews, because it is such harrowing subject matter, it is hard to read and really enjoy!
Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel: Last year's Man Booker prize winner. All about Thomas Cromwell who served Henry VIII until his head got chopped off. By all accounts heavy going.
A Week in December by Sebastian Faulkes: This author's latest novel, great story and very relevant.
Being read this past month and brief comments of :
Confessions of Edward Day by Valerie Martin: A number of us have read and very much enjoyed Property by the same author which won the Orange Prize. This relatively short but exceptionally well written novel is narrated by the wife of a plantation owner who is a brutal master to his slaves and a pretty awful husband too. From all accounts Edward Day would appear to be a much easier read, a romp and entertaining. Perhaps it is good Property was read first!
Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Stroud: this year's Pulitzer Prize winner. Bleak but a very good book.
Return to Paris by Colette Rossant: the second book in a memoir series, the first being Apricots on the Nile and the third being The World in My Kitchen. We read the first one some years ago and very much enjoyed it. This one takes us to Paris where Colette was taken by her mother at the conclusion of Apricots. Just as enjoyable and interesting as the first one, with delicious sounding recipes.
Ordinary Thunderstorms by William Boyd: this is another author we have read a lot of over the years and this is his latest novel. Very credible, totally compelling and riveting says the first reader of this.
An Equal Stillness by Francesca Kay: Beautifully written emotional tragedy
The Life and Death of Laura Friday by David Murphy: After I gave this a great review (see blog) someone else finally read it and also loved it. Very funny with good movie potential she said!
The Journal of Dora Damage by Belinda Starling: Very weird, strangely attractive and compelling, vivid portrayal of life in 1850s London.
Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger: This is the woman who wrote The Time Traveller's Wife which had mixed reviews in our group. This latest does not appear to be popular at all!
The Blue Notebook by James Irvine: This was mentioned in November book club notes. Slowly more people in the group are reading it, same excellent reviews, because it is such harrowing subject matter, it is hard to read and really enjoy!
Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel: Last year's Man Booker prize winner. All about Thomas Cromwell who served Henry VIII until his head got chopped off. By all accounts heavy going.
A Week in December by Sebastian Faulkes: This author's latest novel, great story and very relevant.
MARCH READING
THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO by Stieg Larsson
The hype surrounding this book, and any book for that matter that people start raving about, made me nervous about starting this. SO many people I know have read this, the reviews have all been very praise worthy and now of course it is out at the movies. I wasn't nervous about reading this just because of all the hype though. The few books I have read by Scandanavian authors have always been gloomy, dark, set in the middle of winter, matter of fact and generally hard work to get through. With the exception of Pippi Longstocking of course.
This book however has it all, apart from all the murder and blood and gore of course that seems to pepper any decent blockbuster nowadays! It has a great plot line that goes back and forth over fifty years or so, exceptionally well drawn characters, all of them, not just the major characters. The main half dozen characters are all incredibly interesting and complex people, and yet very realistic, even the girl of the title. Their relationships with each other, even the ones that are not healthy or good, are well portrayed and again very realistic in the way they relate to each other.
Plenty has been written about this book and the others in the series so I will say little about the plot other than an investigative journalist is commissioned to solve a long standing disappearance and finds himself more and more drawn into the complexities of the family he is investigating. His assistant is the girl of the title, damaged but brilliant and together the mystery is solved.
The book is written as a classic whodunnit, with the odd red herring thrown in. The story does travel quite a bit around Sweden and the reader gets a wonderful travelogue of the country and the climate as the story unfolds. After a gently paced beginning, the story picks up and becomes an absolute page turner, right to the last page. Can't wait to start the second one in the series.
THE OUTCAST by Sadie Jones
What a depressing, sad and sorry bag of bones this book is. I understand it was originally conceived as a screenplay, maybe that should have told everyone something that it didn't get further than that. But I also see that it is to become a movie directed by the guy who directed Shakespeare in Love. I really can't visualise how that will turn out, although movies have been made of much less. And that reminds me, even though the blurb on the back sounded a bit suspect, I took it to read because I knew it was being made into a movie. Big mistake.
Because, really not a lot happens in this novel. It has a busy sounding plot, with young Lewis Aldridge, growing up in post-war England in a suffocating satellite/commuter town of London where appearances count for everything. At the age of ten Lewis's lively, attractive and loving mother drowns in a river - the perils of drinking and swimming - and this changes his life quite dramatically. His emotionally retarded father, Gilbert, swamped by grief, cannot deal with his own grief, let alone that of his son. He quickly remarries, and life returns to 'normal' as Gilbert knows it, but of course not for Lewis. From this point on the downward spiral of Lewis's life takes off. Increasingly alienated from the people in his closed, insular community who quite simply don't understand him and don't want to, he becomes more isolated, takes to drinking, self harming, visiting a prostitute, ends up committing arson and goes to prison for two years, where by all accounts he was actually quite happy.
The second half of the novel focuses on his return to the town and to his father's and stepmother's house. Nothing has changed of course, and it is as if he has never been away. Nothing has changed in the neighbourhood either. The other main character in the book is Kit, a girl a few years younger than Lewis who comes from an equally dysfunctional family headed by a man who is a master in domestic violence but hides behind the enormous respectability of being the richest man around. There are some truly lovely people that live in this small community! Kit has always been desperately in love with Lewis, probably because she recognises a similarly damaged soul. Now that Lewis is 19, and Kit 15, they begin to notice each other, surprise surprise, and this is the main focus of the last third as they deal with the chaos of their lives.
But the whole thing is so depressing and monotonous and grey and gloomy. Perhaps Ms Jones is trying to depict life in the straightened and controlled times of the 1950s, which she does actually succeed in doing. Her writing is quite descriptive and very visual but it has so many 'ands' in every single sentence. I read another review of this book and the reviewer also commented on the excessive use of 'and'; apparently it is intentional to illustrate the monotony of everything. She succeeds here too. Reading it reminded me very much of Atonement by Ian McEwan, but way way more happens in the latter, plus being a better story, better characters, and you can see it becoming a movie, sad ending notwithstanding. I have no idea how this story will be turned into 90 minutes minimum of entertainment. I won't be going! The only reason I finished this book is because I have to review it for book club.
THE GLASS ROOM by Simon Mawer
Fifteen years ago the author visited the Tugendhat house in Czechoslovakia which is the house upon which this novel is based on. Designed by Ludwig Miles van der Rohe it is considered an icon of modern architecture. So highly regarded is it that is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. From the information available the house in this book would appear to be a replica of the real house and is the one centre piece constant throughout the novel in a world of chaos and disintegration.
Despite the historical backdrop which encompasses the Nazis, war, communism and all the rest it, the house remains, a symbol perhaps of the indestructibility of the human spirit and hope for the future. This is primarily a story of optimism. Throughout the story all the characters are looking to improve themselves and their lives, always looking forwards. And it follows, for once, that for a story about war and destruction it does actually have a happy ending.
Liesel and Viktor (who is Jewish) Landauer commission the house to be built in 1929. Its construction coincides with the pregnancy and birth of the couple's first child, symbolic of the new life as a family within the walls of the house. The plot follows the well known history of the time with the taking over of Austria and then Czechoslovakia by the Germans, the refugees who arrive in the locality, anti- semitism and how it all affects this family, their friends and associates. The family escape to Switzerland in 1938, leaving the house to its fate, and after a hurried journey across Europe in around 1942, finally finish up in the USA.
The house meantime lives through and survives to the modern day, and at the end of the story becomes the focus for the conclusion. The glass room is the main living room of the house, and encompasses the whole front expanse of the building with huge window panes of glass and an onyx wall. So much of the critical elements and events of the story take place in this room.
This is a fabulous piece of story telling, giving a slightly different take on the thousands of novels that have come out of the horror of the WWII, the Nazis, the holocaust, Communist rule, and subsequent breakdown. All that stuff happens in the background, the focus in this story is the people to whom it is happening to. There is some beautiful writing, without being overly sentimental, just a little mind you! I did find some of the characters a bit flat though, not enough depth or roundness to them. With the exception perhaps of Hana who is Liesl's best friend. Although she is not one of the main characters of the story, she certainly comes across as the most complex and interesting.
A most worthwhile book, that does take a little while to get going - till about page 75 from memory, but then the switch for me suddenly came on and I was away with it.
LOVE IN A COLD CLIMATE by Nancy Mitford
A few years ago in the book club we read a fabulous biography of the famous Mitford sisters. Aristocratically born early in the 20th century, the five sisters came to adulthood between the wars where they literally took the world by storm. Nancy, the oldest, became a writer of biting satire towards her class, Unity and Diana were fascists - Unity in cahoots with Hitler and Goebbels, and Diana marrying the very well known fascist Sir Oswald Mosley who ended up going to prison for his troubles; Jessica became a journalist and went off to report on the Spanish Civil War not on the side of the fascists; and extraordinarily the youngest, Deborah, became the Duchess of Devonshire! And what is more they were all incredibly beautiful, rich, opinionated and famous.
So any writings that come out of this mix are bound to be interesting if nothing else. Along with The Pursuit of Love, Love in a Cold Climate takes a satirical view of upper class society at a certain point between the wars - before the stock market crash of 1929 and after. The story is narrated by Fanny Logan, an 18 year old girl who lives with relatives due to her parents either being incapable or unable to care for her. Money however is no object! In this particularly wealthy area of England the Lord and Lady Montdore and their daughter Polly, also 18 live. Recently returned from being Viceroy in India, they are totally full of themselves and their position so high up the food chain. Except for Polly who really could not care less, and certainly does not want to be married off to the first available suitor as her mother wishes. Until Polly takes control of her own life of course, seriously threatening her mother's esteemed position in society, and forcing Lord Montdore to disown his only child. This results in the arrival of the male heir, Cedric, from the colonies of Nova Soctia and the upheaval he so delightfully foists on this small corner of English landed gentry.
As one expects the plot dances along, with sparkling and witty dialogue and gorgeous characters. The stereotypes abound - Lady Montdore is a monster, Polly is the beautiful, angelic, dumb blonde, there are mad and lecherous uncles and dotty aunts, absent minded professors, and of course the completely foppish and outrageous Cedric.
A lot of fun and easy to read. But I don't feel I need to read another of her books.
THE HELP by Kathryn Stockett
This recently published book has taken the US by storm. Ms Stockett is an excellent story teller but in taking on a tricky subject such as the social structure of 1960s Mississippi, just as the civil rights movement is getting started she is setting herself up for all sorts of fallout and retribution. I almost always read the Acknowledgments/background notes pages written by the author before I start reading a book and this book has superb background information to her novel. Ms Stockett grew up in a house that had a black maid, and like the white children in this story, she had the same maid looking after her for most of her childhood. These maids would either stay with the family until retirement or death, or would move onto another family with young children. As you can imagine the bond that develops between the white families and the black staff is extremely strong, as is the huge variation in the way the staff are treated by their white employers. In this novel the relationship focus is on the white women employers and the black maids.
The main characters are a young white woman, Skeeter Phelan, who has recently returned to her home town of Jackson, Mississippi after being at college with dreams of becoming a writer and getting out of Jackson. She has to deal with her mother's determination to get a ring on her finger. Aibileen is a black woman who I guess is in her 50s, now onto being nanny to her seventeenth white child and giving this child all the love and self esteem that the mother seems unable or unwilling to do. Then there is Minny, a younger black maid with a drunk abusive husband and five children, and a mouth on her that gets her into all sorts of trouble. Skeeter begins to write a book anonymously documenting the stories of the black maids in the town, and thus begins to walk a very fine line between the white-lady-expected-behaviour-line and giving a dignified voice to the not very dignified lives of the maids. Naturally the two collide in spectacular fashion!
So beneath the very serious message there is humour and love and graciousness. But at the core of this book is the tragic legacy left by slavery in the American South and the enormous rifts that arose between human beings of simply different skin colour. Not confined just to 1960s America either.
The hype surrounding this book, and any book for that matter that people start raving about, made me nervous about starting this. SO many people I know have read this, the reviews have all been very praise worthy and now of course it is out at the movies. I wasn't nervous about reading this just because of all the hype though. The few books I have read by Scandanavian authors have always been gloomy, dark, set in the middle of winter, matter of fact and generally hard work to get through. With the exception of Pippi Longstocking of course.
This book however has it all, apart from all the murder and blood and gore of course that seems to pepper any decent blockbuster nowadays! It has a great plot line that goes back and forth over fifty years or so, exceptionally well drawn characters, all of them, not just the major characters. The main half dozen characters are all incredibly interesting and complex people, and yet very realistic, even the girl of the title. Their relationships with each other, even the ones that are not healthy or good, are well portrayed and again very realistic in the way they relate to each other.
Plenty has been written about this book and the others in the series so I will say little about the plot other than an investigative journalist is commissioned to solve a long standing disappearance and finds himself more and more drawn into the complexities of the family he is investigating. His assistant is the girl of the title, damaged but brilliant and together the mystery is solved.
The book is written as a classic whodunnit, with the odd red herring thrown in. The story does travel quite a bit around Sweden and the reader gets a wonderful travelogue of the country and the climate as the story unfolds. After a gently paced beginning, the story picks up and becomes an absolute page turner, right to the last page. Can't wait to start the second one in the series.
THE OUTCAST by Sadie Jones
What a depressing, sad and sorry bag of bones this book is. I understand it was originally conceived as a screenplay, maybe that should have told everyone something that it didn't get further than that. But I also see that it is to become a movie directed by the guy who directed Shakespeare in Love. I really can't visualise how that will turn out, although movies have been made of much less. And that reminds me, even though the blurb on the back sounded a bit suspect, I took it to read because I knew it was being made into a movie. Big mistake.
Because, really not a lot happens in this novel. It has a busy sounding plot, with young Lewis Aldridge, growing up in post-war England in a suffocating satellite/commuter town of London where appearances count for everything. At the age of ten Lewis's lively, attractive and loving mother drowns in a river - the perils of drinking and swimming - and this changes his life quite dramatically. His emotionally retarded father, Gilbert, swamped by grief, cannot deal with his own grief, let alone that of his son. He quickly remarries, and life returns to 'normal' as Gilbert knows it, but of course not for Lewis. From this point on the downward spiral of Lewis's life takes off. Increasingly alienated from the people in his closed, insular community who quite simply don't understand him and don't want to, he becomes more isolated, takes to drinking, self harming, visiting a prostitute, ends up committing arson and goes to prison for two years, where by all accounts he was actually quite happy.
The second half of the novel focuses on his return to the town and to his father's and stepmother's house. Nothing has changed of course, and it is as if he has never been away. Nothing has changed in the neighbourhood either. The other main character in the book is Kit, a girl a few years younger than Lewis who comes from an equally dysfunctional family headed by a man who is a master in domestic violence but hides behind the enormous respectability of being the richest man around. There are some truly lovely people that live in this small community! Kit has always been desperately in love with Lewis, probably because she recognises a similarly damaged soul. Now that Lewis is 19, and Kit 15, they begin to notice each other, surprise surprise, and this is the main focus of the last third as they deal with the chaos of their lives.
But the whole thing is so depressing and monotonous and grey and gloomy. Perhaps Ms Jones is trying to depict life in the straightened and controlled times of the 1950s, which she does actually succeed in doing. Her writing is quite descriptive and very visual but it has so many 'ands' in every single sentence. I read another review of this book and the reviewer also commented on the excessive use of 'and'; apparently it is intentional to illustrate the monotony of everything. She succeeds here too. Reading it reminded me very much of Atonement by Ian McEwan, but way way more happens in the latter, plus being a better story, better characters, and you can see it becoming a movie, sad ending notwithstanding. I have no idea how this story will be turned into 90 minutes minimum of entertainment. I won't be going! The only reason I finished this book is because I have to review it for book club.
THE GLASS ROOM by Simon Mawer
Fifteen years ago the author visited the Tugendhat house in Czechoslovakia which is the house upon which this novel is based on. Designed by Ludwig Miles van der Rohe it is considered an icon of modern architecture. So highly regarded is it that is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. From the information available the house in this book would appear to be a replica of the real house and is the one centre piece constant throughout the novel in a world of chaos and disintegration.
Despite the historical backdrop which encompasses the Nazis, war, communism and all the rest it, the house remains, a symbol perhaps of the indestructibility of the human spirit and hope for the future. This is primarily a story of optimism. Throughout the story all the characters are looking to improve themselves and their lives, always looking forwards. And it follows, for once, that for a story about war and destruction it does actually have a happy ending.
Liesel and Viktor (who is Jewish) Landauer commission the house to be built in 1929. Its construction coincides with the pregnancy and birth of the couple's first child, symbolic of the new life as a family within the walls of the house. The plot follows the well known history of the time with the taking over of Austria and then Czechoslovakia by the Germans, the refugees who arrive in the locality, anti- semitism and how it all affects this family, their friends and associates. The family escape to Switzerland in 1938, leaving the house to its fate, and after a hurried journey across Europe in around 1942, finally finish up in the USA.
The house meantime lives through and survives to the modern day, and at the end of the story becomes the focus for the conclusion. The glass room is the main living room of the house, and encompasses the whole front expanse of the building with huge window panes of glass and an onyx wall. So much of the critical elements and events of the story take place in this room.
This is a fabulous piece of story telling, giving a slightly different take on the thousands of novels that have come out of the horror of the WWII, the Nazis, the holocaust, Communist rule, and subsequent breakdown. All that stuff happens in the background, the focus in this story is the people to whom it is happening to. There is some beautiful writing, without being overly sentimental, just a little mind you! I did find some of the characters a bit flat though, not enough depth or roundness to them. With the exception perhaps of Hana who is Liesl's best friend. Although she is not one of the main characters of the story, she certainly comes across as the most complex and interesting.
A most worthwhile book, that does take a little while to get going - till about page 75 from memory, but then the switch for me suddenly came on and I was away with it.
LOVE IN A COLD CLIMATE by Nancy Mitford
A few years ago in the book club we read a fabulous biography of the famous Mitford sisters. Aristocratically born early in the 20th century, the five sisters came to adulthood between the wars where they literally took the world by storm. Nancy, the oldest, became a writer of biting satire towards her class, Unity and Diana were fascists - Unity in cahoots with Hitler and Goebbels, and Diana marrying the very well known fascist Sir Oswald Mosley who ended up going to prison for his troubles; Jessica became a journalist and went off to report on the Spanish Civil War not on the side of the fascists; and extraordinarily the youngest, Deborah, became the Duchess of Devonshire! And what is more they were all incredibly beautiful, rich, opinionated and famous.
So any writings that come out of this mix are bound to be interesting if nothing else. Along with The Pursuit of Love, Love in a Cold Climate takes a satirical view of upper class society at a certain point between the wars - before the stock market crash of 1929 and after. The story is narrated by Fanny Logan, an 18 year old girl who lives with relatives due to her parents either being incapable or unable to care for her. Money however is no object! In this particularly wealthy area of England the Lord and Lady Montdore and their daughter Polly, also 18 live. Recently returned from being Viceroy in India, they are totally full of themselves and their position so high up the food chain. Except for Polly who really could not care less, and certainly does not want to be married off to the first available suitor as her mother wishes. Until Polly takes control of her own life of course, seriously threatening her mother's esteemed position in society, and forcing Lord Montdore to disown his only child. This results in the arrival of the male heir, Cedric, from the colonies of Nova Soctia and the upheaval he so delightfully foists on this small corner of English landed gentry.
As one expects the plot dances along, with sparkling and witty dialogue and gorgeous characters. The stereotypes abound - Lady Montdore is a monster, Polly is the beautiful, angelic, dumb blonde, there are mad and lecherous uncles and dotty aunts, absent minded professors, and of course the completely foppish and outrageous Cedric.
A lot of fun and easy to read. But I don't feel I need to read another of her books.
THE HELP by Kathryn Stockett
This recently published book has taken the US by storm. Ms Stockett is an excellent story teller but in taking on a tricky subject such as the social structure of 1960s Mississippi, just as the civil rights movement is getting started she is setting herself up for all sorts of fallout and retribution. I almost always read the Acknowledgments/background notes pages written by the author before I start reading a book and this book has superb background information to her novel. Ms Stockett grew up in a house that had a black maid, and like the white children in this story, she had the same maid looking after her for most of her childhood. These maids would either stay with the family until retirement or death, or would move onto another family with young children. As you can imagine the bond that develops between the white families and the black staff is extremely strong, as is the huge variation in the way the staff are treated by their white employers. In this novel the relationship focus is on the white women employers and the black maids.
The main characters are a young white woman, Skeeter Phelan, who has recently returned to her home town of Jackson, Mississippi after being at college with dreams of becoming a writer and getting out of Jackson. She has to deal with her mother's determination to get a ring on her finger. Aibileen is a black woman who I guess is in her 50s, now onto being nanny to her seventeenth white child and giving this child all the love and self esteem that the mother seems unable or unwilling to do. Then there is Minny, a younger black maid with a drunk abusive husband and five children, and a mouth on her that gets her into all sorts of trouble. Skeeter begins to write a book anonymously documenting the stories of the black maids in the town, and thus begins to walk a very fine line between the white-lady-expected-behaviour-line and giving a dignified voice to the not very dignified lives of the maids. Naturally the two collide in spectacular fashion!
So beneath the very serious message there is humour and love and graciousness. But at the core of this book is the tragic legacy left by slavery in the American South and the enormous rifts that arose between human beings of simply different skin colour. Not confined just to 1960s America either.
FEBRUARY READING
THE GIRL'S GUIDE TO HUNTING AND FISHING by Melissa Bank
To be perfectly honest I found it difficult to really get into this book. It reads more like a series of short stories or vignettes of a young woman's life - Jane - from the time she is 14 years old observing her older brother's relationship with his then girlfriend, to what is probably twenty years later when she is still struggling withe the concept of love, forever love that is, and doing her darnedest to find and keep her man.
Perhaps I am getting too old to read such novels, not being on the hunt and fish for a bloke, but it does sort of reek of desperation to me. Jane is obviously very attractive and very smart. But in her professional life she seems to be taking a continual hammering from her power crazy female boss; her love life seems to be in a constant shambles. In fact there are many, many similarities to that icon of modern day single life Briget Jones. But nowhere near as funny or as self deprecating or as lovable or as real as the lovely Bridget. Has this author been inspired by Bridget in giving us this slightly gloomy and desperate look at modern urban love? I don't know, but for me, it just does not work.
Despite all the above, Ms Bank is a cool writer. She is funny, we get a very good idea of Jane's character and the influences on her life and personality. She captures a teenage girl quite well I think. I am an expert, currently living with two of them. She explores the complexities of being in a relationship with a much older man, and the heartache of a parent's terminal illness. To this extent the writing is quite real, easy to read and understand. Plus there is some great dialogue.
Would I recommend this? Only I think if you are single and angsting over the whole relationship thing. But it is just not for me. I have been deciding whether to keep it on the shelf or not, but have decided to as my girls may enjoy reading it and get something out of it in the future. Maybe.
THE LOVELY BONES by Alice Sebold
So much has been written about this book over the years since it was first published I am not even going to begin analysing and critiquing and all that. I remember when it was first introduced into book club and I was horrified that someone could write a book about the rape and murder of a 14 year old girl, then have the girl watching from heaven how everyone deals with it. As the mother of 2 young girls this was the very last thing I wanted to read. And for all those years since it was published in 2002 I have strongly resisted, despite everyone telling me what a wonderful and uplifting book it is.
With fellow NZer Peter Jackson directing the recent movie, I had a vague interest in the film, but it was only when I read in an interview with him that he wanted to make a movie he could take his teenage daughter and her friends to, plus the involvement of Weta Workshop, that I thought I would take the plunge and see it. So I did. And I loved it. It is very unusual for me to see the movie before reading the book but I am glad it worked out this way. I thought the movie was beautiful, very uplifting and I hope heaven really is like that because it looks like a great place to be! I know people who read the book are disappointed in the movie, because it is different and so on, but having read the book now I do feel that the movie captures the essence of the story. The last 40 or so pages of the book dragged a bit, got all a bit spiritual and ghosty for me, souls climbing into bodies and so on, but despite this little hiccup I felt very satisfied and happy at the end of it.
BLINK THE POWER OF THINKING WITHOUT THINKING by Malcolm Gladwell
This is the second book by Malcolm Gladwell, following on from The Tipping Point. Essentially it is about intuition, but not that gut feeling intuition that you get. As Mr Gladwell explains it on his website it is more about intuition that comes from knowledge. For example the number of experts looking at an ancient Greek torso who believe it to be the genuine article, and the one or two experts who know instinctively just by a first look at it that it is a fake. Or the researcher who can tell within minutes of observing a couple, whether they are destined for the long haul or not.
Malcolm Gladwell helps us to challenge our preconceived ideas about people and situations and think beyond the basic instincts we may have, looking at it from a knowledge base. Just like his other books that I have read, this is also very thought provoking and interesting. It hasn't had the impact on me that Outliers had but still worth reading.
To be perfectly honest I found it difficult to really get into this book. It reads more like a series of short stories or vignettes of a young woman's life - Jane - from the time she is 14 years old observing her older brother's relationship with his then girlfriend, to what is probably twenty years later when she is still struggling withe the concept of love, forever love that is, and doing her darnedest to find and keep her man.
Perhaps I am getting too old to read such novels, not being on the hunt and fish for a bloke, but it does sort of reek of desperation to me. Jane is obviously very attractive and very smart. But in her professional life she seems to be taking a continual hammering from her power crazy female boss; her love life seems to be in a constant shambles. In fact there are many, many similarities to that icon of modern day single life Briget Jones. But nowhere near as funny or as self deprecating or as lovable or as real as the lovely Bridget. Has this author been inspired by Bridget in giving us this slightly gloomy and desperate look at modern urban love? I don't know, but for me, it just does not work.
Despite all the above, Ms Bank is a cool writer. She is funny, we get a very good idea of Jane's character and the influences on her life and personality. She captures a teenage girl quite well I think. I am an expert, currently living with two of them. She explores the complexities of being in a relationship with a much older man, and the heartache of a parent's terminal illness. To this extent the writing is quite real, easy to read and understand. Plus there is some great dialogue.
Would I recommend this? Only I think if you are single and angsting over the whole relationship thing. But it is just not for me. I have been deciding whether to keep it on the shelf or not, but have decided to as my girls may enjoy reading it and get something out of it in the future. Maybe.
THE LOVELY BONES by Alice Sebold
So much has been written about this book over the years since it was first published I am not even going to begin analysing and critiquing and all that. I remember when it was first introduced into book club and I was horrified that someone could write a book about the rape and murder of a 14 year old girl, then have the girl watching from heaven how everyone deals with it. As the mother of 2 young girls this was the very last thing I wanted to read. And for all those years since it was published in 2002 I have strongly resisted, despite everyone telling me what a wonderful and uplifting book it is.
With fellow NZer Peter Jackson directing the recent movie, I had a vague interest in the film, but it was only when I read in an interview with him that he wanted to make a movie he could take his teenage daughter and her friends to, plus the involvement of Weta Workshop, that I thought I would take the plunge and see it. So I did. And I loved it. It is very unusual for me to see the movie before reading the book but I am glad it worked out this way. I thought the movie was beautiful, very uplifting and I hope heaven really is like that because it looks like a great place to be! I know people who read the book are disappointed in the movie, because it is different and so on, but having read the book now I do feel that the movie captures the essence of the story. The last 40 or so pages of the book dragged a bit, got all a bit spiritual and ghosty for me, souls climbing into bodies and so on, but despite this little hiccup I felt very satisfied and happy at the end of it.
BLINK THE POWER OF THINKING WITHOUT THINKING by Malcolm Gladwell
This is the second book by Malcolm Gladwell, following on from The Tipping Point. Essentially it is about intuition, but not that gut feeling intuition that you get. As Mr Gladwell explains it on his website it is more about intuition that comes from knowledge. For example the number of experts looking at an ancient Greek torso who believe it to be the genuine article, and the one or two experts who know instinctively just by a first look at it that it is a fake. Or the researcher who can tell within minutes of observing a couple, whether they are destined for the long haul or not.
Malcolm Gladwell helps us to challenge our preconceived ideas about people and situations and think beyond the basic instincts we may have, looking at it from a knowledge base. Just like his other books that I have read, this is also very thought provoking and interesting. It hasn't had the impact on me that Outliers had but still worth reading.
FEBRUARY READING - THE EXCITEMENT CONTINUES
HOTEL BABYLON by Imogen Edwards-Jones and Anonymous
Talk about being a fly on the wall! I expect we are all slightly voyeuristic about hotels and what goes on behind all those closed doors. And what about the staff? Are they really that polite and gracious and dare I say it deferential to guests, or is all that a big hypocritical facade? Do the hotels really love us, the guest, or are we just a means to an end.
The answer would appear to be yes and no to such questions! Being a business, the bottom line is all important, but to get the repeat business, the hotel does have to ingratiate ever so slightly to the guest, especially those at the top of the food chain such as sheiks, Madonna, Texan oil millionaires and so on. But the staff, being human, and thus in conflict with the business model, do find themselves, from time to time anyway, actually liking the guests and so do go out of their way to be, in a word, nice. Not always though, and generally the guest is the thing that keeps them in a job, and most importantly pays the tips, an incredibly lucrative part of being in the front line.
'Anonymous' is apparently a veteran of the England hotel industry, having started in the kitchens and now on reception, the hotel's face to the world. The goings ons and shenanigans are highly entertaining, very interesting and make for compelling reading. During the 24 hours the book covers, where the narrator is required to work a double shift, the reader is taken absolutely everywhere in the hotel, from the reception area, to the offices, restaurant, hotel kitchens, staff kitchen, service areas and of course the rooms from the suites down. Then there are all the staff - the management, front of house, chefs and kitchen staff, cleaners and housekeeping. Then there are the guests in all their glory! There is death, prostitutes, love, sex, rage, drunkenness, in fact a whole microcosm of life occurring in this building over a 24 hour period.
I don't think it is the most well written book I have read, but highly entertaining nevertheless and of course fantastically well captured in the BBC TV series.
CLEO by Helen Brown
What a little piece of magic this book is. Have your hankie ready, Cleo and Helen would melt the hardest heart. For 24 years, this little black cat was the one constant in the lives of Helen and her family. From the most terrible tragedy that can strike a family, and the various ups and downs that occurred in the years afterwards, Cleo kept them all looking forward and up. That is all the plot info that I am going to give because you need to read this for yourself!
However Helen has inserted plenty of interesting facts and anecdotes about cats, from being worshipped by the Egyptians to their uncanny therapeutic ability to make us feel better and do such things as lower blood pressure simply by purring. But any cat lover will tell you how good having a cat with you makes you feel.
I was working in the same department in the bank that Helen's husband was working in when their daughter Katherine was born. There was quite a bit of talk at the time about how Helen was some years older than Philip, how her family had suffered in the past, and also what a total energy force she was. I never met her, but having read Cleo I now know exactly what my work colleagues were talking about. She is definitely a cup half full person, although she has had plenty of cause over the years to be cup half empty!
The one criticism I had of the book was the complete lack of photos. I already knew what Philip looked like of course, so had a small advantage. If you go to http://helenbrown.com.au/index.html, you will see lots of family photos with Cleo.
If you are having a bad day, start this book. You will soon see that your bad day is really not that bad at all, and by the time you finish this book, your bad day/week will have dissolved away.
THE TIPPING POINT by Malcolm Gladwell
This is a book about epidemics. Not simply a widespread outbreak of an infectious disease as one would immediately think, but more encompassing than that, specifically a very rapid spread and growth of an idea, or a development or just simply a change. Malcolm Gladwell looks at this concept of change and why change can happen very quickly and unexpectedly. He looks at social epidemics rather than medical. Although Chapter 1 does focus on an infectious disease epidemic, I guess to set the scene and help us understand how an epidemic works, he uses the more widely understand meaning of epidemic in its medical arena which we, the reader, are more familiar with.
It is difficult to classify what type of book this is. It is about human behaviour and why we behave the way we do, and why small changes, sometimes very small changes, can affect very dramatically our response to a situation. Malcolm Gladwell sees this as a book about change, and how it is 'that ideas and behavior and messages and products sometimes behave just like outbreaks of infectious disease. They are social epidemics. The Tipping Point is an examination of the social epidemics that surround us.' (From http://www.gladwell.com/tippingpoint/index.html).
For example he looks at how Hush Puppies suddenly became the only shoe to wear, why Sesame Street and Blue's Clues were such phenomenally successful television programmes, how New York City went from being one of the most violent cities in the US to one of the safest, the three types of people that contribute to the success of these epidemics, and most importantly the three essentials of epidemics which make them happen. And how these same three essentials can be used to reverse epidemics such as smoking amongst teenagers.
Malcolm Gladwell's magic lies in applying all this theory to everyday situations and events, and historical figures, thus making it ridiculously easy to captivate the reader. He makes it oh so relevant to the man/woman in the street. We all understand being frightened of getting swine flu or another contagious disease; we have all watched Sesame Street at some stage; we all wonder how on earth did that particular fashion item become such a must have item eg Croc shoes, or low rider jeans; we have all been drawn to the allure of smoking at some stage whether it be through advertising such as the Marlboro Man, or the attraction of breaking school rules, or that it simply looked cool. These are things that we all have some knowledge or experience of. And this is what makes it such a good book to read!
Challenge yourself. In the same interview referred to in the web page above, Malcolm Gladwell hopes that we can learn to start positive epidemics of our own, so the book is also enpowering and motivating, giving us the power to change things in the world around us, hopefully of course for the better.
Talk about being a fly on the wall! I expect we are all slightly voyeuristic about hotels and what goes on behind all those closed doors. And what about the staff? Are they really that polite and gracious and dare I say it deferential to guests, or is all that a big hypocritical facade? Do the hotels really love us, the guest, or are we just a means to an end.
The answer would appear to be yes and no to such questions! Being a business, the bottom line is all important, but to get the repeat business, the hotel does have to ingratiate ever so slightly to the guest, especially those at the top of the food chain such as sheiks, Madonna, Texan oil millionaires and so on. But the staff, being human, and thus in conflict with the business model, do find themselves, from time to time anyway, actually liking the guests and so do go out of their way to be, in a word, nice. Not always though, and generally the guest is the thing that keeps them in a job, and most importantly pays the tips, an incredibly lucrative part of being in the front line.
'Anonymous' is apparently a veteran of the England hotel industry, having started in the kitchens and now on reception, the hotel's face to the world. The goings ons and shenanigans are highly entertaining, very interesting and make for compelling reading. During the 24 hours the book covers, where the narrator is required to work a double shift, the reader is taken absolutely everywhere in the hotel, from the reception area, to the offices, restaurant, hotel kitchens, staff kitchen, service areas and of course the rooms from the suites down. Then there are all the staff - the management, front of house, chefs and kitchen staff, cleaners and housekeeping. Then there are the guests in all their glory! There is death, prostitutes, love, sex, rage, drunkenness, in fact a whole microcosm of life occurring in this building over a 24 hour period.
I don't think it is the most well written book I have read, but highly entertaining nevertheless and of course fantastically well captured in the BBC TV series.
CLEO by Helen Brown
What a little piece of magic this book is. Have your hankie ready, Cleo and Helen would melt the hardest heart. For 24 years, this little black cat was the one constant in the lives of Helen and her family. From the most terrible tragedy that can strike a family, and the various ups and downs that occurred in the years afterwards, Cleo kept them all looking forward and up. That is all the plot info that I am going to give because you need to read this for yourself!
However Helen has inserted plenty of interesting facts and anecdotes about cats, from being worshipped by the Egyptians to their uncanny therapeutic ability to make us feel better and do such things as lower blood pressure simply by purring. But any cat lover will tell you how good having a cat with you makes you feel.
I was working in the same department in the bank that Helen's husband was working in when their daughter Katherine was born. There was quite a bit of talk at the time about how Helen was some years older than Philip, how her family had suffered in the past, and also what a total energy force she was. I never met her, but having read Cleo I now know exactly what my work colleagues were talking about. She is definitely a cup half full person, although she has had plenty of cause over the years to be cup half empty!
The one criticism I had of the book was the complete lack of photos. I already knew what Philip looked like of course, so had a small advantage. If you go to http://helenbrown.com.au/index.html, you will see lots of family photos with Cleo.
If you are having a bad day, start this book. You will soon see that your bad day is really not that bad at all, and by the time you finish this book, your bad day/week will have dissolved away.
THE TIPPING POINT by Malcolm Gladwell
This is a book about epidemics. Not simply a widespread outbreak of an infectious disease as one would immediately think, but more encompassing than that, specifically a very rapid spread and growth of an idea, or a development or just simply a change. Malcolm Gladwell looks at this concept of change and why change can happen very quickly and unexpectedly. He looks at social epidemics rather than medical. Although Chapter 1 does focus on an infectious disease epidemic, I guess to set the scene and help us understand how an epidemic works, he uses the more widely understand meaning of epidemic in its medical arena which we, the reader, are more familiar with.
It is difficult to classify what type of book this is. It is about human behaviour and why we behave the way we do, and why small changes, sometimes very small changes, can affect very dramatically our response to a situation. Malcolm Gladwell sees this as a book about change, and how it is 'that ideas and behavior and messages and products sometimes behave just like outbreaks of infectious disease. They are social epidemics. The Tipping Point is an examination of the social epidemics that surround us.' (From http://www.gladwell.com/tippingpoint/index.html).
For example he looks at how Hush Puppies suddenly became the only shoe to wear, why Sesame Street and Blue's Clues were such phenomenally successful television programmes, how New York City went from being one of the most violent cities in the US to one of the safest, the three types of people that contribute to the success of these epidemics, and most importantly the three essentials of epidemics which make them happen. And how these same three essentials can be used to reverse epidemics such as smoking amongst teenagers.
Malcolm Gladwell's magic lies in applying all this theory to everyday situations and events, and historical figures, thus making it ridiculously easy to captivate the reader. He makes it oh so relevant to the man/woman in the street. We all understand being frightened of getting swine flu or another contagious disease; we have all watched Sesame Street at some stage; we all wonder how on earth did that particular fashion item become such a must have item eg Croc shoes, or low rider jeans; we have all been drawn to the allure of smoking at some stage whether it be through advertising such as the Marlboro Man, or the attraction of breaking school rules, or that it simply looked cool. These are things that we all have some knowledge or experience of. And this is what makes it such a good book to read!
Challenge yourself. In the same interview referred to in the web page above, Malcolm Gladwell hopes that we can learn to start positive epidemics of our own, so the book is also enpowering and motivating, giving us the power to change things in the world around us, hopefully of course for the better.
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