Category: Blog

October reading round-up

Once again I am not too impressed with my reading this month. I am thoroughly behind on all my challenges. I spent a week reading a book that I gave up on and decided not to review, and I had (possibly am still having) a bit of a lupus flare, so I tried reading some classic kids’ books – the Little House series. It’s certainly proving educational and I like them, but I don’t think they’ve completely won me over. I’d still choose Roald Dahl any time! But it is the first time in years that I’ve binge-read a whole series at once, which is actually a lot of fun. I’m also halfway through a collection of essays by Orhan Pamuk, which I’m enjoying but find I can’t read multiple essays in a row, so it’s taking me a while to get through.

Earlier this month I went to see a stage adaptation of Great Expectations that was excellent and made me think that I really should revive the idea a friend of mine had of a book and film club (i.e. where we read the book and then watch the film adaptation together). I’m quite excited about that now!

 

Books read

The Infernal Desire Machines of Doctor Hoffman by Angela Carter (review here)

Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder (review here)

Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder (review here)

On the Banks of Plum Creek by Laura Ingalls Wilder

By the Shores of Silver Lake by Laura Ingalls Wilder

 

Short stories read

“The crime of our life” by Roger Angell (New Yorker, June 10 & 17, 2013)

“Pedigree” by Walter Kirn (New Yorker, June 10 & 17, 2013)

“After Black Rock” by Joyce Carol Oates (New Yorker, June 10 & 17, 2013)

“Customer service at the Karaoke Don Quixote” by Juan Martinez (Selected Shorts podcast)

“Ziggurat” by Stephen O’Connor (Selected Shorts podcast)

“The tribal rite of the Strombergs” by Simon Rich (New Yorker, Aug 26, 2013)

“But the order of lives is apparent” by Sarah Manguso (Unfamiliar, Jan 15, 2005)

“The Soviet room” by Kenneth Koch (Unfamiliar, Jan 15, 2005)

“Women and men” by Judy Budnitz (Unfamiliar, Jan 15, 2005)

“The white room” by Michael Hitchins (Popshot Magazine, issue 9, 2013)

“Schrödinger’s wine” by Armel Dagorn (Popshot Magazine, issue 9, 2013)

“Getting away from it all” by Jess Little (Popshot Magazine, issue 9, 2013)

 

How was your reading month?

Coming soon: Literary Giveaway Blog Hop

Literary Giveaway Blog Hop

Two giveaways in one year? Well, if Judith will keep on doing such a stellar job organising them! The Literary Giveaway Blog Hop will take place on 9–13 November. Keep an eye out for more details when the time comes, and remember it won’t just me giving a book away – a whole long list of bloggers will be giving away literary goodies!

For more details or to sign up for your own giveaway, check out the announcement post on Leeswammes.

On owning an e-reader

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So I’ve had the Kindle for a couple of months now. I didn’t really know how I’d take to it but figured it would be useful for travelling. Already I find that I am doing about half of my reading on it. But what’s it actually like?

Bookses old and new

I genuinely like reading on the Kindle. The e-ink screen is just as comfortable as paper on my eyes, it’s light and easy to hold in one hand, so it’s kind on my joints, and I like being able to highlight or annotate passages as I read without worrying about whether it counts as defacing a book!

So am I a complete convert? Well, not quite. I still have an emotional attachment to physical books. Now, whether that’s just because I like them as objects to own, or whether there’s more to it, I’m honestly not sure. I definitely love my library, filled with books I have read and loved, with little collections by favourite authors. I like to look at those shelves and remember reading each of those titles. I appreciate a well-made book – a hardback with designed endpapers, head and tail bands and cloth cover (such as anything made by the Folio Society) is a truly beautiful thing. But I also have many a cheap paperback that I hold dear.

On the negative side of ebooks, there’s the DRM/ownership issue. Strictly, you are long-term renting most digital products rather than buying permanent ownership. I figure once I’ve paid for a book I should have the right to lend it to my friends, leave it to my children or give it away to a library or charity shop. I know this is still being figured out and everyone seems to have just accepted the switch in music, but I’m just not convinced. I mean, when I meet my favourite authors what will I get them to sign?

And let’s not forget bookshops. I love going to physical bookshops, and while I don’t think Amazon is entirely evil, I would prefer not to be completely limited to buying from them. So maybe an e-reader other than a Kindle is the solution, as the whole epub versus mobi thing does mean with any other e-reader I could at least buy from other digital vendors, and apparently a growing number of US bookshops are selling ebooks in store (they upload the book to a cloud account) so hopefully UK bookshops will follow suit.

So for now I’m largely downloading free ebooks from Project Gutenberg and continuing to buy physical books. But I really do like reading on the Kindle, so maybe that will change in time.

Do you use an e-reader? Have you tried a few different ones? Let me know your thoughts!

From veggie to…pesce?

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I made a decision a few months ago that for me was a really big deal, though it has little to no impact on anyone else. It will make me less of a pain at mealtimes, but there’s limited people who got to see me being a pain anyway, I hope! What am I talking about? After almost 19 years of being a strict vegetarian I have started eating fish.

Fish 'n' Chips

As I say, this was a big decision and not one I took lightly. I became – and stayed – vegetarian for a raft of reasons, many but not all of which apply to both meat and fish. I’m not going to list all my reasons for the big switch here, but they include the fact that between IBS and lupus it’s really useful to have more options of where and what I can eat. And I also like the idea of being able to travel more widely without stressing about what I’ll be able to eat there (it really helped in Sicily; the diet there seems to be at least 50% fish and seafood).

For the record, the idea of my eating meat still makes me feel a bit sick (I have no problem with others eating meat, that’s just my personal reaction) but somehow fish has always been a completely separate thing in my head. And I don’t feel that I was lacking any nutrients on a fully vegetarian diet. My various health problems mean I’ve been pretty closely monitored by the docs over the last 10 years and not once has it been suggested that something was wrong with my diet.

What I really wanted to write about here is the process of adding fish to my diet, because almost everyone I’ve spoken to about it has been really interested. Or maybe they were all being polite. Anyway, once the decision was made, Tim and I made a careful plan. There were a few things to consider. The primary worry was that fish would turn out to be an irritant to my IBS, because that would be a complete fail. Slightly less worrying was the possibility that I wouldn’t be able to properly digest fish after so many years. I say less worrying, because the human body is pretty impressive and quickly adapts to changes in diet, so that would only have been a temporary problem. And the third worry? That I just plain wouldn’t like it. The thing is, as a child I really disliked fish, but then I also disliked tea, coffee and other things I’ve come to love.

We started with a small quantity of smoked salmon in some pasta. It was probably the first smoked salmon I ever ate and man was it tasty. And such a strong flavour; I hadn’t expected that, somehow. I really didn’t want to wait a whole week for the next culinary experiment but, y’know, we were being sensible and all. Next up, Tim poached some haddock. Another success, this time with the mild kind of taste I’d been expecting. Week after week, I discovered new textures and flavours, all of which I loved. I even, when Tim had to go away for work, cooked myself a tuna steak (loved the taste but I was a bit put off by how much it looked like a slab of meat on my plate).

So far the only fails have been prawns (I was a bit bothered that they still look like the animal, if that makes sense, and I threw them up, which may have been psychological or may have been a genuine reaction; I’m avoiding them for now) and small fry (a bit of an ordering fail while in Italy, to be honest, but good to know that it is possible for me to dislike a fish dish!).

I am finding this whole thing genuinely exciting, there is so much new stuff for me to discover! And it even makes me a little sad to think that in a year’s time or maybe even less, fish will just be one more ordinary ingredient in my regular diet, rather than a new discovery. For now, though, it’s all about the fun. (Tonight we made monkfish tacos with homemade guacamole – super tasty!)

I do feel a twinge of guilt now and then, because for so long being a vegetarian was part of who I am. It’s very strange defining myself as pescetarian. But so much fun queuing up all the possible permutations of fish dishes! Fish lovers out there: what dish do you recommend?

Holiday catch-up

I have finally finished my first sweep through the holiday photos, so I thought I’d write a few tidbits about our trip to Sicily while the memories are fresh and the remnants of having thoroughly chilled out for a week are just about detectable.

We picked Sicily for two reasons: we like Italy (great food, great wine, great art, lovely people) and one of the ways to get there is via a train that goes on a boat! Guess how we travelled! Sadly we only had a week off work so we couldn’t sensibly do the whole journey by train (we did that four years ago to Florence and I can highly recommend it) but we were able to fly from our local airport to Rome and then catch the sleeper train to Sicily. It’s pretty basic as sleepers go – no dining car (we felt like royalty when we dined on the sleeper train from Paris to Florence, it was seriously classy) – but I still love the experience of falling asleep to the chug of the train, peeking behind the window blind at the lights of the towns and cities as you rumble past. The service arrives at the ferry port at a slightly unsociable 6am, which may be why Tim and I were almost alone up on the decks of the ferry (you can choose to stay on the train or get out for the half-hour crossing) but I feel my overexcited inability to stay asleep paid off as watching the sun rise as we pulled in to Messina harbour was pretty special.

Welcome to Sicily

The rest of the train journey was pretty beautiful: the sea on one side of us and Mount Etna on the other. Sicily really is gorgeous. Thankfully that includes Siracusa, where we stayed for a week of relaxing, eating good food and ogling fancy millionaires’ yachts, enjoying the warm sunshine and sea air.

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We stayed on the island of Ortigia, which is the historic district of Siracusa and it’s exactly what that suggests: old narrow streets, lots of churches and pavement cafes, largely pedestrianised, well looked after. The rest of the city doesn’t have so much to recommend it, but we did venture out to the Archaeological Park to look at the remains of the Greek ampitheatre and other ancient ruins.

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I swam in the Med for the first time in my life. And we spent a couple of evenings sat in a bar on the harbourside just watching the sun set. Man, I’m jealous of two-weeks-ago-me right now.

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On the way home, we had a half-day in Rome so we had a walk around the Roman Forums and Colosseum. Frankly the former were more impressive, but that might be the combination of crowds of people around the Colosseum, our camera battery dying just before we reached the Colosseum and the skies getting distinctly grey at that point.

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One thing Rome does have going for it is an absolutely giant bookshop in the Termini train station. In fact Italy in general seems to have a lot of bookshops still, which was nice to see.

Okay, that’s enough reminiscing. I miss holiday. If you want to see more of my holiday snaps, I am gradually adding to them to a set on Flickr.

Now the question is, do I carry on learning Italian using the Duolinguo app (which to be honest I think increased my confidence much more than my ability!) or pick a new language to learn a smattering of? (This question is also known as the Now That Holiday Is Over Where Shall I Plan To Go Next Syndrome.)

Neil Bartlett puts Great Expectations on stage

Great Expectations
Bristol Old Vic, 2 October

Great Expections at Bristol Old Vic
Adjoa Andoh as Miss Havisham. Photography by Mark Douet.

This new stage adaptation of Dickens’ great novel had the atmosphere right from the very first moment. Though I was initially thrown by the unusual staging, I immediately knew where I was and with whom, and greatly enjoyed reliving the story of Pip.

The first impression can’t help but be that staging, with a sparse set and minimal props (at one point the actors were stood in a completely empty black stage) and most of the cast on stage for key scenes, acting as a chorus of voices and/or visible stage hands. I did find this initially distracted me from the acting but once you get used to it it’s actually very effective and immediate.

The cast (especially Tom Canton, who played Pip) narrated the story as well as acting it, often switching between the two mid-sentence. A lot of Dickens’ original language has been absorbed into both the script and the acting, which makes sense of and emphasises the beauty of the language. I laughed out loud but I also came close to tears several times.

That is something the play does brilliantly – it gets Dickens’ humour and really uses it. Dickens characters are notoriously a mix of caricature and realistic, and the acting reflected that, with some characters (e.g. Miss Havisham’s relative Sarah Pocket, played by Miltos Yerolemou) consistently playing it for laughs. However, I did think Estella and Miss Havisham might have merited a few more subtle moments. Pip is just the right mixture of pathos, innocence, frustrating boy making mistakes and downright arrogant/self-serving young man.

I loved the use of doors as props – it was original and effective. For instance, the bewildering size of Miss Havisham’s house was created by having several actors holding doors that they move around to create a maze of corridors. However, the other major prop – microphones on stands – I was less convinced by. The actors would occasionally speak into the microphones to add sound effects, which sounds good on paper but again was something that for me jolted me out of being absorbed by the story and reminded me that these were actors on a stage.

Overall, though, the sound staging was excellent and formed a big part of the wonderfully chilling atmosphere. And that scene, you know, the last one with Miss Havisham (played by Adjoa Andoh), was absolutely brilliantly staged, with Andoh putting her heart and soul into it. I’m so glad they really went for it. It’s supposed to be a big dramatic moment and deserves this treatment.

The more I reflect on it, the more I realise how well this adaptation was done. In just 2.5 hours they get to the heart and soul of a fairly big, dense work of fiction. They even made me want to go back and read Dickens, which isn’t something I’ve wanted to do for a few years now!

Disclaimer: Tickets were kindly supplied to me by the theatre in return for an honest review.

The show runs until 2 November.

September reading round-up

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Wow, September disappeared fast. Work was super busy and then Tim and I finally went on the holiday we’ve been looking forward to for months. Sicily is amazing. I am sure I will blog about it again when I’ve had more time to sort through the photos but for now I’ll share that it was beautiful with great weather and great food and we had plenty of time to relax and read.

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This was also the month I got a Kindle and I took the radical step of taking just the Kindle on holiday with me – no physical books adding weight to the suitcase! It was a little weird for me but worked out completely fine. It’s actually quite a nice reading experience. It’s just a shame that I can’t buy books for it from my local bookshop. (Although that might change in future. I understand a number of US bookshops now sell ebooks. I’m not quite sure how it works but I hope it spreads.)

Thanks to the holiday I am very chilled but also very behind on my reviews. I will catch up on them soon. In fact, I’m scribbling some notes on my holiday reads right now!

Books

The Heart of the Matter by Graham Greene (review here)

Any Other Name by Emma Newman

Saga vol. 2 by Brian K Vaughan and Fiona Staples

May We Be Forgiven by A M Homes

Over the Front in an Aeroplane by Ralph Pulitzer (review here)

The Story of My Life by Helen Keller

Short stories

“In dreams begin responsibilities” by Delmore Schwartz (Selected Shorts podcast)

“The lover of horses” by Tess Gallagher (Selected Shorts podcast)

“Down to a sunless sea” by Neil Gaiman (Guardian Books podcast)

“Everyone’s reading ‘Bastard'” by Nick Hornby (Kindle Short)

“Dr Pretorius and the lost temple” by Paul McAuley (borrowed from Tim)

“The bone cemetery” by Paul McAuley (borrowed from Tim)

“Happy trails” by Sherman Alexie (New Yorker, June 10 & 17, 2013)

“Scenes of the crime” by Cormac McCarthy (New Yorker, June 10 & 17, 2013)

“Brotherly love” by Jhumpa Lahiri (New Yorker, June 10 & 17, 2013)

“The ripper” by David Peace (New Yorker, June 10 & 17, 2013)

 

So how was your September? Get up to anything fun? Read anything good?

Sunday Salon: Guess it’s autumn now

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The Sunday Salon

I have so many things to write about today! This should probably be four different blog posts but I am too busy/rubbish for that, so here we go.

First up, Tim went on a work trip away for two weeks, which is the longest we’ve been apart in years. Rubbish. But he’s home again now and he brought me back some very lovely book-related gifts. And an opossum finger puppet. Because, well, why not? And yes, there is a Kindle in that little pile of goodies. I haven’t really used it much yet so we’ll come back to that another time.

Presents from that Tim

Yesterday was the launch of the Books Are My Bag campaign, which aims to encourage people to go to their local bookshop. Tim and I joined in the fun by going to each of our favourite Bristol bookshops. For Tim, that would be Excelsior! Comics, for me it’s Foyles. Interestingly, the comic shop wasn’t decked out with orange bunting and Books Are My Bag posters, which made me wonder whether this is a general comic bookshop thing, that they don’t consider themselves, or don’t think other people consider them, to be bookshops? I’m a customer of both but perhaps I’m unusual in that?

Anyway, Foyles was indeed decked out with Books Are My Bag bunting and posters aplenty. And the campaign gave me a great excuse to buy a couple of books I’ve wanted for ages, plus I got a free tote bag and entry into a prize draw to win cool book stuff. I do hope the campaign drew in some new or more occasional customers and not just regulars like me.

Books are my bag

Today we went to the zoo. The temperature seems to have dropped quite a bit this week, which is fine by me (I’m not the best with hot weather) and can actually make the zoo more fun too. For one thing there’s fewer people there. But also, for every animal that curls up and hides from the cold…

Keep warm

…there’s another that loves the cooler weather and is suddenly way more active.

At play

And I do love me a penguin.

How have your weeks been? Did you join the bookshop party for Books Are My Bag yesterday?

Chris Brookmyre at Bristol Festival of Ideas

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Flesh Wounds
Foyles, Bristol, 11 September

I really like Christopher Brookmyre, or Chris Brookmyre, as he’s branded these days. His books (or at least the ones I’ve read, which is quite a few) are funny, clever, insightful, satirical, sharply observed and just plain well written. But I tend to forget him when listing authors I admire (sorry, Chris) and that’s a shame because I really do. So big thanks to my friend L for asking me to go tonight’s talk with her. A quick glance at the number of his books I own gives some indication of the love I have for him.

Brookmyre books

The first Brookmyre book I read was A Big Boy Did It and Ran Away, which Tim borrowed from his friend (actually, the same friend who originally helped me to set up this website) and then told me I should read it as well because it would apparently explain to me why computer games, especially Quake, are so great. As well as being a good crime novel. And also funny. I very bravely (I’m shy, remember) put up my hand and asked Chris about this book tonight and he confirmed that he was indeed a lover of the Quake games, and he felt that those early days of online gaming made a really interesting subject for a book, though sadly he doesn’t play much these days.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Chris Brookmyre was interviewed (in front of a surprisingly small audience – I feel I should reassure Chris that he is loved, though I’m sure his sales figures attest to that) by Julian Baggini about his new book Flesh Wounds and his career to date. Baggini asked some really interesting questions about the sociological and psychological insights into crime that Brookmyre excels at. I did enjoy Brookmyre’s insistence that he couldn’t pull off the perfect crime because he’s no good at standing up to authority (which is a little surprising considering how many of his books satirise major establishments) and in real life you can’t predict what the police will do, the way you can when you’re the novelist controlling them (fair point).

Brookmyre was refreshingly down to earth and accessible. He enjoys language, especially dialect, which I think clearly shows in his work. And he’s very self aware. He says that the violence in his books is deliberately slightly cartoonish because he wants to distance the reader from the reality of that side of things, because it’s never central to the story. I hadn’t really noticed that but on reflection it’s obviously true. As he said, there’s one book in which he contrives to have a character cut off their own head!

Brookmyre is also honorary president of the Humanist Society of Scotland and apparently has written some articles on the subject, which perhaps isn’t surprising having read some of his earlier books that talk about the Catholic Church. Interestingly he said tonight that back when he wrote those books he felt frustrated and angry that there wasn’t a voice for non-believers and that there was an unquestioned respect for organised religion, but now he feels that in many ways the war has been won – religion no longer has a free pass and atheism is widely accepted. Certainly, I’d agree that huge progress has been made but I definitely wouldn’t say the fight is over, even here in the UK, let alone elsewhere in the world. If I wasn’t so uselessly shy we could probably have had a good chat about that afterwards.

As it was, I got two books signed (including an embarrassingly dog-eared and tea-stained copy of The Sacred Art of Stealing that I had to reassure him was in that state because it’s “well loved”, which it absolutely is) and, possibly more importantly, was reminded that I greatly enjoy and admire this author and should read more of his work.

This event was part of the Bristol Festival of Ideas.