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This was one of the comforting books Gill waved under my nose at the Cafe one Sunday when I was in the middle of a big worrying time. I was allowed to read these out of order of acquisition, when the mood took me...
It took a little while to get into this one (oh - it's called Susannah's Garden in the US in case anyone thinks it's a different book!) but I enjoyed the usual multi-generational family relationships, the strong women characters and the celebration of marriage.
Susannah feels trapped in her job, her marriage, and now between the demands of her 19 year old daughter and elderly, ailing mother. The need to go across State to care for her mother gives her an opportunity to look up an old boyfriend... who looms large and romantic in her imagination. Meanwhile, her mum keeps "seeing" her dead husband George, and her daughter starts to make the same mistake choosing between a man and her family that Susannah once made herself.
I *did* read this out of order, as when I came to choose a book the other day, I only had mysteries and other books I didn't really want to read over dinner. Finished this in the company of a hot bath and Mr Radox (was careful with it) after a day that started with a 9 mile run.
This is loosely part of the Blossom Street series, so I will see if the "usual suspects" want a read of it...
More (long) short stories by this wonderful writer. The form gives Lahiri room to explore the lives of her characters, all immigrants from India living in America, but in various situations and levels of happiness. As in her other books, the writing and situations are deceptively simple but beautifully done and almost perfect in their completeness and clarity. I particularly liked the three linked stories at the end - following two second-generation immigrants and their feelings for their families and each other - you have to like a heroine who starts off hating the hero because she ends up with his cast-off coat when everyone else has pink girly jackets. I got a bit worried about a plot point near the end, but it was sensitively and well done and did add something to the narrative.
Excellent stuff - I'd like to see another novel from this author next.
A monologue narrated by Changez to a mysterious American in a Lahore cafe, this is an intriguing book that is difficult to put down. Changez takes his audience through his life from arrival in America for college aged 18, his relationships to Pakistan and America, his relationship with the American, Erica (see what they did there?) and his gradual disenchantment with his Westernised life. The part about his reaction to 9/11 is, I think, supposed to be shocking, and is indeed not presented in isolation, given a strong and complex context. I wasn't shocked, but then again I think I'd maybe be typical of the people that would pick up this book in the first place.
I hope I'm wrong there, as this book does a lot to "normalise" and contextualise the kind of person Changez appears to be, an immigrant trying to settle in a new country, sometimes becoming more American than the Americans, sometimes hopelessly out of his depth and out of place.
The atmosphere of the cafe, probably because I've sat in similar in Tunisia, was beautifully done, and the subtle build-up of menace as we realise that, let alone Changez, we really don't know who this American is, was really well done too.
A compulsive, interesting read.
Part of the Continents of Exile series of autobiographical writings by Mehta, here we find an unflinching memoir of his disastrous love affairs with four women, in almost excruciating detail. It's not something you find often in a memoir, but the long series allows him the room for this. We also get a large section about his subsequent psychoanalysis - frustratingly, I have yet to fill in the gap between this and his eventual happy marriage and family life.
I think this was in many respects one for the completist - it was a touch harrowing at times and the women's letters were reproduced (presumably with permission) which made it a very intimate read. Interesting though, as we very rarely get into the nuts and bolts of someone else's relationship.
At least I rescued this from a damp fate! I love Magrs' books and pick up any I see. This looked fun, if not totally a LyzzyBee book, with its vampire B-movie star attempting to save the ratings of an X-rated soap, set in Manchester's gay and fanfic communities. Unfortunately when I was half way through things got too icky with me, with brain-eating etc (handily signposted at least) and I had to give up. Which was a shame, as I was enjoying the read!
A collection of articles from the first 100 issues of the marvellous Spare Rib magazine. Apparently the magazine ran until 1993 but I didn't see it in the early 90s and it's always been something I knew about but was too young/ isolated in a small fairly conservative village to find and read. The articles are divided into subject areas such as work, state, education etc and are a mix of editorial, pieces by journalists and vox pop pieces by women on the front line of 2nd wave feminism. Some of the concerns and attitudes seem a bit dated, but many of them are, sadly, still relevant today - equal pay etc. I'm not sure that blatant sexism and harrassment on the street are still so common, but women are probably far more objectified and have more difficult images to live up to - as, indeed, have men.
A walk down memory lane as I looked at the concerns and language of my own early feminism, and some genuinely good and interesting reading too.
I loved Christine's previous novel, "The Dangerous Sports Euthanasia Society" and was eager for more by this quirky and original author. So, when a discussion about my new copy-editing and proof-reading business led to a new opportunity, I leapt at the chance to work on "Paper Lanterns".
I feel that Christine is a great chronicler of the "ordinary" person, a person often overlooked or relegated to the cast of supporting characters in the modern novel. I praised "The Dangerous Sports Euthanasia Society" for its lovely truck drivers and housewives, and "Paper Lanterns" opens with us meeting Ann, so ordinary that she doesn't even have an "e" on the end of her name, middle-aged, plain and self-doubting. Ann has always been in the shadow of someone else, and it's with a sinking heart and a sense of duty that she prepares to fly out to Hong Kong to console her mother over the loss of her partner.
Vivienne has always been the shining star, and Ann has suffered throughout her life by the comparison with this beautiful mother. Her grandmother, Grannibelle, absent through death but present through Ann's memories, was beautiful too, but redeemed by her warmth, love for and celebration of Ann. Vivienne, on the other hand... well, there's rivalry, bitchiness, betrayal...
Ann starts to feel more free as she starts her long journey to Hong Kong, until she has a rather embarassing accident involving a businessman and a china cow. Surely she won't ever have to see him again... But once in Hong Kong, beautifully evoked through lovely descriptions which really bring to us the sights, sounds and smells of the lesser known Lamma Island, she begins to find she is appreciated for herself by the disparate community of which her mother has become part.
As usual with Christine's works, the secondary characters are beautifully drawn, whether a young traveller, open and welcoming, or the delightfully dotty octogenerian, Poppy. And we are drawn into an older world, still on Lamma, when Ann is given a parcel of documents belonging to Grannibelle's earlier life.
Ann, and we, end up reassessing our impressions of several of the main characters, including Ann herself. We watch her blossom in self-confidence as she finds time to examine her own life as well as those of the other strong women in her family, and as she finds new family, and new ways to relate to family.
The double layered timescale gives a rich depth to the story, as Ann finds herself revisiting places her grandmother knew well, and visiting some of those strong emotions too. We find out the family revelations as Ann does, and find ourselves rooting for her as well as falling in love with a beautiful island and a happy, free way of life.
A good read, a satisfying range of characters, an engrossing plot and a new place to learn about - highly recommended.
Christine's web page is here.
A fascinating subject and a book filled with exhaustive detail which makes it one of the slower reads... but never boring. The author has done so much research on this subject and it's full of the struggles between publishers and the Government over the paper ration, the difference between literature to send overseas to help the war effort and out-and-out propaganda, etc. There's an interesting chapter on publishing overseas before, during and just after the War, and the book includes excellent photographs and appendixes. Very glad this passed through my hands at work and I could secure it for a read!
Alfred Hitchcock and the Three Investigators # 12
A great read for a cold night, huddled in bed with the electric blanket - a mystery to solve involving not one but two Native American tribes, an academic, Hitchcock himself and the usual mild peril and resourceful boys. There's even a dodgy vegetarian in this one! Great stuff and as usual the spooky-seeming phenomenon has a rational explanation and some people are not what they seem.
Good stuff!
Caroley kindly acquired this for me to add to my Book Spiral and I thought it would be a good read for the coach journey back from my day trip to London yesterday. It was indeed, and helped the journey pass beautifully, although I did fall asleep over it coming into the environs of Birmingham!
This was a good read. Dear Godwin experiences some shocking events which can't help but make him grow up a little. He and Betsy draw closer together and the Monday Night Club chip in too. A strong member of the series.
This was a slightly odd mix of chick-lit and international art crime. It did have some running in it - indeed, more than I'd expected - and I especially liked a part at the end that made me well up slightly (ugh!). I read it on the coach on the way down to London yesterday and it was perfect for that, really light and fairly easy to follow.
Ended up passing it on to my friend Tanya who I met for tea; she wanted to know what BookCrossing was about so went off with this one and will hopefully leave it somewhere in New York on the next leg of her travels!
An excellent and important book. Yasmin starts off telling a (to me) common story of a family settling in England and trying to adapt to a new life. Her Dad, Mr Hai, is determined to make his children English, so instigating Project Children (Project Wife involved abandoning Mrs Hai on Oxford Street to find her way home... but secretly following her to make sure she was OK) and stopping them speaking Urdu seems natural to him. But what would he think as Yasmin's community becomes more and more "Islamicised", turns in on itself and moves from the jolly day-time raves and black/asian power to an increasinly conservative, restrictive and religious society. Is it the fault of multiculturalism, of British and American foreign policy, or of a need to belong somewhere... anywhere?
Yasmin goes into journalism and finds she can walk an increasinly unstable tight rope between the media and her Muslim community. She examines her colleagues', her old school friends' and her own attitudes and is unsparing of all of them. An important discussion of her feelings at 9/11 and 07 July make for disturbing and reassuring reading. Reassuring because, while there are people like her, willing to examine attitudes instead of kicking against them or blindly following them, there is still hope for a cohesive multi-ethnic community in Britain.
Strong stuff, but told with a deftly light and personal touch. I will be looking for more work by Yasmin Hai, and looking up her journalism.
These Agatha Raisins are very popular with BookCrossers and I have now got sucked in to yet another cosy mystery series. This time there's no needlework or book towns - Agatha is a slightly unpleasant retired PR lady who gets her dream Cotswold cottage, then thinks... what next? Soon she is involved in village life, but not in the way she quite expects...
I did find an oddly jarring note of racism (in the descriptions of Bill Wong) and homophobia (Roy) although these are both actually very sympathetic characters and I think the author is trying to portray them through Agatha's wongly emphasising eyes... but it is a bit stalling. I found the same in the Irish Librarian books and wonder if other people feel they can skate over such things. Anyway, there was a tendency to tell rather than show with Miss Raisin's character and I wonder if this will smooth out as the series progresses.
I read this in one session, sitting in bed this morning. I will be looking to read the others - hopefully Ali will be able to pass them on to me and Gill!
Another volume of Mehta's memoirs and again one of the fuller ones. In this one we see him trying to get a place at College in America, having got through High School. His Dad tries to help him financially and emotionally, and we find out how Dr Mehta got involved with the elderly woman as whose companion doctor he travelled for years, as well as Ved's feelings about College life. One interesting facet is that he tries to act as if he isn't blind, even on occasion riding a bike and driving a car...! His feelings about and first experiences with women are explored, as well as his complex feelings about his nationality, blindness and intelligence. Very interestingly, we also find him writing his first book, "Face To Face", which explains why that one skips through a large amount of his history which is retold later in more detail.
Engaging, interesting and at times heart-rending.
Now here's a woman who isn't afraid to travel on her own. In fact, she's afraid for a long time of settling down and NOT travelling on her own.
We meet Laurie as she sets off from her home in Canada for yet another trip. She's on her way to California, a place where she feels she belongs and could settle. There's a passenger in the car and the journey triggers memories of all sorts of other trips, from her first forays away from the safety of home to later, sometimes disastrous, adventures in the Far East.
All of the tales are told with humility and self-awareness. Laurie gets into scrapes and gets herself out of them. She questions herself and her motives and looks at how she has changed as she's matured - not always for the better. The writing style is good and clear and the transitions between "now" and "then" are not clumsy in the slightest.
Will Laurie find the cave she stayed in as a younger woman? Will she settle in California?
And a question for you, if you've read this far: is there a place you feel more at home than anywhere else? A strange feeling of homecoming when you got there? My two are Birmingham and Kairouan, a holy city in Tunisia - when I'm there (I've been twice) I feel as if I do belong in some way. Maybe me Spanish Ancestor originated from North Africa - who knows!
When will these people learn that to travel alone is usually more comfortable and less stressful (see the next read for an example!). In this travel narrative, Smith pals up with an old University friend to attempt to travel around the world under human power; mainly paddle boat and bicycle. Travails as well as travels ensue, one of the main ones being the crumbling of their friendship under the pressures of the endeavour. There's even a bit in the acknowledgements when Smith mentions his friend's account of the journey being written.
Although this is interesting, and joins my circumnavigation theme in my travel writing collection, there's a fair bit in here that I wasn't so fascinated by, maybe because they are young men and some of it seems a little... well, whiny isn't the word but there isn't a lot of maturity and useful introspection. A few more photos might have made me feel more connected to it.
I see they do do educational work and continued to offer other people places on the expedition, which is admirable and shows a lack of ego and selfishness about the project which can be lacking in explorers - fair play to them.
Logal Pearsall Smith and Alys who married Bertrand Russell certainly make it into the firmament of my favoured Bloomsbury biogs and autobiogs, so I was intrigued to find this one at the marvellous Cinema Bookshop outside shelves.
Strachey (niece of Lytton) makes a good job of her family history, keeping it all clear in our minds so we don't need to consult the family trees on the endpapers too often. We follow three generations of strong and rather eccentric women, all deeply in love with often unsuitable men, but with their own strong personalities and morals which may not follow those of their times.
It was a bit odd to find Barbara writing of herself in the third person when she makes an appearance, but it would be difficult to know how to pitch this.
An unusual, well-researched read and livelier than I feared it would be, with a lot of primary material drawn directly from the sheaves of diaries and letters the women all seemed to keep on with at all times.
With some hard work over my week off, I've managed to get my TBR back to a shelf-and-a-pile-and-a-couple-of-library-b
RACHEL FERGUSON - The Brontes Went to Woolworths - this is one of the very rarest Virago Modern Classics, reprinted in a LOVELY Bloomsbury paperback edition and affordable!
DAVID CRYSTAL - Just A Phrase I'm Going Through: My Life In Language - how he found time to write this I don't know, as he has a phenomenal output of linguistics books. This looks fab - a look at his life and the linguistic interests he has and has written about
DAVID LODGE - Deaf Sentence - hard to wait for his new novel to come out in paperback, but I managed! This has a linguistics professor who is going slowly deaf and looks both entertaining and moving
CLAY SHIRKEY - Here Comes Everybody: How Change Happens When People Come Together - there has been some negative and positive criticism of this so it will be interesting. All about wikis and online collaborating etc. It features LiveJournal, Twitter and Meetup...
MEG WAITE CLAYTON - The Wednesday Sisters - five women discover a mutual love of reading and writing as events mid-20th-century wash around them. Clayton seems like a lovely lady, she's on LibraryThing and Twitter, and I've been wanting to get and read this for ages!
I will probably get to these around Christmas time or January, although I do have another week off coming up in November which should see me getting through a bit more of Mt TBR...
Another excellent Alfred Hitchcock and the Three Investigators book (no 9 in the series) which is an odd series of mystery/adventure books written in the 1950s and published by Armada in the UK in the late 60s and early 70s. I remembered Jupiter Jones and his two trusty sidekicks from early reading days and have gradually been tracking these down; not as popular or common as the Hardy Boys etc but findable in charity shops and second hand bookshops*.
Anyway, in this one, a clock with a scream instead of an alarm raises Jupiter's interest; little does he know that it's all mixed up with a trick-loving ex-radio and film actor and an international art theft team. As usual, at least one person is tied to a chair and there's mild peril but it's funny, clever and jolly and just the thing for a chilly morning off, tucked up in bed with the cat.
* I have a few of these now BUT if you ever come across one, please buy it and let me know. I know at least one other person who collects them and they are infrequent but not "rare" as such (ie they're usually cheap)
Ali and I are going on a Francis Brett Young Day on Saturday and the event includes a screening of the film of this book. So my week off was an ideal opportunity to get it read.
Anotther unputdownable novel. Jonathan always seems to have to bend to the needs of his younger and more attractive brother Harold. Whether it's education, his inheritance, even their loves, Harold seems to get the cream of the crop. Jonathan works hard and seems to be improving his medical practice with the help of the quiet and lovely Miss Hammond, when the First World War comes along and turns society upside-down.
A lot happens, and in the inexorable fate of the characters, their isolation in a small community with watching eyes all around, and the twists and turns of the plot remind me of some of the Canadian novels I've read recently (I'm thinking Mary Lawson here) as well as the more commonly compared Hardy. I liked, as always, the detail that went into the book - we know exactly how a Black Country medical practice was set up and run, how it looked, what there was on the tables, how the community was structured. And somehow, even with this detail and the usual lyrical descriptions, you still bowl along with the story, not getting bogged down. I liked the Cricket Ground and the University Medical School featuring, of course, too!
Somewhat of a shocking ending, but fate will out and I shouldn't have expected anything else. I'm looking forward to the day (although I still don't feel I've read enough of the novels) and the film (and I know when to look away now!)
Next in our Iris Murdoch A Month project and another typical Murdoch (if not so seemingly-parodic as The Black Prince), with tangled families, contrasting women, a reclusive writer, an angelic son and a cherubic chorus-figure. A good read; pacy and funny as well as dark, with some interesting side characters and surprising plot turns. The end, cheery and Oxfordian, punctures the philosophy and moralising.
Hopefully I'll get to post my thoughts soon as I made my notes as I was going along and just need to note them in their "themes" and type up my thoughts!
This particular Bookends had a big section of second-hand books, and I stumbled across a rich seam of these volumes of Mehta's autobiography, enabling me to fill in nearly all the gaps. I also now understand that he did a couple of summary-type volumes, which explains the strange overlaps I've found.
This volume covers Ved's younger years, up to the time when he went to America in his teens to study at a blind school in Arkansas. Notably, it covers the years of Indian Partition, vividly and movingly without being inappropriately gruesome. He is honest about his feelings about Hindu behaviour during the time, and gives such a vivid picture of the time - I've read a lot of memoirs and novels about this period and this really takes a detailed approach to what it was actually like for a normal family, all the more exceptional as Ved went blind at the age of four. There's light relief too - he learns to ride a bicycle and forms friendships and allegiances among the families and servants. A great read - I love this series and am looking forward to the next few, although I fear I'll be compelled to read them all in strict order at some stage, since I have nearly all of them now!
Having read a lot of political history and biography of the actual politicians, refreshing to read an account of life in Westminster by a politician's wife. Of course, Edna Healey is an accomplished author in her own right, so this is well and delicately written and, indeed, makes the point that the happier political wife is the one who has her own life and interests, however strong the marriage. Fascinating inside information about what it's like to live in those official residences and her love for family and friends shines through. Excellent and very interesting.
My training went a lot better than last year, although it tailed off a little in the last month, due to stresses outside of running, which I think did affect my performance (see "lessons learned"). I'd got my Tshirt printed at Printigo in Stirchley - I got a white technical tee and got the LUCIA logo done without a background, so the top could breathe as much as possible.
For once, I was very organised, and sorted out everything - including my number being pinned onto my Tshirt - the night before. Matthew and I made up an "immediately I finish" bag (using my new Running4Women bag) which had bread, face wipes and the top from the Dudley 5 to pop on when I got through. Strictly Come Dancing and an early night and there we were...
On the way
Shreddies for breakfast as usual and off we went at 8am. Matthew came with me as I didn't want to put my bag in storage. I had warm tracky bottoms and hoody on - somehow I managed to make myself look about 15! The bus was great, full of runners, bananas and lucozade and a good atmosphere. I saw one lady I recognised from being out training and we said hello. We had to get off in Fazeley St, which wasn't too bad, and made our way up New St to the start. Saw the Elite Women start off - amazing. Matthew was surprised they were so tiny.
I wasn't too scared at this point - much better being my 2nd go at the distance, also easier having it start in the city centre. We made our way to the ICC for a loo trip (for me) then up Cambridge St for the start.
At the start
If I could change one thing about road racing, it would be the relentlessly cheery DJ they feel they must have. Argh! Some woman from heartfm babbling on - let's just say a cheer went up when the mic cut out at one point! I climbed out of my tracksuit and got my arm bag ready with mobile and bus pass, my big water bottle and my packet of jelly beans. We hung around the orange balloon area which was where people with my expected time were meant to go, there didn't seem to be many people there so I went and stood in the road at the back. Matthew went off to stand at the side to cheer me through the start. Chatted to a girl from Cadbury and an older man - both of their first Halfs and I felt a lot calmer than last time. They started us off in waves so a bit of waiting and we were started at about 10:20. I heard an announcement that Dame Kelly Holmes was doing the start...
And they're off!
As we finally started to jog forward, I spotted Matthew off to the side and we managed to wave. Then, there was Kelly Holmes high-fiving people as they set off. I shot off to the right and as I touched her hand shouted "I come from Hildenborough!" (this is not insanity - she comes from there too!) and she did a little whoop. And then I pressed the button on my watch as we went through the start and off we went!
The race
Soon after starting I heard my name and there were Alison and Ian coming up behind me. We went under an underpass and down towards Hill St. I knew Jen would be there and on the left so I let Alison and Ian speed off (they both got round fine with Personal Bests) and managed to high-five Jen too. So appreciated her being on Hill St as it's steep to run down and the weather was a little wet. I did manage OK though.
We went down through Digbeth - odd to be running where the bus usually goes - and through a bit of Balsall Heath towards Cannon Hill Park. I was trying to run steadily, not too fast, but I was seriously hampered by the lack of mile markers. I saw a 2km marker and had to do sums in my head - never a favourite of mine - and then worked out a pace per km that was a little too fast still. Support through Balsall Heath was fantastic - loads of people out in front of their houses cheering us on. Even though there were lots of runners, I found myself in a little area of my own quite a lot. I preferred this to the "bunfight" of a closer crowd. At some point in the first part of the race I was alongside a guy in army uniform with a big backpack that I knew was not full of polystyrene. I checked, and yes, he was the chap who helped me along the way last year! So I thanked him, shook his hand and carried on. I saw a 3 mile marker and checked my time - 33:45
I wasn't looking forward to Cannon Hill Park - too many fears of leaves and memories of bundly Race for Lifes, but it was actually OK, with a saxophonist in the bandstand and a big hot air balloon (saving energy, EDF?) being sent up. Then we were onto Pershore and saw a lot of the fast men and women coming up the other way towards town. It was odd running up the middle of Pershore Road as my training runs take me along there quite reguarly. I especially didn't like the junction with Dads Lane, where I could have turned left and got home in 25 mins!
I was expecting to see the LUCIA folk and other friends in Bournville but was very happily surprised going through Selly Park by a shout of "LIZ!" and my colleague Qi darting forward to touch my hand! I had thought she wasn't around, so that was brilliant and I got a little choked up for a moment! Into Bournville and up Mary Vale Road. Apparently some people were surprised the course wasn't that flat, but I'm used to Bournville. Mary Vale was a bit of a struggle but I knew I had to look good because - yes - there's Bridget at the end of her road, cheering me on! Hooray! And a little later, her friend Daisy, who I didn't know would be there! Round the corner and there's Theresa from work (she's seen me in my lycra before!) and then to my surprise, Becky, Jill and Sylvia (plus dogs) from LUCIA; they'd found a way to nip between two places on the course. Steve was a little further along with camera raised. Such a bonus to see all these friendly faces!
I chatted to a couple of girls from the Navy who had come up for the day, they are from the ship that Birmingham supports, and another girl from Dublin via London. A lot of people shouted "Come On LUCIA" which really helped me. Bournville was up and down but enjoyable. I clocked my time at 6 miles - 1:08:47 (that equals my 10k PB!; 3 miles in 35:02). I looked out for Nicola and didn't see her but did enjoy the folk band she was roped into joining.
Coming out of Bournville and towards Selly Park and there's Tracy's house, with a couple of huge banners! Tracy shouted out for me and then I saw the others just past her house, having rushed across while I was going round. Along Raddlebarn road and down Bournbrook - another running route and the way I walk into work! I realised that a lot of the crowd along there were students, so I called out to some of them "I'm one of your librarians!" which got a cheer! Saw Karen from BookCrossing and then Steve from work, who I didn't expect to see! As I came round the corner I did the librarian thing again and got a HUGE cheer which really sped me along back towards Pershore Road.
Pershore Road and Street into town were HARD. My hip flexors started to hurt and I began to slow. The support was still fab, lots of kids out shouting "you can do it" and a bunch of ladies with biscuits! I encouraged a girl who was struggling a bit, as it took my mind off my own struggle. Time at 10 miles was 1:56:41 (4 miles done in 47:54) and I began to realise I could beat my target time of 2 hours 36, although I did slow and slow. Into town the crowds thinned and I had to have a sharp word with myself about NOT walking - I'd run all the way so far. That bit from 11.5 to 12.5 was hard and I was glad of the km and mile markers then!
A really odd twisty route into town. Going up Hill St was actually fine, as we didn't do the steep bit. But going up past the mailbox with some upward slopes and cobbles ("who put those there?" we said to each other - lovely cameraderie) was difficult. Then I could see we were going to turn right onto Broad St and I knew the end was in sight...
The finish
I managed to drag something extra out of the bag for the last bit on Broad St, although it does curve so I couldn't see the finish line and wondered if I'd peaked too soon! I wouldn't say I was sprinting, but I have a bugbear of looking like I'm walking in photos of runs, and you can see on the pics that I was definitely RUNNING! I had the road to myself. There was a young lad limping along with a bandaged knee - I encouraged him on, such a shame to limp through the finish (Come on mate, you've got years on me, if I can do it...) and he managed to run through with me (hope it didn't shatter his knee or something!). I saw Jen and Mick on my right and Mick got some fab pics of me running along. Looking out for Matthew I saw tall Arthur pointing downwards at Matthew's head so I managed to give them a wave too - then head up, don't look at the watch and I was THROUGH! Watch said 2:35:24 (so it took me 38:41 to do the last 3.1 miles) and official chip time 2:35:22 - very pleased with that as I knocked 7 mins (over 30 s per mile) off my time last year!
Getting sorted out
Like last year, the post-finish bit was a bit messy. I got given a medal and a little box (turned out to have a nice keyring in), a drink and a Tshirt, then a goody bag then one of those shiny foil capes! Someone made me put my foot up HIGH on a bench to have my chip taken off my trainer. Then we were corralled round Cambridge Street towards the NIA so I managed to divert back round to Broad St. Phoned Matthew and met him by the War Memorial with Arthur, then we found Jen and Mick, I babbled about it all, had a bit of bread and put my top and tracky bottoms on, and we went down to Pizza Hut. Said goodbye to Arthur, queued at Pizza Hut for a bit, Jen accompanied me when I felt a bit unwell (I was fine) and then the lovely girl in PH brought me garlic bread VERY quickly.
On the way home
Went down to get the no 50 and saw a notice in the Pavillions that a branch of one of my favourite shops, Occitane, had opened there. So we popped along and had a look - and they gave us a cup of green tea to have as we browsed! I showed the girl my medal and she thought I'd won - yeah, right!!! Got the 50 which was quite full and had the cast of Skins (not really, just like them) and a madman on, so about per usual. Home, shower, ouchy legs and sleep!
Lessons learned
I was pleased with how I did. Going out too fast was more down to the mile markers than my being too enthusiastic and I need to just work out my pace in mins per km as well as mile.
I did miss out on some of the stamina/speedwork beforehand. I could have done with having done the distance or longer not in race conditions, and I'll try to build up to that next time. I also worked out how to build my speed up but a bit late for building in distance too. I'm going to try to build some speed up over the winter then work on the stamina for the next one.
It was GREAT to have my big water bottle (with Squash in) - meant I didn't have to stop at the water stations, try to drink out of a cup while running etc, and could just sip as I went
Summary
Proud of myself, really grateful for all the support both on the day and before and after!
Pace summary:
Mile 1-3 33:45 total 33:45
Mile 3-6 35:02 total 1:08:47
Mile 6-10 47:54 total 1:56:41
Mile 10-13.1 38:41 total 2:35:23
Mullins' political diaries from 1999-2005 so bang up to date with my political history reading. Mullin was on various Parliamentary Committees and a junior Minister in two different departments during this time, so he has access to both Blair and his circle and the workings of the civil service and ministries. He is anxious to effect change but always phlegmatic about his ability to do so, and he celebrates small victories as he reports on the bigger issues of the time from the inside. John Major, Tony Benn and Clare Short come off well, John Prescott he comes to think well of, and he had a slightly ambivalent relationship with The Man, as he calls Blair.
Very interesting, human and readable (I loved the bit when he looked himself up in Piers Morgan's diaries in a bookshop) and threaded through with his love for his North East constituency, his wife and young daughters and his aging parents. Seems like a good, clear picture of what it was actually like to be an MP through this period.
Did running fast to count of 100 then recovery counting backwards
Yup, still on the Hay books! This was an "in the footsteps of" genre travel book, looking at the outback and sheep farmers of New South Wales in Australia. A bit disjointed but lots of atmosphere and interesting stories, and the author does make a good connection with the author she is following. Interesting stuff.
The companion piece to the Raj Quartet, looking at what happened to those Raj characters who stayed on in India after Independence. A slimmer volume than the quartet and a bit of an easier read, although like the Quartet it takes one or two episodes and investigates them from all angles and viewpoints. We find minor Quartet characters Tusker and Lucy aging ungracefully at Smith's Hotel with only the smallest of English communities around them. News comes of more central characters, obliquely, and the whole is bittersweet and elegiac. A good and wistful read.
Will register on BookCrossing as I didn't keep any of the Quartet, and will release unless anyone reading this would particularly like a go with it.
Yes, yes, but it was half price. A history of the LoC and its librarians; each article is written by a different author and I think they were published in the Library's Journal at one point. Lots of illustrations and facscimiles of important documents; this is actually more interesting than you might suppose, although at points the writing can get a little turgid and sometimes the important information gets lost in a welter of facts!
I particularly liked the detail on how the catalogue got created and the classification sorted out - much later than one would have supposed. And of course an update would also be good.
But - on the whole readable and enjoyable!
Working my way through those Hay purchases! Noticed that most of my TBR was acquired up to and including BookCrossing Unconvention in early July!!
I picked this up because of the publisher, TravellersEye - they do books about "ordinary people" who undertake travels in various places. Usually good reads. This was no exception. Gwen, of unspecified age but with grown up sons and few responsibilities, decides to cycle from Seattle down into Central America (Mexico and south is actually another book entirely). She wants to go on her own but ends up with a travelling companion for the first part and various friendships and a liaison along the way, none of them entirely successful and all narrated with a characteristic honesty and openness, and an acceptance that her own feelings and attitudes may cause some of the friction.
Maka is hyper-aware of the Native American history around her. I was worried about this aspect as I thought it might be mawkish and sentimental, or too supernatural for my liking. But no; she is aware of the history, the events, the attitudes that modern Americans have; she has read up on the history and presents clear-sighted and sympathetic accounts, and is humble and respectful around the people and the sites.
A very good read, I must admit better than I'd expected.
An excellent book. Collins takes his family, past and contemporary, as a starting point and constructs a (not "the" - he is clear about this from the start) narrative about their personal histories as representative of the history of the urban white working class. Centered around the Elephant & Castle, this is strongly about South London, although would have resonances for other inner-city areas. Waves of middle-class do-gooders (and he is as scathing about slum novelists and missionaries as he is about more modern people bending old ladies into odd shapes in "performance spaces") try to "improve" the area, and most changes, from monolithic housing estates with terrifying walkways, to the contentious but well-handled issue of immigrants from outside the UK, are imposed upon these people from outside, without consultation. Without condoning racism and fascism, he explains how they can come about, and he mourns with real feeling the communities which have been lost as areas are cleared and people move outside London. Interesting, melancholic and well-researched, and a good companion to other volumes on London such as Peter Ackroyd's and Roy Porter's.
How could I resist this title?! This is a likeable and amusing story of one man's struggle to achieve running the New York Marathon. From his first efforts on the treadmill through to Race The Train and other proper races, he manages to be funny and to capture the feelings of the runner, especially a beginner who is trying to work up to something fairly spectacular. I liked that, like me, he is not at his best in the first 20 mins of a run (and therefore doesn't like doing 5ks as they stop before he's got into his stride) and the bits about the feeling of anticlimax after doing a big race. One for the runner, I think, who will recognise bits of the experience and smile wryly. I wonder what the author is doing now.
What it says on the tin really - the author spends a year trying to only spend up to £1 per day. This has the feel of one of those blogs-turned-into-a-book, not that there's anything wrong with this; it gives a book an immediacy and a propulsion through the project. She'd read "Not Buying It" and had the same issues as me with that book (why maintain 2 households and have expensive haircuts then say you're not buying anything) and from that point I knew I'd enjoy this book.
The most important thing Kelly does, I think, is *enjoy* her year. As well as not buying stuff, she makes the effort to go and find free stuff to do. So as well as the BookCrossing, Freecycling and Couchsurfing, she goes to concerts, university lectures, taster sessions for various activities, and enjoys them. This does make the book joyful and fun, and it's not too preachy, even when she finds she does change her views quite considerably.
Like others on this bookring, in a way it's preaching to the converted. I already BookCross and Freecycle, buy cheaper, non-branded stuff (I won't buy dented tins though!) and am not keen on consumerism. But it's always nice to have your views confirmed, and there are a lot of resources listed in the back of the book that I wasn't aware of.
A good read, worthy and fun too.
I had fun cataloguing this (had to put a separate catalogue title entry reading "Texting: the great debate"*) and, of course, reading it. Crystal really is the master of the accessible linguistics book and this was no exception. His central premise is that there shouldn't be such a foaming at the gills about "text speak": a) the features included in it have been used for decades in acrostics and other word games, b) the amount of texting that is in "text speak" is actually a very small part of the whole, and c) it is fascinating to see language change as it happens. He looks at how we use language in texting, differences between ages and genders of texters, and there's a particularly interesting chapter on the use of text speak in languages other than English.
Great stuff!
* yes, cataloguers out there, I know I didn't need to do a 246 including the subtitle, but I checked, and I did.
I had read Guest's book about Second Life a year or so ago and both Matthew and I had wanted to look out for this one, so I was pleased to find it for £1. A wistful and quite shocking - but not sensationalist - description of growing up in various Bhagwan Rajneesh communes, Guest manages to communicate clearly both the dislocating experience of being a child within the movement and the attractions and consolations it had for the adults. A section at the end dealing with how he and his mother tried to resolve their issues was interesting and honest.
Quite a sad book, and made more poignant by the fact that Guest actually died a couple of weeks ago, suddenly and unexpectedly. It made this quite difficult to read at times.
Matthew's going to add it to his TBR then I'll probably offer it on a bookring at some stage as it is interesting and clear-sighted.
Acquired via BookCrossing 29 Jan 2009 - RABCK from WelshHelen (who will read it on my spiral)
Time for a Betsy Devonshire mystery, this one read on the coach there and back to see Molekilby on the Fourth Plinth! Again taking a trip away from home, Betsy, Godwin and Jill end up trapped by snow in a Nashville hotel where they are attending a big needlework convention and sale. A Christmas theme and a shocking death, with more than one person at the convention with a motive for murder! Again well done although I did guess whodunnit a little earlier than in other books!
With trepidation, and only really because it fitted in with my theme of late-20th century history and politics that I've been reading around recently, I approached my first work on... Mrs Thatcher! Although she has cropped up in other books I've been reading, this is the first time I've felt ready to get to grips with the woman herself. Being of the age I am, it was impossible not to grow up affected by her. Yes, she took away the horrible school milk but she also, well, you know the rest.
This book accompanied a TV series and is not a heavyweight political biography but a quick look over the woman, her background, her family and her life in Parliament. It's well written and easy to read, and not particularly hagiographical (thank goodness). There were some lovely little details (Jim Callaghan apparently had a suit made when PM where all the pinstripes were made of tiny "JC"s. He sent enough material to make another suit to... Jimmy Carter!) and did make the case that Thatcher appeared strident and shouty because she wasn't actually that sure of herself, and didn't have the background or patience to understand the minutiae of political and economic policy documents and discussions. Stories of her caring side are balanced by clear descriptions of her nastinesses, especially towards the end of her political life.
Using the interviews conducted for the TV programme as well as her own interviews and researches, the best parts of the book for me are were Maddox shows the views and opinions of Thatcher's contemporaries. Chris Patten for example doesn't believe the issues with Thatcher were down to her gender but to her lack of political acuity (as mentioned above). Jacques Delors saw her rattled and wobbling near the end, but says all political leaders in that position get into that state. And Geoffrey Howe is given the dignity of the author's support and sympathy, with his resignation speech quoted at length.
So a good book, well written and referenced. The only thing I have against it is the final sentence: "By changing national attitudes towards property, work and money, she made Methodists of us all." I think this does Methodists a great disservice. Yes, Thatcher and her parents believed in hard work, self sufficiency, prudence, saving up before buying something etc - but I really don't think that the society she helped create, with its greed, lack of concern for others, lack of support for the less privileged, buying council houses to make a profit and promoting the individual at all costs, is as Maddox asserts!
Read this out of order (shock!) because I want to release it in the LUCIA challenge this month.
An OK read. It's one of those "issue" novels of course (man disposes of one twin; wife doesn't know her child is growing up with another woman; secrets will out - all of this on the back of the book) and as such much of the effort seems designed to fit the theme in and cover every aspect. Some of the stuff about Norah's life as representative of American Woman from the 60s to the 90s seems to just use her as an example rather than a flesh and blood character with a life of her own (dissatisfied housewife - check; takes up drinking - check; gets job - check; gets powerful career in the 80s - check) and while the descriptions of the struggles for education and other opportunities for Down's Syndrome people are worthwhile and valid, sometimes it seems a bit like the author is trying to fit in all her research and again misses the more individual aspects.
I am, as is my wont, over-criticising a perfectly decent novel that I enjoyed to a large extent, and lots of people have enjoyed to a greater extent. It's good book group stuff and does cover its subject with decency and perfectly adequate writing. I couldn't help but think what the same plot would be like if covered by a Jane Smiley or an Anne Tyler - but that's my problem, not the book's.
Roger J Ellory, author of "A Quiet Belief in Angels" among other books, has kindly agreed to come and talk to the Birmingham BookCrossers! Roger writes excellent thrillers - quite a few of the Birmingham BookCrossers have read his books, his website is here: http://www.rjellory.com/ and I'm sure someone will comment on what they think of his books on here soon!
The date: Friday 18 September
The time: 6.00 pm onwards
The location: Hudsons Coffee House, Colmore Row, Birmingham
No charge for entry, but as Hudsons are kindly opening in the evening for us, they would appreciate if you purchased a cup of tea or coffee or a cold drink from them. Their full range of drinks and snacks will be available.
Please let me know if you will be coming along - I will set up a poll on BCBirmingham, anyone not in that group please email me to confirm you're coming.
Looking forward to seeing you there!
Another pick from the bags - they did well in not tempting me with TOO much. Gwen Raverat is mainly known for her wood-engravings, including those to The Runaway, recently republished by Persephone. But she was also a Darwin, cousin of Frances Cornford and wife of Jacques Raverat the painter.
Gwen has appeared on the edges of other works about Rupert Brooke and the Neo-Pagans, the Bloomsburies and other 20th century figures, so it was good to find out all about her. As the subtitle suggests, there is a nice lot of detail about the people around her as well as Gwen herself. Meticulously researched and referenced, it doesn't "take off" in the way a Holroyd bio does, but it's workmanlike and efficient, like Gwen herself, and makes a good attempt at looking at how a female artist reconciles family and artistic life.
A good addition to my collection and lavishly illustrated.
FINALLY finished this. A collection of around 4,000 entries from The Dictionary, this has been a wonderful companion through 18 months or so, sitting on my bedside table and being available for dipping-into whenever I wanted, regardless of other reading schedules or demands.
Well-chosen examples include all the famous ones but a lot of great other ones, amusing, instructional, plain batty. My favourite though, would have to be:
"JOGGER - One who moves heavily and dully"
An excellent introduction, great editorial choices and comprehensive notes make this a pleasure to read and refer to. It only moves along the landing to the Lang & Lit shelves now, so I'll still see it regularly!
Thanks again LindyB!
I picked this out of the bags as a Lodge I didn't know about. It's a novella based on a play Lodge wrote about the pitfalls of celebrity. Working well as a long short story, we meet two authors, one out there and successful, one practically a hermit, the woman they both once loved, now married to one of them, and a celebrity interviewer known for stitching up her victims. When they try to play a trick on her, will it all backfire?
Really nicely written (of course) and with a great little storyline - very good and it is in book form so I'll count it as a full book read!
I enjoyed these gentle stories of life in a National Trust property; I hadn't realised she was the author of Cobwebs And Cream Teas and Dry Rot And Daffodils and will be adding these to my wish lists now. The humour is gentle and affectionate rather than barbed or silly, the stories are fascinating and worthwhile and the voice is nice and friendly without being patronising or twee. A good cosy read.
An excellent biography of the writer who is fast becoming a favourite of mine, though I have only read a few of his books so far. The research that has gone into this book is phenomenal and gives an old-fashioned close reading of an author's life through the characters portraying parts of that life in his books. While sometimes this can feel forced, in this book there is a good case for all of the parallels drawn, and they have been done meticulously; yet the book is never boring and in fact I'd have maybe liked a little more detail in places. Hall does not draw a veil over the slightly more unsavoury aspects of Young's views (especially those on Jewish people), and does not make apologies for Young as a "man of his time"; this makes me respect the other opinions on Young stated in the book further, as it would be easy for such an expert and obvious enthusiast of the oeuvre to become hagiographical.
A good collection of photos, a very well done chronology, and a list of characters and bibliography complete this good, scholarly work.
One lovely point: I have I believe met Mr Hall and he and his name seemed familiar. When I looked at the acknowledgements, I see a thank you to Christine Penney and the staff of the University of Birmingham Special Collections. Looking at the publication date, it would be logical for the research to have been done in the early 1990s - and I worked in Spec. Coll. 1992-1993!
Thanks for the loan Ali - I will look out for a copy for myself and I'm feeling better prepared for our FBY day in October now!
I bought this (luckily for just £1) as part of my reading around politics and history in the latter part of the 20th century. I knew he was a bit of a "one" but thought this would be amusing. Actually he comes across as VILE, and the unedited entries are bitty and hard to follow, and would only yield up a portrait of the period with more patience than I had.
Registering on BookCrossing.
I picked this one out of the boxes as I have enjoyed reading The History Man a couple of times. This was a great read - hilarious goings-on in the English Dept of a provincial University. It probably helps if you've *been* in an English dept but the general academic atmosphere makes it a funny read on many levels. Treece is an excellent 1950s anti-hero and the goings on at parties etc makes for wince-worthy and unputdownable reading. The atmosphere changed a bit towards the end but still a good read. Interesting afterword by the author but he doesn't answer the question - is the truly dreadful Willoughby a portrait of David Lodge, his friend and rival in real life, or is it an amalgam of a few people?!
The story of a year in the life of an extended family, focussing on Thomas and Tonie, who have recently swapped roles at home, and Howard and Claudia, older businessman brother of Thomas and his lapsed artist wife. The bickering older Bradshaws are skilfully portrayed, younger brother Leo and his alcoholic wife are sketched in, mainly to give amusing lines to their children, and leads on Tonie's family and the life of the piano teacher are not really followed up.
The style and tone are very detached and I didn't really form an emotional attachment to any of the characters - most seemed to have a morality based on selfishness and not enough attractive characteristics to balance this. The author didn't really seem to "care" about any of her characters either, apart from as symbols to show a) how there are different ways to cope with trying to control the world; b) that there is no answer to the dilemma of whether women should stay within the home or go out to work (both sides are shown struggling and punished) and c) that acting selfishly (even the dog with its hedonism) will bring punishment and destruction. So a moral tale but without the attractive/engaging characters that would make the morals hit home more effectively.
The joint climax of the story seems contrived and in one case obvious (why put animals in books just as symbols - an eternal criticism of mine!). Some of the characters get lost, the central conceit of Thomas' world view as a set of musical metaphors gets diluted and tails off, there is no real resolution, but I don't suppose there is meant to be, as the book's narrative is bounded by the year rather than the action.
It all felt a bit like an exercise in writing about different kinds of characters and their relationships, and fell a bit flat. There were some perceptive portrayals, eg Alexa and Olga, and some interesting exploration on how Thomas finds it harder to listen to his favourite male pianists once he starts learning the piano himself, but the book ultimately doesn't have *enough*, either in the form of a plot or of enjoyable and minute description of family relationships and interior monologues.
I think this is going for the Weldon or Moggach reader. Cusk has published a good few books (I read another years ago which had the same detached feeling) but I don't think this is likely to be her commercial breakthrough.
A Galsworthy separate from the Forsyte Saga but with similar themes and of course style. We meet Mark Lennan at three stages of his life and loves: first as a young man in love with his professor's wife; then in mid-years in a romantic attachment with a married woman (echoes of the Forsyte Saga here although it ends in melodrama which was maybe a bit silly); and then as a mid-40s married man with his head turned by a much younger woman. Atmospheric and evocative, patterned (he flees to Italy after each episode) but not too much so, and although a little dispiriting, a lovely piece of writing. As the introduction says, it's a shame that Galsworthy is not more appreciated these days, as his acqaintance Conrad is.
my review:
I enjoyed this easy-to-read novel about a family busines in - perhaps - its death throes. It was a little more slight than I'd expected; I did enjoy the enrichening effect of the dialect sections narrated by Tango, who served as a chorus, commenting on the main action. Although parts were "male" and how I imagined Banks would write (the suicide etc being a case in point), some of the writing and themes seemed curiously feminine - or perhaps this kind of family novel is more usually written by women. Like Matth3w, I didn't appreciate the political lecture sudee3nly inserted into Alban's dialogue at one stage; also the concentration on bands, ipods and the Tsunami seemed inserted in order to ground the book in popular culture rather than for a literary purpose.
A good example of BookCrossing encouraging me to read a book I wouldn't naturally have picked up, and a good holiday read.
Matthew's review (he read it first and I didn't read his review before reading the book/writing mine!):
This book is a perfect example of the lucid and erudite prose typical of Iain Banks non-sf output. Whilst the story might seem slight it is nevertheless gripping and the characters of the main protagonist and his family are very well drawn and easy to identify with even if they are a little "Dynasty"-ish in their portrayal.
My only two (minor) concerns are the rather blunt politicizing of the main character which Banks rather too obviously uses as a mouthpiece for his own political views. Also the denoument, although not entirely laid out for all to see in the book is nevertheless not too hard to guess and rather lessened the impact of the end of the book for me.
Other than that I found the rest of the book as amusing and engrossing as any other in the Bank's oeuvre.
A seemingly autobiographical trilogy (Douglas in the 2nd and 3rd books seems very similar to the main character in his war trilogy which is known to be autobiographical) and a touch didactic as it follows a family's history, mainly in Cumbria, from the 1890s to the 1970s. The first two books were excellent, really giving a sense of a proscribed life opening out to the mod cons of a retirement bungalow for the old folks and a broken marriage for the younger ones. Historical detail and atmosphere are evoked through the history of the Tallentire family; grandfathers and grandsons bond, cousins are compared, marriages sour and world events are engaged with. The third books is less interesting and seems a bit self-indulgent, except in the portrayal of Betty and Joseph; the contrast between Douglas and Lester seems forced and the foray into the world of pop music a bit misjudged. I did find the 3rd volume a bit of a disappointment compared to the superb and enthralling first two.
