This month was an even split between fiction and non-fiction.  In total I managed six books.  Here they are:

Fiction:

The Siege of Krishnapur

This is the first Booker book that I have read in my Booklitzer Challenge 200.  It is the 1973 prize winner, set in India during the 1857 mutiny.  It is a bit slow to start with, but on the whole I feel that I can reasonably recommend this if you are looking to expand your reading.  I would probably go so far as to say that I may try to find another J.G.Farrell book to read once my Booklitzer 200 is finished.  For my full review you can browse back here at my post The Siege of Krishnapur.

The World According to Bertie

This is the fourth book in the 44 Scotland Street series. It once again follows the stories of Bertie Pollock, Angus Lordie, Domenica MacDonald, Pat and Matthew.
As usual I am horrified at the personality of Bertie’s mother, Irene, but the wit with which she and her family are drawn is irresistible. Without giving anything away, it is also nice to see two separate storylines come together at the end of the book.  I am wondering if a previously minor character is going to be bumped up a notch.  I must take the time to get the next installment - The Unbearable Lightness of Scones.

And What Do You Do?

I chose this book because it sounded interesting, for chick lit.  A woman gives up her high-powered life as an executive in London to have a baby and move to Paris with her much younger French husband. I’m not sure what I was expecting, but it wasn’t a view of infidelity and supposed French marital mores.  While the writing was light, the characters didn’t grab me and frankly neither did the tit-for-tat affairs.  But then again perhaps I have an old-fashioned view of marriage.  You know, that there should only be the two of you and that being faithful is important.  Obviously I was never French in another life, nor Bohemian, nor Hippy.  Oh well. Can’t say that I would look for another by this author.

Non-Fiction:

Trump: Never Give Up

Following up from last month’s Carolyn 101, I spotted this at the library and decided to take The Don for a test drive.
The book was extremely easy to read, full of anecdotes and ego.  Considering the fortune that the man has made, he is probably entitled to gloat over his achievements.
Love him or hate him, he certainly takes his business seriously and if we are to believe many of the comments repeated throughout the book, he is also big on improving things. Certainly not a business classic, it does still give common sense advice as well as an insight into a larger than life personality.

Your Mortgage And How To Pay It Off In Five Years

Yet another in the Anita Bell series of financial advisory books.  I whipped through this one at light speed because we already have a mortgage, while the first half of the book is dedicated to saving for one, estimating what you might reasonably want to pay in order to do as the title says, and structuring that said loan with an institution of your choice.
My interest was in any advice for those of us already up to our ears in home ownership. Briefly, it goes like this…
Sacrifice, sacrifice, sacrifice and budget like a demon.  (And I thought I was bad about paperwork!)  Still, I can heartily recommend this to anyone not yet encumbered by a loan, especially if you don’t want to flounder about for the normal 25-30 years of repayments.

Why Mars And Venus Collide

This is another in the Mars and Venus series by John Gray.  I thought it was time to see if Dr Gray had anything new to say, and apparently he does.  Unlike the original (which I am dredging my memory about), this effort introduces testosterone and oxytocin to the explanation for the differences in gender response to stress and therefore interaction.  He also has two new techniques to deal with these responses and the communication problems they can generate.  If like me and you have wondered if he was sitting outside your house pressing a glass up to the wall while reading the original Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus, then you may enjoy this updated version.  Get it from the library first though.

***

That’s it for September.  I will see you back here at the end of the month for a review, hopefully, of some Pulitzer prize winners and the odd BBC Top 200 entry.

Happy reading.

It’s been quite some time since my Cerebral Mutterings emails finished, and I started blogging.  But tonight, while stripping out my long untouched email folders in a frenzy of “archive it - delete it - do it”, I came across some of my original Mutterings source material.

So, here is a trip down memory lane for those of you who were once recipients of the CM emails.

The News

Mr O is currently in Wellington re-installing equipment on Kaitaki.  Lucky him, he gets to start work at 4am.
Miss O is currently struggling with the concept of falling asleep.  But she has grasped the idea of making a mess with paints and enjoys riding her horse in her spare time.

The Quotes

Of all the liars in the world, sometimes the worst are your own fears.
- Rudyard Kipling

Would you know others?  Read yourself — and learn!
- Friedrich von Schiller

Thought takes man out of servitude into freedom.
-Ralph Waldo Emerson

You can’t drown your troubles . . . because troubles can swim.
- Margaret Millar

Absinthe makes the heart grow fonder.
- Ethel Watts Mumford

Life is like a ten-speed bike.
Most of us have gears we never use.
- Charles Schultz

There is everything in a name. A rose by any other name would smell as sweet, but would not cost half as much during the winter months.
- George Ade

***

I also came across this rather profound and thought-provoking comment by the anthropologist, Margaret Mead.

Even very recently, the elders could say: “You know, I have been young and you never have been old.”
But today’s young people can reply: “You never have been young in the world I am young in, and you never can be.” . . . The older generation will never see repeated in the lives of young people their own unprecedented experience of sequentially emerging change. This break between generations is wholly new: it is planetary and universal.

Okay, so this is doing the rounds via email but I still thought I would share.

Looks like I’m a safe bet for a job here if my life as a mother doesn’t pan out so well.
And as an employer, I too vote for avoiding Mr Stabby.

If you can’t quite read it - visit my Flickr stream and view the large version.

Oh, and I was driving along Ponsonby Road last weekend, and can testify that the Murder Burger signage is indeed on a shop.  The windows were blacked out, and there was a white piece of paper in the window.  If it’s a hoax or a joke, then they’ve gone to a lot of trouble and expense.

No doubt someone somewhere will be offended and report them to the Human Rights Tribunal for discrimination against P users and Pol Stud students.   
Considering our largest newspaper once told me that I couldn’t specify the length of work experience required (5 years) for the position I wanted to advertise with them, I’m always happy to see stuff like this.  It’s a nice big thumbing of the nose at the politically correct establishment (who largely don’t seem to live in the real world and deal with real problems people).

***

If I sound grumpy, it’s just because I’m overdue for a good bleat.  It’s been a little while, but there is a good one working itself up as we speak.  I’m hoping to have it, and my advice on how to avoid a similar situation, all written up and posted by the weekend.  In the meantime, please be patient with any sarcastic, cynical, jaded and slightly petulant comments that may attach themselves to innocent posts.

This is the 1973 Booker Prize winner by J.G.Farrell.

The setting is the 1857 Indian Mutiny.  The story is told from the perspective of a number of British residents in Krishnapur.  The central characters are Mr Hopkins, the Collector; Fleury, a recent arrival to India and his widowed sister, Miriam; the Dunstaple family - father, the local physician - son, a young military man and daughter Louise, the season’s beauty; Mr Willoughby, the Magistrate; and the Padre.

I felt that the story started off very slowly and I was dreading another reading trial like The Poisonwood Bible.  Fortunately as I went further through the book and when the siege finally began it all started to flow for me.  In the end I was fascinated by the characters and the way the author grew them and altered their views through the trials and deprivations of living through a siege situation.

And for the first time in an absolute age, I actually felt like I picked up on some of the themes.  Admittedly they came to me one morning in the half-dozing state that occurs when you are on the cusp of waking up.

The political & philosophical themes were primarily voiced in the observations of each main character given page time by Farrell, although behaviour was also used, especially by the minor players.

One aspect that this novel shared with The Poisonwood Bible is the theme of people under stress and what that brings out of their character.  Are character and world view interlinked and changeable?  The Poisonwood Bible seemed to suggest a strengthening of existing character traits and views, while The Siege of Krishnapur seems to suggest a person could go either way with an extreme strengthening of convictions or a complete weakening of convictions, even to the point of altering them diametrically.

Briefly the themes I identified were:

• Materialism and Advancement through Invention of things versus the importance of Advancement of the human spirit.

This was primarily played out by Mr Hopkins and Fleury.  Hopkins has fitted out the Residence at Krishnapur with items he believes represent advancement, especially items from The Great Exhibition.  He is reverential about the Exhibition, almost to the point of worship.
Fleury, on the other hand, views the advancement of the spirit to be the most important thing that humans can aspire to.  Certainly materialism and objects are not worthy of the reverence he sees Mr Hopkins display.

• The Established View versus Scientific Observation and Rationalism

This pits the two Doctors against each other.  Dunstaple is ‘old school’ and is frequently found to be criticising the methods of his colleague, McNab, as experimental and cold.  Dunstaple views the ‘establishment’ as the source of information and direction, while McNab views his own observations (as well as alternatives to the prevailing treatments) as valid guides to patient treatment.  This comes to a head over the treatment of a cholera outbreak.  While the Dunstaple cholera episode should be sad, it is actually completely, gut-bustingly and ironically funny.

• Scientific observation

The Magistrate also showcases the duality of science that prevailed during this time.  On the one hand he views scientific rationalism very highly, as seen in his support of McNab’s use of statistics to back up his arguments on the treatment of cholera.  On the other hand is his interest and wholehearted believe in the “science” of frenology.

• Sin

Farrell also touches on themes like “sin” as well.  This is displayed through the Padre’s progressively vigorous pursuit of sin, and the expunging of it from the congregation.  The women also feature here, with a “fallen” woman, Lucy, brought into the enclave.  She is socially shunned with the exception of Miriam and Louise who feel it their duty to be kind to her until she begins to make herself cosy with their brothers.

Through the latter half of the book, and the siege, the writing gets progressively more double-edged.  You can’t help laughing at the characters.  I am sure that Farrell intended to almost caricature certain aspects of British India, Victorian science and the intensity with which people hang on to, or shed their beliefs.

I thought that the “voice” of the book was reasonably authentic.  Apparently a lot of material was taken from diaries of events and there is even a note by Farrell that indicates some sections were almost completely lifted from his research.  Presumably this is why it felt ‘of it’s time’.

I can highly recommend this novel.  After the first, slower part of the book, it picks itself up and becomes at once entertaining, sad and thought-provoking.

Nation is the newest, about to be released book by Terry Pratchett.

So far all of his previous children and young adult books have fulfilled their promise to be great reads and this one looks to be yet another to add to the bookshelves.

You can get a sneek peak inside the first 78 pages (or 3 and a bit chapters) if you visit the link that I have pasted at the bottom of this post.  HarperCollins have also included the Author’s Notes at the end of this preview.  I think that the last note is wonderful…

Thinking
This book contains some.  Whether you try it at home is up to you.

If you don’t want to read through the first three chapters, then here is the teaser as per the publisher’s website:

The sea has taken everything.

Mau is the only one left after a giant wave sweeps his island village away. But when much is taken, something is returned, and somewhere in the jungle Daphne—a girl from the other side of the globe—is the sole survivor of a ship destroyed by the same wave.

Together the two confront the aftermath of catastrophe. Drawn by the smoke of Mau and Daphne’s sheltering fire, other refugees slowly arrive: children without parents, mothers without babies, husbands without wives—all of them hungry and all of them frightened. As Mau and Daphne struggle to keep the small band safe and fed, they defy ancestral spirits, challenge death himself, and uncover a long-hidden secret that literally turns the world upside down. . . .

Sadly, while visiting the publisher’s website I also noted that Mr Pratchett has been diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s Disease.  Apparently he is active in fundraising efforts for Alzheimer’s research and you can read a speech he made to the Alzheimer’s Research Trust Conference.

It is more than a little sad to think that such a creative talent is going to have this struggle to face.

***

Browse Inside this book Get this for your site

It was tough, but someone had to do it.  After all, you can’t just let all that good sunshine and tropical heat go to waste.

And if they put up bure shelters and sandpits for you to sit and loll around in, then the very least you can do is spend some time drying off after your swim.

And before you ask… yes. We did have a great time.  Thanks.

This is just a quick note to say that I will be away on holiday next week, and that I haven’t planned far enough ahead to have posts popping up while I’m not here.

However, when I get back there should be posts about:

• The Siege of Krishnapur
• Two novels from the Claudine series by Colette
  • Claudine à Paris (1901)
  • Claudine en ménage (1902)
• A trip to Fiji (if anything more than “I swam, I ate, I slept, I read” happens )
• Air travel with an infant (if anything of use comes to mind)
• Any photographs that I think are worth sharing from the trip.

In the meantime, have a great week and I will see you back here some time after the 15th.

Normally I like to keep my political opinions to myself.  Or at least only express them to family and close friends.  But when this little gem crossed my email, I just had to share.

For those non-NZers, feel free to replace Winston Peter’s name with a similarly suitable politician from your own parliament.

***

A man died and went to Heaven.
As he stood in front of the Pearly Gates, he saw a huge wall of clocks behind him.
“What are all those clocks?” he asked

“Those are Lie-Clocks,” St. Peter answered.
“Everyone on earth has a Lie-Clock.  Every time you lie the hands on your clock move.”

“Oh”, said the man. ‘Whose clock is that at 12.00?’

“That’s Mother Teresa’s”, replied St. Peter. “The hands have never moved, indicating that she never told a lie.”

“Incredible”, said the man. “And whose clock is that one at 12.02?”

“That’s Abraham Lincoln’s clock,” St. Peter responded. “The hands have moved twice, telling us that Abraham told only two lies in his entire life.”

“Where’s Winston Peters’ clock?” asked the man.
“Winston Peters’ clock is in Jesus’ office”, smiled St Peter.  “He’s using it as a ceiling fan.”

***

If you are wondering about who Winston Peters is and why this little joke is doing the rounds, scroll down the Wikipedia entry to the section on funding controversies - or alternatively take a look through any online NZ newspaper or other media website.  He is something of a teflon-like character who is economical with the facts (omissions are not lies, after all) and quick to jump on popular bandwagons (immigration and immigrants, for instance - imagine an apparent xenophobe as your Foreign Minister !?!?).
He would also win any “Survivor” special dealing specifically with politics and politicians, hands down.

There hasn’t been an awful lot of progress, but at least the blue border stitching has finally been done.  As you can see I have started on the corners next.  All of this is an attempt to put off the inevitable stitching over one that the animals call for.   Oh well, I’ll have to tackle it eventually, so I’m picking the next fine and bright day that comes around will be my best choice.  You may see more than cats next time - or not.

This week my reading has provided me with the following interesting sounding words.

Hummock

a knoll or hillock.

Interestingly this was used to describe a character’s stomach.  I liked the sound of it.

Sepoy

(formerly, in India) a native soldier, usually an infantryman, in the service of Europeans, esp. of the British.

Nautch

(in India) an exhibition of dancing by professional dancing girls.

Can you tell I am reading about British India?  The Siege of Krishnapur is certainly expanding my vocabulary amongst other things.