The Book Coop

Attention! Dear Readers… I am flying the coop!

2011-01-25T00:19:00.001+00:00

I think I have come to a decision. I am definitely hopping over to Wordpress so please, please pretty please go and add my Wordpress blog to your blog feed thingy – whatever it is you use.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>CLICK HERE<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

Something just told me to make the change. I don’t mean a voice from the sky – but lately I’ve just been feeling the need for change. I’ve been buying new clothes with brighter colours and different styles then I’d usually have gone for. And so along the same vein, I’m changing the clothing of my blog. The difference is only in the link.

I just want a fresh start and I really like the behind the scenes of Wordpress –even though the themes aren’t as customisable – I’m rotten at all that anyway.

If you would like to subscribe to my new blog’s RSS feed click HERE (see I’m making it so easy!) and I hope you will like it!

Tell everyone you know that The Book Coop has found a new nest and has gone over there and intends to stay.

To change or not to change, that is the question…

2011-01-21T21:47:00.001+00:00

Here is the thing.

I’ve been looking at Wordpress and I’m wondering, should I convert? I have imported this blog over there to see what it would look like and there is something cleaner and more grown up about it. Maybe I just need to spruce up my blogger design here… but the thing is I’m starting to like more what I see over there.

Is this a case of the grass being greener on the other side? If I do decide to jump ship, it’s no turning back. You can’t just go over there to test it out and hope people follow you. If I make the leap, that is it.

What do I not like about Blogger? Well nothing much – sometimes it irritates me when I want to edit the post from within the site (as I use an external programme called Windows Live Writer to write my blog posts) it buggers up my format. I notice on Wordpress that is not really the case. Some of my formatting in the crossover has become a little screwed but nothing a few tweaks can’t handl.e

I like the more subdued, mature interface rather then the big blue buttons of Blogger – I like the layout of the dashboard and the flexibility of the themes.

I like that when I go to the dashboard it gives me my recent comments and posts and information straight up without the fuss, bother or bubbles. Also, I’ve started to really admire the Wordpress blogs I read and prefer the layout and the feel. Sure there are going to be some things I won’t like possibly… but that goes with everything.

So, do you use Blogger or Wordpress or have you used one and converted to the other. Why? Is it worth the change. My heart I think is leaning towards changing, but this is literally something I thought about in a few seconds. No, that is a lie… it has been a dormant thought, a curiosity which I have now taken to the next step, but it feels sudden.

What do you guys think? Does it matter, should I just stick to what I’ve got? I’m not unhappy about it as such… but at the same time I’m beginning to question it. It is starting to feel too cute, too young and since Christmas I just want something a little different.

My Green Book of Quotes

2011-01-20T02:25:00.001+00:00

Carin, from A Little Bookish got me thinking about quotes in one of her coffee chats a couple of weeks ago. When I am reading, I rarely stop to think of quotes or to write them down, but this time it’s going to be different. Why? Because half an hour ago I decided that I was going to write them down in my little green book of quotes.

To mark the beginning of My Green Book of Quotes I thought I’d share one with you. I’d noted this one down a while ago and only just lately come across it.

It was a usual midday university scene, but as I sat watching it with renewed attention, I became aware of something. In his or her own way, every one I saw before me looked happy. Whether they were really happy or just looked happy, I couldn’t tell. But they did look happy on this pleasant afternoon in late September, and because of that I felt a kind of loneliness new to me, as if I were the only one who was not truly part of the scene.

- Haruki Murakami (Norwegian Wood, p. 103)

[I wrote happiness instead of loneliness which I only just noticed typing it out!]

I used to keep a hand written record of my books and things in an A4 sized notebook, but I’ve transferred that to Goodreads. This blog is another way I have to remind myself of my reading journey. Yet, it occurred to me – even though I have my Ereader… how much I miss something hand written, something accessible whenever, where ever and real. My hand writing isn’t so good but maybe in many years time I will appreciate looking through a book of quotes and seeing what I felt was relevant at the time, or what marked something out in me as important or interesting.

I have never been one to keep a personal diary, what would it consist of? I got up, I did exactly the same as I did yesterday: nothing special or out of the ordinary. However, I have always thought that things like these – quotes, book reviews, reading records… are still a sort of personal journal or diary of sorts because how it reflects on you at the time.

Does anyone else keep a hand written record of what they read, or anything like that. In this digital age, everything seems to get done on a computer screen – even reading!

I didn’t read the same things ten years ago as I do today, and in ten years from now, who knows what I’ll be reading? With each experience in life, will my reading change – will certain passages mean more or less to me as they did then? Can I track my life through books and quotes? My kind of internal journal as it were – from my subconscious.

Guess Who Got an E-reader? Yes me, a Sony PRS-350 to be precise…

2011-01-14T01:23:00.001+00:00

Despite once thinking that E-readers were products of the devil, some time after Christmas I decided to get myself one. All I can say is that I have been taken over by the Shiny New Gadget disease that’s going around town. I just had to have it… and now I have one. Yay!

The Sony PRS-350 is a 5" Pocket version of the 650 – which is 6" and considerably more expensive.

So, after forking out one hundred and thirty four (including postage) quid to Waterstones.com I (im)patiently waited for my device to arrive, feeling slightly apprehensive. Why was I getting myself an E-reader? I like books, I like the smell, the feel, the touch… now I was going to be resigning myself to a cold metal thing that smells of nothing. It’s surprising how quickly I became used to it though. I do not think I’ll ever get over my love for a real book that you can hold and touch – but it has it’s advantages.

I decided to go with the Sony because I liked how sleek and smart it looked – without too many buttons and things to distract me from the fact it is a cold electronic device. I can hold it and turn the pages by simply wiping my finger across as if I was actually turning a page. You swipe your finger to the left to go forward, and right to go back. It has a very responsive touch screen and e-ink technology really does make you feel as if you’re reading paper. Also, as we do not have a huge range of E-readers in the UK yet I thought that it was the best option available. The Kindle felt like it was forcing me to use Amazon exclusively and I’m not interested in that. The others out there did not appeal and Sony has high ratings all over the place, so I felt it was a pretty safe buy. Plus I’ve always liked Sony products – my current MP3 is a Sony Walkman and the only thing that is going wrong with it is the W. logo is starting to peal away from the front.

I really like the built in dictionary and being able to highlight text, annotate and draw silly pictures. It comes with its very own little stylus so you don’t have to put grubby fingerprints across the screen. All in all, I think I like it.

I have never had another E-reader before, so I cannot compare it to any others. All I can say is that I really do like my Sony Reader and it doesn’t bother me that it doesn’t have wifi, 3g or whatever like the Kindle. Not being able to download books on the hoof isn’t a major concern for me. I think that the Sony Reader is a good little contraption and as of yet, I haven’t found any faults.

I’m still kind of in mixed minds about E-readers on a whole. Half of me really loves my own E-reader, but then there’s the other part of me that feels kinda weirded out by the whole electronic book thing. Am I a traitor to print? What would Johannes Gutenberg, the bloke who invented the printing press be thinking now? Would be be rolling in his grave?

On E-reading as a whole… there’s the ups and the downs. I hope they don’t signify the end of print books. It’s hard not to think like a fuddy duddy sometimes about all this ‘new technology’ stuff. Will it be the downfall of books? Will the quality of books go down? I notice that many of the books I do want are not actually in the electronic format! Popular or more recent books are available, but not always older ones. In time, I guess, in time.

So, E-reading in general… is still a kind of mixed bag for me, but it definitely has it’s plus points. It’s much easier to pick up a book now then before.

Pros:

Free classics from the Gutenberg Project and Feedbooks. I prefer Feedbooks for having a better designed website and better ease of use – also the ebooks they provide I find are much better quality. I feel I have access to many books that I’ve been interested in, but not willing to buy – so I will be able to read lots of different books I would have otherwise.
Light and easy to hold – very good for those bricks that weigh an absolute tonne. I’m no longer going to get neck ache leaning over a brickish book or find it heavy or awkward to hold in bed.
Less distracting. I’m a fiddler and a picker. If there’s something to fiddle with, I fiddle with it, including book covers and fanning pages. Maybe this is just me, but I also find that I’m no longer so concerned with how much of the book I’ve read or got less – I am less conscious of the length and so very long books no longer seem so daunting.
It is visually easier to read. I was unsure about the pocket version – thinking it would be too small. I only got it because it was the cheapest - £119 on the Waterstones website where as on Amazon it was £150 and the 650 even more at £214. However I find it easier to concentrate on a smaller ‘page’ and what with being able to change the font size it does make it easier. I’m no longer going to have to squint at small text unless I want to. With some books, my eyes tend to wonder or get tired but not so much with my E-reader.
I love looking through the books on my shelves, but there is something about being able to lie down in bed and look through all the books on my E-reader, feeling excited about reading them all that is difficult to do with my other book shelf considering how wedged in they all are. (Not to mention the box that I can’t even get into my room.)
I can now keep on buying books indiscriminately without worrying about space.
I do not have to dig through every book in my shelf to get to the one at the very back… it is easily accessible with no trouble at all on that score.

Cons:

I haven’t taken it outside yet because the weather has been crap lately what with it raining cats and dogs – a slightly damp book is no problem. Wet E-reader however is another kettle of fish. I look forward to showing it off (it’s my new baby!) but at the same time don’t want to flash a rather expensive bit of equipment about. I don’t think I’d be able to replace it anytime soon if it were damaged, lost or stolen.
It doesn’t feel or smell like a book. There’s something about the smell of the pages, the ink… you just don’t get that. It takes away the satisfaction of getting a new book. The rush happens quickly because you get to look at it instantly – but that’s it. It doesn’t fill that space of excitement when you get a new book. Nothing can beat picking a new book of the shelf or receiving a little white package from The Book Depository.
There are no book covers. The E-books I have bought have both been quite plain – understandably enough. Although my E-reader can show images – it is only in black and white and there is just something about the work and the art that goes into a book cover. Nor is there the description on the back, and when I read a book there’s always this ritual that I do. I look at the back cover, the front cover and flick through the pages and get a feel. When buying ebooks online – or any book online I suppose – you don’t really get to look through it first. Online previews (most only easily available on Amazon) just aren’t the same and I can’t always get a feel of the book.

The cons weigh more heavily on my heart then the more uplifting pros, but overall I think I do love my new E-reader and am very pleased I got one.

I also bought myself purple Cover up to keep my Reader safe. It’s really good quality and cost £20 which is quite a lot, but I think worth it. It’s a really good fit and the E-reader slips into it snug and safe. It smells of leather which isn’t quite a booky smell (anymore anyway, I suppose in the past it might have been), but at least it smells of something other then nothing. It’s still very light and comfortable to hold – a little bit more like a book, although I’ve become quite used to not having to hold a cover open!

I really like the detail of the stitches around the edges – it gives it a very nice sort of authentic feel – smart, but bookish at the same time. It could easily be mistaken for a journal, or a pocket diary now and I’m going to feel safter carrying it around now – knowing the screen won’t crack or get dirty.

I’m still quite nervous about carrying over a hundred pounds worth of equipment around. At least with a paper book if you lose it, or if it’s stolen you know that it’d be easy enough to replace – and whoever stole it will be pretty disappointed, unless they’re an avid reader. However, I’ve never heard of people pinching bags just to get hold of the book inside. If someone wanted the book that bad I’d just give it to them!

Who else out there has an E-reader? How do you feel about yours and why did you choose that particular make? Or do you think that E-readers are the spawn of satan and should be burnt along with all the book traitors who read them? Are they the end of books as we know them? Ebooks have become more and more possible, in the US I believe they even took over traditional books… is this a new era of literature?

Also, what makes me think – do you think that having E-readers will change the books themselves – will they have an affect on style, writing, story – publication? I think publishers will have to start operating differently as it will be much easier to publish books now – even without all the marketing power. Will this be good or bad?

Book Review: The New Jackals by Simon Reeve

2011-01-12T01:02:00.001+00:00

Genre: Non-Fiction/Terrorism

Published: 1999

Pages: 294

Written in 1999, before the 9/11 WTC attack, Simon Reeve was one of the first author to pen a book about Osma Bin Laden. It did not sell very well when first published, but after 9/11 it became a best seller. It starts in 1993 when a young man known as Ramzi Yousef planted a massive bomb in the car park under one of the World Trade Centre towers. His aim had been to destroy them, but in this he failed. What happened afterwards though was a manhunt that saw him “bombing his way around the world” as Reeve phrased it. The second half of the book covers Osma Bin Laden and the rise of the Al-Qaeda , accounting for his life and rise to infamy.

I started reading this on the anniversary of 9/11 in 2010 because I could not get into any of my other fiction books and it seemed in a way, appropriate. Simon Reeve is a very talented journalist/author. I have read another one of his books – One Day In September – which is about the 1972 Munich Olympics terrorist attack on the Israeli Olympic team and the following revenge attacks by Israel’s agency Mossad.

I am not a great reader of non-fiction because I have a misjudged prejudice that they are all written by boring old men with long white beards. Obviously this is not the case, because those that I have read have all been pretty clean shaven. Simon Reeve has also presented some very interesting travel documentaries on the BBC – but he travels around to places you’re unlikely to go yourself.

Reeve interviewed numerous sources in the writing of this book. This included FBI and CIA officers, police, witnesses and terrorists themselves. He would have interviewed Ramzi Yousef himself had he been given half the chance – but this was not allowed. Reeve comes across as a very intelligent and trustworthy author, although it may surprise you that he was only about twenty five at the time this was published. He is non-judgemental and analytical – but he never pushes himself or his opinions across too forcefully.

This book was written two years before 9/11 and so reading it retrospectively gives it a different dimension then it would have had originally. The book covers Yousef’s attempt to destroy the World Trade Towers and what happened next – both his escape, his other movements including an attempt on Benazir Bhutto’s life, and how the CSI tracked him down and captured him. Reeve also gives brief history and analysis of Osma Bin Laden and the rise of terrorism. It is a short book and of course by now there has been numerous books written about this subject that will go into much more detail – and more up to date. Reeve’s narrative of the events is both sensitive, well written and detailed without being dramatic or sensational.

After Yousef was arrested, one of the FBI officers said to him as they flew past the WTC towers: “They’re still standing.” To which Yousef replied “They wouldn’t be if I had enough money and explosives.”

Reeve ends the book with a warning about the future – little could he have known.

I would recommend this book even if you are well read on this subject, simply because it was written before the worldwide panic about terrorism really took over. If you are not so familiar with the history or haven’t read an actual book about it – then I think The New Jackals is a great place to start. It provides you with just the right amount of information to set you up for further exploration of the topic. I would also recommend Simon Reeve as an author and a presenter. Watch out for his series called Equator and the Tropic of Capricorn (also a book) because they were really good.

Here is the first part of one of his documentaries “Places That Don’t Exist” that seems to be available on Youtube. Very interesting and I recommend. You can see some of his others on Youtube as well, it seems…

Review Ratings

2011-01-03T23:02:00.001+00:00

Back when I started this blog I decided upon a five star rating system and explained it here. At first I was quite happy with my system. I like ratings as they help you record how much you liked it or not so you can look back down the line and see what you thought of the book at the time. They are also useful for other people, in that it gives them a general idea of how much you liked the book and they help colour the review.

Yet, lately I have been feeling confused. Five stars is sometimes not enough because I could give two different books four stars but still like one of them significantly more then the other. I have been thinking that I should change my rating system for my blog. For the last few reviews deciding upon a rating has been very difficult and quite uncomfortable.

However, I have no idea how I want to change it, because I still feel as if I need some kind of visual representation if how I feel about a book. Perhaps I should move the rating to the bottom of the review rather then at the top, like I have seen in many other books? Then it would put less of a relevance on the rating itself.

Or maybe I should rate books out of ten rather then five, because there is not enough leeway with five stars. On the other hand, that feels too complicated and will have me thinking even more about how many numbers award the book.

Perhaps I should replace stars with words? Or perhaps a wordle of words I would use to describe it? Or maybe colours? Something that just represents my feelings on a simple, visual level.

This for example? Just a simple wordle containing some adjectives that relate to how I feel? I think I’m starting to sway towards this idea. Choosing a star rating would be easier perhaps but it’s also fairly restrictive.

I’m still contemplating. I started this blog post not really knowing what I was going to say, or decide on other then to discuss a change of rating system. I feel that after coming back from my unexpected blogging break, that I wanted to change the way I review books because it was one of the things that was causing me some frustration.

I’m in the mood for refreshment and turning over a new leaf. Is anyone else going through some blog refurbishments?

2010 in Pie Charts, Music and Whatever Else

2011-01-02T01:47:00.001+00:00

Happy New Year to everyone out there!

In 2010 I read a total of 48 books which is 17,455 pages all together.

TBR currently standing at 447 books.

It is yet again, another new year which means new calendars, a new diary, another birthday to celebrate and a new number to memorise when filling in forms.

Twenty-Ten has been a mixed bag for me. Book-wise there has been nothing exceptional. I have read some really good ones, but none that have blown me away in amazement. Personal-wise a lot of things in my life has been changing in small ways – I’m starting to deal with things rather then burying my nose in a book all the time, so I am hoping 2011 will bring more fulfilment my way.

So let’s begin.

The Books I Really Enjoyed:

The Road Home by Rose Tremain
From Hell by Alan Moore
Any Human Heart by William Boyd
After Dark by Haruki Murakami
The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa
Hard Boiled Wonderland and The End of the World by Haruki Murakami
The End of the Affair by Graham Greene
The New Jackals by Simon Reeve
The Hidden Roads by Kevin Crossley Holland
The Anatomy of Ghosts by Andrew Taylor

Newly Discovered Authors that I will be reading more from:

Sebastian Barry (The Secret Scripture)
William Boyd (Any Human Heart)
Chris Bohjalian (Midwives)
Natsuo Kirino (Grotesque)
Yoko Ogawa (The Housekeeper and the Professor)

Due to chronic uninspiration over the last few months there are a few 2010 reviews I still need to write so please look out for those in the future. It feels a bit of a silly start to the new year catching up with the old one but better late then never, I always say. (I would be late for my own birthday.)

Challenges:

I took part in the Japanese Literature Challenge for the first time and I read four books by Japanese authors – Haruki Murakami, already a favourite and two new ones: Natsuo Kirino (already owned) and Yoko Ogawa (completely new to me). I didn’t read as many as I hoped I would but I did pick up a lot of new recommendations I had not known about before who I will explore hopefully this year.

I hope to read Silence by Sashuka Edo and The Silent Cry by Kenzaburo Oe sometime this year.

Blogging

I started this blog in May 2010 sometime after very littler persuasion from a friend of mine. I think my favourite blog post, and the one I am most proud of is my special edition Character Connection featuring the Four Men in Harry Potter. Even with my long blog-funk I feel really happy that I started writing this as I have really began to enjoy myself.

I hope that any reclusive readers out there come forward because I love to know what people think – criticisms, praise, improvements etc.

Pie Charts

And here is the part you have all been looking forward to, my pie charts. You may remember me talking about my spreadsheet obsession in July shortly after I started this blog. If not please refresh your mind here where you will see some pie charts detailing my 2009 reading data. I had one for setting and genres and this year I have a new one – publication date.

Now I understand not all of you may be quite as fascinated by percentages as I am when it comes to books (when it isn’t about books I couldn’t give a hoot about percentages) but I like to track my reading. Not necessarily for improvement, but just as a way to reflect on what my year looked like in the form of books. I have a theory that I can learn something from the kinds of books I read over a certain period. I started the spreadsheet in 2009 and so I am now in my third year of recording my reading in such a way and I really enjoy doing it.

I do not feel as if I have widened my horizons this year. I still seem to stick to English settings rather then ranging further afield. In 2009, 44% of what I read was set in England and this last year is a rounded 50%. In 2009 I read books set in 13 different countries and this year I read 14, which is no major leap. Fantasy, Japan and the USA are still my most popular settings to find myself in and last year I read more books set in fantasy lands (as opposed to fantasy still set in England).

The YA fantasy is slightly skewed as it includes my month long re-read of Harry Potter, but I do feel as if I have read a lot more fantasy in 2010, although not necessarily by new authors and none that I have really enjoyed. In 2009 I read 12 different genres and only 10 last year. However, in 2010 I seemed to have read more widely in each genre. In 2009 50% of what I read was crime and historical fiction.

Again, as with settings I have not really ventured outside of my norm as much as I would have liked.

My third and final pie is of the decade each book was first published in. I did not do this last year so this one is new. I thought it would be interesting to see what kind of books I generally go for. I want to read more classics and so this is a way of keeping track of the timelines I’m reading within.

As you can see, the vast majority of books I read have been published within the last two decades and a pitifully small amount during earlier times. I do not think I naturally go for the newest thing out – I am usually five years behind most of the time.

Long-Winded Semi-Analysis & Reflection on Books and Self

I think from looking at these pies and comparing them to 2009, I can see that I am still very much set in my ways and reading what I find comfortable. I would like to extend my boundaries more, so we shall see what 2011 will bring, whether I will be able to go beyond my comfort zone.

However, saying this – I don’t really think that is the most important part about reading. I want to enjoy the books I read. Maybe it has just been the place I’ve been in for a while that I seek books I enjoy rather then taking myself into unknown areas. I move slowly. I will extend myself but it might not be evident until a few years down the line. Reading is a long journey and one where there is now map to guide your way. I hope through my pie charts and journals however, that I’ll be able to track my journey and maybe see a little bit into myself.

Who am I? Can books tell me this? Not literally of course because who I am changes constantly. I want to connect more with myself – this is one of my resolutions – not just for this year but for the rest of my life. I have realised as of late that a lot of my problems come from ignoring myself, ignoring other people and not letting people in, or myself out. I think we should all be able to reflect on ourselves and question who we are, what we’re doing and why.

Having this book blog gives me a way to express myself in a way that might be interesting to others. My life is dull as dishwater, but the books I read are not. So finally I think I have found my reason for blogging – and what my blog is to me.

Blah Blah

Anyway, before I chase you all away with this pseudo-spiritual soft sappiness, let’s just move on into 2011 and get reading!

I am still reading a biography of Adolf Hitler by Ian Kershaw. It’s a massive great book of a thing and comes in two parts, each part as massive as the other. It is very interesting and well written, but I do not read non-fiction very fast and it can be a bit heavy at times. It is very interesting – I have always enjoyed history related to the second world war and have been meaning to read more non-fiction books on history.

So, in a way it is a good thing I have a backlog of reviews to write because it might take me a while to finish this one. I’d appreciate any more recommendations for non-fiction about the first and second world wars – ones that are accessible to non-historians. No long bearded, babbling authors please, just someone who can educate the uneducated.

Musical Discoveries and Re-Discoveries

And finally, seeing as I have written a vast amount and that if any of you are still reading perhaps your eyes have dried up and you’d like to be revived with music. Well, I love music, doesn’t everyone, but I like sharing and discovering new music too as I don’t listen to the radio so need other avenues of discovery!

In 2010, music really did get good for me. I found my all time favourite band Mumford and Sons. People who can sing!

And look, they’re in a bookshop. Many of their songs (Timshel, Dust Bowl Dance) are inspired by John Steinbeck, one of my favourite authors. Marcus, the lead singer also hosts a book club on the Mumford & Sons website. How awesome is that? Great music and books. It’s like finding out that Heaven does in fact exist and it’s here on earth.

I also rediscovered Linkin Park. I used to like them a bit when I was a teen and they were singing things like Crawling and Papercut, lots of shouting and angst, but recently just felt like them again. Well I’ve grown up since first liking them and so too have they. I just love how creative they are and how they all get involved in every bit of the music they make.

This is from the most recent album ‘A Thousand Suns’ and it is one of my favourites.

I love how everything is so different but together on this album, going between loud and shouty and passionate and inspiring. I know The Messenger is rather soppy – and I guess I’ve just been in that mood recently.

Another of my favourites. The mood I’m in presently (and I go through some weird music obsessions where I listen to nothing but) I could just list every song they have ever created here… but I won’t.

Just one last track… I promise. Rachid Taha. Actually, can’t remember if I found out about him in 2009 or 2010… hmm anyway I really like music from other cultures like this and I really love the Arabic and Western rock/pop mixed into his songs.

That’s it!

So, how has everyone else’s 2010 been any great books you want to press on me, any good music you’d like to share? Or any good anything that you’ve discovered, books music, food, thoughts… anything, whatever.

All my best wishes to everyone that they have a wonderful 2011!

Review: Midwives by Chris Bohjalian

2011-01-01T13:43:00.000+00:00

Genre: General Fiction
Published: 1998
Pages: 372

Sibyl Danforth is a lay midwife from Vermont who assists women to have home births. One night, she is with a birthing mother when everything goes wrong and the woman dies. Sibyl cuts her open to save the life of the child… But the question remains: had she really died and did Sibyl Danforth actually kill her?

I read this book for Crazy Book Swap and my partner is Wallace from Unputadownables who hosts it. She sent me Midwives by Chris Bohjalian and I must admit, though I thought it did look interesting, I didn’t expect to enjoy it quite so much as I did.

It is a book I’d have otherwise overlooked, judging it by the title to be some gooey story about babies. I guess this should teach me not to be so easily prejudiced about a book before really looking at it. When I read the description at the back it sounded more interesting, but I still felt quite reserved about reading it to start with. I have a firm idea about what books are ‘my type of books’ and what isn’t and sometimes this barrier can be hard to beat down. Do I jump into an unknown area without really knowing where I’ll land? I tend to start books thinking I’ll enjoy them then the other way around. This wouldn’t quite be the first time I have been surprised.

Bohjalian, rather then writing it from Sibyl’s perspective, told the story from the first person narrative of her daughter Connie, who was only a child at the time it took place. It is written in the style of a memoir and so the tone is generally reflective and slow paced. At first I thought that this wouldn’t work – it would lose the imperative of the story and make it too passive. Much of the information would have to be second hand because at the time Connie was a teenager and had not been with her mother at the time of the incident, among other things. Yet this wasn’t the case and I found myself gripped throughout, barely able to put the book down sometimes.

It is a story about the ties between a mother and her children. It is as much – if not more – Connie’s own story about growing up alongside her mother’s court case and the effects it has on her own family.

Sibyl has an almost spiritual calling to be a midwife and in the sixties she had been a hippy – no doubt an influence on her beliefs. She is a lay-midwife – something which we don’t have in the UK and I had to look it up. Lay midwives are represented as pretty much all being hippies, or ex-hippies wearing peasant skirts with an inate distrust of establishments and formal education when it comes to midwifery. This seems to me a bit of a negative stereotype. Yet, I didn’t feel as if Bohjalian wanted to criticise lay-midwives or natural births.

Sibyl prefers natural home births, rather then invasive medicalised hospital births ruled by male doctors and their instruments. I think Bohjalian treats the question of natural vs. medical quite fairly – including arguments for both sides. It does make you question the ideals between having a home birth and a hospitalised one. I think since reading this, I am actually feeling that a natural, home birth would be more preferable to having a load of strangers poking and prodding certain parts of me and having to put up with horrible hospital food.

The story is set during the eighties and I wonder how much people’s attitudes have changed today? I get the feeling that the medical community are more open to the idea of natural births now and more options are available. I could be wrong of course.

Bohjalian is a very good writer. He is able to slowly and subtly unwrap the story in a way that kept me turning the pages to find out what happened. Despite this, it is a rather strange story. The pace is so slow and the characters feel very distant and I wasn’t able to really connect with any of them. There did not seem to be much of a story and yet there wasn’t really a boring page in the whole book. It kept me guessing right up to the very end.

It is certainly a book that will make you want to question and to think about what happens. I couldn’t help but feel completely involved in the story as if I was an outsider looking in and unable to turn my face away. I think that opinions might vary between people, perhaps depending on whether you have children or a strong desire to have one. On a personal level I feel more objective as I have no children and not entirely sure how I’d feel about having one.

I’d like to thank Wallace for sending me this book, and apologise for writing this review so late. I started it a long time ago, but for some reason I just got stuck on writing anything at all.

I really enjoyed the book swap, it’s great receiving a book knowing you’re going to read because you agreed to it before you even knew what book you’re going to read. It’s the thrill of the unknown and the fact that perhaps otherwise, you’d never have read it. As I said at the beginning, this is a book I’d have most definitely have passed by. Now I think I would really like to read Skeletons at the Feast, knowing how good an author he is.

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-25T00:43:00.001+00:00

To all of you who celebrate Christmas… Merry Christmas!

I hope that everyone receives plenty of books and book tokens and has a wonderful day wherever you are in the world.

Blog hugs! Love you all xxx

Literary Blog Hop 2-5 December

2010-12-11T01:06:00.001+00:00

What is one of your literary pet peeves? Is there something that writers do that really sets your teeth on edge? Be specific, and give examples if you can.

I’ve seen the Literary Blog Hop in passing before, but seeing as I’m getting back onto the blogging bandwagon, I thought I’d join in and participate in something new.

I hope my blog is covered by the ‘literary’ blog hop as I have never done this one before… I read a wide range and so mine fits into both literary and non-literary, and rather depends on the mood I’m in at the time.

It’s a hard question actually as I tend to try and concentrate on the positives and if the book is good enough, little peeves sink into the background. If the book is full of peeves, I will throw the thing over my shoulder and move onto something new.

There are a few things that do press my buttons.

1. Pseudo Literary

Pseudo literary books are those whose author’s think they’re really good, beautifully written, significant works of art – when they are in fact a load of complete and utter tripe from the paint by numbers category. Example: The Lovely Bones. Sebold’s overuse of horrific similes and metaphors – such as buttering bread with tears and eyes popping out like olives. I like fiction to be honest – an author should do what they do best.

Which takes me onto…

2. Similes and Metaphors

In my opinion these should be left subtle, slipped in and natural. They should not stand out like a sore thumb. Not everything is like something else. Sometimes when you bleed, you just bleed. It does not exit your veins like a firework or a blossoming flower, or however Kate Mosse described it in Labyrinth. It doesn’t add anything to the imagery or my imagination.

It’s kind of a personal peeve – some authors seem to be able to do it a lot and do it well, some people just cannot. Once again, I think authors should stick to what they do best and stop trying too hard.

3. No Chapters

I like chapters. I like knowing when to take a break and if I’ll have time to read on. It’s more organised. Some books do just start on a new page but have no chapter heading – that is okay, but it is when they have nothing but perhaps your usual space between text. I also really don’t like fiction books that have long chapters split up into mini-chapters. I don’t get the point in that.

The above three are my main peeves about the writing or construction of the story itself, I have others like rambling passages and pointless character development that doesn’t develop anywhere… but I don’t want to go on for a year and a day boring you with every min-peeve of mine. (I am a grumpy old beak.)

The following peeves aren’t so much about the writing, but the construction of the book – because I need to get these off my chest.

4. The Printed Text Itself

a) I do not like when there are double spaces between each line, usually with fairly short books. Am I being tricked into thinking a short story is longer? I find it very hard to physically read anyway. It is like both my eyes go in opposite directions and the sentences just disappear off the page.

b) Blurry, bold print that makes me squint. I think that as a reader, I shouldn’t be spending half my concentration just trying to process the word visually.

c) Shoddily put together books that fall apart at the flick of a page. If I’m going to pay £7.99 for a new book, (and heaven knows how much more after the VAT goes up to 20%), I at least expect the book not to disintegrate onto my face in bed as I read it. Penguin Classics are the most expensive, with the flimsiest paper quality and they usually fall apart before anyone else.

d) Books that lack descriptions of what it is about, even a hint but consist of over-zealous praise of the author’s past work. I am not going to buy it, or read it or ever pick it up unless I know what it is about.

e) When so called ‘introductions’ do not warn of spoilers to people who are unaware that introductions shouldn’t be read until the end – and when the first sentence contains a clanger of a spoiler. This happened to me with Graham Greene’s The End of the Affair, Vintage classic with Monica Ali writing the intro.

f) Books that are claimed by publishers to be ‘just like [insert name of really well known classic here]’ because most of the time they aren’t and even if they are – if someone told me that so-and-so book is good as Alice Sebold’s The Lovely Bones, I wouldn’t touch it with a barge pole.

So, those are my pet peeves. Authors and publishers, beware – I am not the forgiving type! What peeves you off when you read a book?

Has She Flown the Coop?

2010-12-09T20:27:00.001+00:00

No, here I am.

I took a long and entirely unexpected break from blogging – well not just blogging specifically but basically the online social scene on a whole. I’m not going to go into it for personal reasons, but I think I just needed a break and to draw together the fragments of my brain. I haven’t been reading much in the last few months and I haven’t even been updating my spreadsheet either. Horror. I would call it a complete reading funk and in a way, a loss of confidence in my self. I didn’t feel like communicating in the written form for a long while.

However – I’ve decided that enough is enough – no more faffing around moaning all the time. Time to get back into books, back into blogging and just back to normality really. I have also been trying (and failing) to correct my ridiculous sleep pattern. For the past five years I’ve been trying to live in multiple time zones, which I can tell you – does not lead to a healthy lifestyle.

Anyway, enough of that… let’s just look back and see what I’ve read since I last updated this poor dusty blog in September…

Well, there was -

Midwives by Chris Bohjalian which I actually read for Unputdownables Book Swap and should have posted a review back in September which I feel to no end, quite guilty about.

The New Jackals by Simon Reeve – a Non-Fiction book about Ramzi Yousef and Osma Bin Laden, written before the 9/11 attacks and so kind of spooky.

Irresistible by Mary Balogh which was a historical romance of the entirely cheesey sort and I admit… I really enjoyed it!

Otherland: City of the Golden Shadow (Book 1) by Tad Williams – a sci-fi which took me a month to read but it was really very good. It had been on my TBR for over ten years so I’m glad to finally be able to say I’ve read it.

The Hidden Roads: A Memoir of Childhood by Kevin Crossley Holland who is one of my favourite YA authors.

People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks which I didn’t think was as good as Year of Wonders by the same author.

and finally…

The Anatomy of Ghosts by Andrew Taylor the book I have been wanting to read for ages and ages and finally managed to get through the library.

I have also acquired a horrific amount of books during this period, I have no idea what my TBR looks like now as I have not updated it. In fact, I can’t even remember what I have bought apart from the fact that I have no room for any of them whatsoever and they have been growing up in precarious piles all over the place. I don’t know what to do with them.

I shall try my best to review some of those books which I think are really worth reading. Also I would like to say – that I really want to change the way I review books, in relation to the rating. The more I think of it, the more inadequate giving a book a star rating seems to be. It just doesn’t cover it. Yet I still want to be able to give some indication as to how much I liked a book and how much I’d recommend it.

Aaaaaaaanyway… I decided I should do a… vlog. Yes. Unfortunately my webcam doesn’t have a mic so hah, I can’t talk. So instead I filmed myself reading my current book Hitler 1889-1936: Hubris by Ian Kershaw. Yes, yes, I know – very festive.

So, here is almost twenty minutes of looking at the top of my head, watching me read a book. It is very boring I admit, probably the most boring vlog out there, in fact I can hardly call it a vlog really because I only did it because I was curious what I looked like when I’m just doing normal things like reading. I keep looking up to see how long it’s been filming for, and to reply to messages on Facebook. Other then that it is the top of my head bobbing up and down.

I suspect none of you are going to sit around for twenty minutes looking at my crooked parting – but I guess this is the question – what do you do when you read? I am usually in front of my laptop because if I sit anywhere more comfortable I fall asleep.

I hope all of you are well, and for those celebrating Christmas that you’re having a good festive season and got all your presents together!

Review: The End of the Affair by Graham Greene

2010-09-03T14:35:00.001+01:00

Genre: Modern Classic
Published: 1951
Pages: 160

The love affair between Maurice Bendrix and Sarah Miles ended two years ago, but a chance encounter with her husband and then herself ignites the bed of jealousy again.

This is my third Greene and has I think, cemented my admiration for this author forever. It is his writing that I love first. It feels as if Greene rolls every word around in his mouth before carefully placing them down on the paper before him. He writes with all the delicate craft of a sculptor, chipping and polishing away so that there are no superfluous words or phrases. Each scene is carefully layered and there are so many parts I wish now I hate noted down. This book begs to be re-read just so I can appreciate it all again.

It is narrated by Maurice Bendrix who is an author and through the book he reflects on the process of his writing and the difficulties with it that he has especially during and after the affair. The is a strange kind of consciousness in it – as if Greene himself is discussing writing the book whilst writing it himself.

The End of the Affair is one of the novels where Catholicism plays a main part. In the two other books I have read – Brighton Rock and The Quiet American religion has played an important or elemental part in the story. Rather then portraying characters of staunch faith however, they may be atheists, almost contemptuous of God’s existence. The struggle with doubt and the temptation of sin play important roles within his novels.

Another theme that runs through these three books is obsessive, almost destructive love. In Brighton Rock Pinkie marries Rose because he thinks she has seen something that might incriminate him. Rose shows him devotional love despite how unkind he is to her. Thomas Fowler from The Quiet American is rather pathetically in love with Phuong, perhaps as a means to cling onto youth and usefulness. In The End of the Affair it is Maurice Bendrix’s jealousy that infects his love.

An interesting parallel in The End of the Affair, is that Bendrix as an author is described to be like a God in his ability to create a world and characters, pushing them around the storyboard and being able to change them at his will. Sarah also refers to Bendrix throughout their affair as ‘You’ with the capitalisation. At the heart of this book is the struggle between faith and doubt – mortal and immortal love.

I am not a religious person and you don’t have to be to enjoy this book. Greene is simply a very good writer who is not pretentious and it doesn’t feel as if he tries to be literary. He has a strong voice and an independent style of writing – a confident writer who knows his craft well. That’s what I admire about Graham Greene. Some authors just have it, some authors have to try to have it. Greene has got it.

Also, as a classic I think that it will still resonate with people today – Greene is able to tap into the human heart and in the end – society may have changed a lot but as people, we are all the same and so the range of emotions, the kinds of characters that you meet in this book will still be entirely relevant today and tomorrow and hopefully in the next hundred years.

A word of warning to those who read the Vintage edition of this book with the introduction by Monica Ali. I know you are not supposed to read Introductions first so I consciously avoided reading it but I couldn’t help but glance past the giant clanger of a spoiler that is the very first sentence. I wouldn’t say it ruined the book for me at all because it is not a book with a massive plot and so there is not much really to spoil. You read it for the writing and the deeply human characters. it however took away from me the experience of discovery, mystery and hope that I would have liked for myself.

Thank you Monica Ali, from the bottom of my heart. Just watch me throw Brick Lane to the very bottom of my TBR pile. That is a rather lame revenge but there you go. I’m sure I’ll forgive her.

I’d like to thank a Mr Forder, who gave me Brighton Rock at my old school’s summer fair not long before I left for university. He said I should read it, that it was very good and I did'n’t do so until a good few years later. The book had a mummified fly in one of the pages but it was my first introduction to Graham Greene and I don’t think I’d have read him without the recommendation.

Andrew Taylor: Author Review (Crime/Mystery)

2010-09-02T02:17:00.001+01:00

The Anatomy of Ghosts is Andrew Taylor’s newest book, out in the UK on the 2nd September and I won’t be getting it because of this ~~flaming~~ ban I’m on. I will however, I promise you, be getting it in October without fail. It is a historical mystery/ghost story, set in 1786, in Jerusalem College, Cambridge. You can read more about it at the author’s website here.

Now, I haven’t reviewed a book by him yet for this blog, but let me assure you he is one of my favourite authors on the planet. I love him. Yes, yes – I do. There are some authors who I just click with. I know that when I open one of their books, I' can pretty much be guaranteed to have a fantastic time reading it. Andrew Taylor is the author for me.

He writes mostly historical mysteries and psychological thrillers set in England. Andrew Taylor has won many awards, several of which are from the Crime Writer’s Association including the CWA Cartier Diamond Dagger for sustained excellence in crime writing. Despite this, he still has yet to achieve the kind of popularity that other crime writers such as Ian Rankin or P. D James have acquired. He might be underrated, but at least he is recognised.

One of the things I love about Andrew Taylor is that he is able to meld an almost literary style of writing with a sharp, page turning mystery which in my short experience of crime fiction, doesn’t always occur together. His speciality is creating an atmosphere that just sets you on edge. Taylor is able to create a balance that looks so easy when you read it, but must be incredibly hard to maintain whilst writing it.

He is able to eek out the story at just the right pace. They are neither slow or heart-racingly fast paced. He keeps you turning the pages again and again and again, because you want to, not because you need to. His characters are always well developed and they have a real sense of Being. He does this through small things so their development is imperceptible. He is able to get so much about a character across, in just a few words – a movement, or an expression, a way of doing something – that you feel them instantly.

Andrew Taylor has the perfect balance between good writing, good plotting and good characterisation down to an absolute tee. I feel like I can trust him completely to give me a book that I’ll love. At least, he hasn’t failed me yet and I just know he won’t ever.

Here are some of my favourite books – these aren’t just my favourite books by Andrew Taylor – but are all part of my ‘favourite books’ list. Click on the covers to be taken to the Goodreads page for a description of each of hem.

The Roth trilogy, which tells the story of a serial killer.

The Four Last Things begins in the present day when the young daughter of a vicar is kidnapped. This one feels more like your conventional police mystery however it is not. The following two books go back in time, exploring and digging through a family’s history to find the answers behind what could make such a person do what they grew up to do.

The American Boy, or The Unpardonable Crime as it is known in the US is a standalone historical mystery.

The American Boy features Edgar Allen Poe as a minor character. Nothing much is known about the famous poet’s childhood and the conditions in which he died are mysterious. All that is known is that as a boy he spent a little time in an English boarding school. Andrew Taylor imagined what happened to Poe in school and what lead to his inspirations as a famous writer later in life. It is narrated by a new master in the boarding school – Thomas Shield. He becomes teacher to the young Poe and his friend, the shy Charles Frant. Shield finds him self embroiled in the Frant family after a mysterious murder ties them all together.

The Lydmouth series is Andrew Taylor’s long running series set in a fictional town during the 1950’s.

The series title ‘Lydmouth’ is surprisingly not after the name of a character but after the town it is set in. Lydmouth is set somewhere on the border between Wales and England. In this way, it is not the conventional police crime series as it might first appear to be. I have only read the first two (of eight) and they are clearly not whodunits. The books are written from multiple perspectives in short chapters that keep the story moving very steadily. Two of the main re-occurring characters are Inspector Thornton and Jill Francis, a journalist. They are both introduced as newcomers to the town in the first book and I get the feeling that this is a series that slowly grows in strength from book to book – slowly building character relationships across the series.

These are good introductions to Andrew Taylor – they will show you what he is capable of. All three are quite different – which is another thing I really love about him is that they are all quite different from each other and he seems to be quite a strong, independent and imaginative author.

Let me know if you’ve read Andrew Taylor as I’d love to read your reviews – good or bad. I hope that I’ve been able to introduce at least one person to this fantastic author. I think if you enjoy mysteries, especially those set in a different time to ours – ones that can sometimes be a little dark – though not very violent, ones that will keep you good company that you will enjoy from beginning to end – then you’ll like Andrew Taylor.

The Ban Begins

2010-09-01T00:13:00.001+01:00

The September book ban, hosted by Bella starts today. Right this moment. Now.

I haven’t actually bought a book in possibly over a week. Did I buy any books last week? I can’t remember, anyway the important thing is that my ban holds now and I need to keep to this ban until I have read a sizeable hole in my bookshelf. As I am a slow, slow, slow reader this might take me much more then a month, but any decrease I can only see as a good thing.

So for the short term I am banned completely for the month of September. This will not result in another splurge of 15 books (I found that for 75 years an independent bookseller is still very much alive about half an hour’s walk from me that I have never known about until a couple of months ago.) I looked pretty much like the poor fellow in the picture here, walking around with books piled up under my chin.

Anyway, my TBR is officially 435 books long now and you can see a list of them all here.

I did receive a book from Wallace for the Crazy Book Swap she is hosting on her blog, but I have not included that on my TBR because I’m going to read it next and it isn’t the average book that gets stuck in the pile waiting to be read.

Wallace sent me Midwives, by Chris Bohjalian.

Midwives, Chris Bohjalian's fifth novel, is the story of two women: Sibyl Danforth, a lay midwife in rural Vermont, and her daughter, Connie. The nexus of this cautionary tale is an emergency Caesarean section Sibyl performs during a home birth that goes disastrously wrong. Believing the mother is already dead from a stroke, Sibyl operates and later finds herself on trial for killing the woman. The compelling story of her trial and its aftermath comes to us from Connie, who believes "this is my story, too." In fact, Connie's reaction to her mother's ordeal is to go to medical school and become an obstetrician. The book raises provocative issues about medical ethics and the limits of risk. - Description from Goodreads.

Other then this, I have no real plans what books I’ll be reading in September. I do have a couple of piles sprouting up downstairs that I can’t move upstairs still. I don’t know whether I should work on the piles or the bookcase. Maybe I’ll read a Sebastian Barry – or a Yoko Ogawa. I’ve been in the mood for Japanese literature lately. Maybe I’ll read a crime, or maybe a romance by Eva Ibbotson. I’ve been feeling like a YA romance for a while now. Who knows what I’ll read. Your guess is as good as mine.

After September there are some books I do desperately want. I want to replace my Jane Austen omnibus edition with the Modern Library editions because I love the feel of those books. So they won’t really alter my TBR, although all together will be slightly bigger then my bricky omnibus edition. It will be easier to read them as separate volumes and I do want to be able to say that “I have read Jane Austen”. As it is, I have only read Pride and Prejudice, somewhat inspired by Colin Firth.

Secondly, I want Andrew Taylor’s (a favourite author of mine) new book The Anatomy of Ghosts which is published on the 2nd September and Carin has already hit me over the head with her truncheon for trying to pre-order it. Now I’ll be waiting very impatiently until October when I can get my greedy hands on this book. Taylor writes mysteries – most of them historical and he excels at creating a killer atmosphere that you could use to sharpen a knife. I have been looking forward to this book since last year! See what I sacrifice for this ban? To think that others will be reading this whilst I won’t be able to even crack open a page.

However after these, there will be no little, white beautiful packages gracing my doorstep. Alas, the Book Depository and I will have to part ways. It has been a long, committed relationship but it has turned slightly abusive and so we must move on.

Review: Hard-boiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Haruki Murakami

2010-08-29T13:15:00.001+01:00

Genre: Magical Realism
Published: 1985 (Japan) 1991 (English language)
Pages: 400

It’s going to be very hard to review this, because I don’t want to tell you what this book is about. There are two parts – “Hard-boiled Wonderland” and the “End of the World”. I do not want to tell you too much, because as with every Murakami I think it is as much your own experience as a reader that is important. So to give you too many clues would lessen that experience. It is a footpath you must explore yourself, unaware of what you’ll meet down the line.

It is described as sci-fi and futuristic but I think it is much more about the modern world, just simplified down. The book was written in 1985, in which time Japan was experiencing a growth in information based economy. I think it is important to be aware of the context in which it is set. 1985 is my birth year so I don’t remember much of this decade – let alone what it would have been like in Japan.

During the 1980s, the Japanese economy shifted its emphasis away from primary and secondary activities (notably agriculture, manufacturing, and mining) to processing, with telecommunications and computers becoming increasingly vital. Information became an important resource and product, central to wealth and power. The rise of an information-based economy was led by major research in highly sophisticated technology, such as advanced computers. The selling and use of information became very beneficial to the economy. Tokyo became a major financial center, home of some of the world's major banks, financial firms, insurance companies, and the world's largest stock exchange, the Tokyo Securities and Stock Exchange. - Wikipedia

For the sake of convenience, I will say that this book is about the juxtaposition of opposites, but that isn’t what it is really about at all. It is simply and purely, Murakami and if you’re a fan of his I think you’ll love this book.

It’s not quite as twisted as Kafka on the Shore, it feels a bit more fantasy then the other books of his I have read (Kafka on the Shore, The Wind-up Bird Chronicle, A Wild Sheep Chase, Norwegian Wood and After Dark) but in other ways, it feels less surreal and the weird feels normal. Murakami has the ability to write something which is completely bizarre and otherworldly, but it doesn’t always feel as weird as it should.

In some ways, it’s a bit easier to perhaps understand then Kafka or Wind-up, but maybe that is because I have started to become more familiar with Murakami’s work. It will still leave you with questions and perhaps with the feeling you haven’t understood it all completely, but that doesn’t entirely matter. There is, I think, no one answer or interpretation to any Murakami’s writing.

As with all of his books so far, he makes reference to a lot of novels, a lot of music and a lot of old Hollywood films. I always feel that to get an even better understanding of Murakami, I need to read every book mentioned, listen to every song by every artist and watch every film that gets featured. With this book in particular, I think reading Rudin by Ivan Turgenev would be quite useful for when I eventually re-read this book as I hope to do one day. It is not necessary to read any of the other novels he mentions, it is just that he inspires within me the desire to read further afield.

Murakami has introduced me to a lot of music. Since reading After Dark I decided to pay attention to the artists and tracks referenced – this time around I discovered Bob Dylan. I know he’s been around for years and years but I never actually really bothered to listen to his music. So I got a couple of his albums and I can’t believe what rock I have been living under. Some of them are of course familiar, I’d just never bothered to really pay attention. Anyway, I shall leave you all with Bob Dylan’s Blowin’ in the Wind, so here you go…

This is part of Dolce Belleza’s Japanese Reading Challenge.

Crazy Book Swap and the Book Ban, again.

2010-08-17T20:29:00.001+01:00

Wallace over at Unputadownables is hosting this cool book swap where we send one of our favourites to someone else and receive one in return. Now I can’t discuss what book I’ll be sending because it’s a secret (so shhh!) but it is just so hard to narrow a favourite book down to just one. I keep chopping and changing between what to send.

I don’t know what I’ll be receiving either – not even the genre which is quite exciting. I’m quite a reserved reader and prefer to stick to books and genres I think I’ll enjoy. It is a change once in a while to just hang it all and read a book even if it’s out of my comfort zone. I would like to be a more open reader.

(Sign ups unfortunately closed I’m a little late with announcing this!)

And in September I will once again be going on another ban. I know, you’re probably thinking you’ve heard about this before but this time I’m back on it and I’m going to get these books DOWN because I have a slight situation where I have run out of shelf room so I need to read and release books back into the wild so I can fit some of my more recent acquisitions in.

My rules are:

NO MORE BOOKS! Full Stop.

Don’t even bother offering to send me one, even if it is for free I do not have room. My doors are closed. The windows are barred. No books shall enter this building from henceforthwith! (I mean it!!!)

The ban is kindly being hosted by Bella from A Girl Reads a Book, who after much nudging (berating) from Carin decided she needed to do something about her 2800 odd TBR.

Carin has more or less volunteered become our Ban Officer. She’ll be beating us into shape, chasing after anyone who dares so much as look at a book with her whip. No books shall get past her powerful detectors and any criminal book activity will be squashed out! We’ll be up every morning and marched around the block in the opposite direction of all those bookshops and temptations.

Any discretions and Carin will have us strapped into a straight jacket and sent to the little padded room.

Who else will be joining me in Book Ban Boot Camp this September? Are you up for it, or maybe you’re too chicken?

*Carin is actually a very nice person and I am sure would not dream about chasing anyone around with a whip.

Review: The Housekeeper and The Professor by Yoko Ogawa

2010-08-16T13:19:00.001+01:00

Genre: Japanese Literature
Published: 2003 (in original Japanese)
Pages: 180

He is a mathematical genius who only has an eighty minute memory. She is a kind, caring and young woman who comes to be his Housekeeper. He forgets who she is after eighty minutes, but they communicate and build a beautiful friendship through the eloquence of numbers and equations.

How can I possibly put this book into my own words? I can’t begin to imagine I could capture or convey to any of you, how this book made me feel. It took me two days to read and I wish I could have taken more time to read it – but I simply couldn’t put it down. The pages seemed to turn themselves and I didn’t really feel like I was reading at all.

This book moved me. It is a small ripple that travels a long way across calm waters. It is nothing ground shaking, nothing that makes you tumble and dive – but something that makes a certain small, but important part of you shift inside.

It is on the surface a simple story about a friendship that grows in an unlikely place. I love these kinds of stories – in books or films, because though they are simple, they can mean a lot to you and touch you very deeply.

It is told in first person and none of the characters are referred to by their names. Even the Housekeeper’s son is given a name other then his own. The Professor is obsessed with maths – it is all he has left to him. The Housekeeper has to re-introduce herself to him every eighty minutes. They make a friendship through the connections between themselves and numbers.

You do not have to know anything about maths to enjoy this book – although it did bring back some vague memories from maths lessons at school. I used to think maths as boring, and rather frustrating perhaps because I could never appreciate maths for itself. The Housekeeper herself is ignorant about maths, but when she met the Professor she expressed an interest and start to learn through the Professor.

I loved this book – it touched me deeply and I’m going to be hunting down more of Yoko Ogawa’s books from now on. Hotel Iris is next on my list but unfortunately there is this thing called a book ban and I’m on it until I can fit more books into my bookshelf.

I am taking part in Dolce Bellazza’s Japanese Reading Challenge and this is my first book, yipee! I know I’m a late starter but finally I have my foot in!

Writing the Blog

2010-08-13T15:43:00.001+01:00

Image thanks to Wordle

How do you write your blog?

I’m just sitting here wondering, how do other people write their blogs and what do you get from it? We all have different methods of going about things. Lately I have been going through some Writer’s Block, or Blogger’s Block and whatever I say just comes out as a mangle – well I suppose to me anyway. Maybe it’s a kind of Writer’s dysmorphia where everything I put down looks like it’s been written by a semi-literate five year old. Fortunately I am getting back on track but unfortunately I have a small pile of uncompleted and need-to-start blog posts that I need to write including the last two Harry Potter review blogs so apologies for the higgle-de-piggledy-ness of it all!

So, dear readers, I have some questions for you all:

Do you plan each blog post before you even start writing it? If so how – on a piece of paper or on your computer?
Do you take notes whilst you are reading purposely to help with writing your review?
Do you have a special format for writing reviews so they all have a similar structure to them all?
Do you write a lot of blog posts in advance or do you just write them and then publish them the same day?
What do you do when you just can’t think of anything to write – have you found some books harder to review then others?
What inspires you when writing a blog post?
Do you try to aim for a certain style, or voice or do you just let whatever is inside you flow naturally? Casual as opposed to a more formal essay-mode style?
How long does it typically take you to write a blog post? Do you post it immediately or later?
Are you using Blogger or Wordpress – or anything else? What made you choose that service over the other? Have you used any other blogging websites other then the one you’re using now?
Where do you write it? Do you use a blog editor like Scribefire or Windows Live Writer? Do you save the initial body to a Word document or do you just write and edit it online?
How has your blog changed since you first started it?

To answer my own questions:

1. I don’t sit down and plan everything I post but I often write and re-write it as I go. I’m a pretty rotten planner – never really been able to because I need to see something in its shape before I can really decide what I want to do. So often the first thing I do is just write something fairly rough out and then go back through it and fill in the gaps.

2. No but I often think I should. Sometimes if I leave a review too long and I lose the immediacy of my reaction to the book. Notes would help me jog my memory about how I felt.

3. No, I also think I should try and structure my reviews more. I’ve never been very good at structure because I’m not very good at planning. I usually try to add structure in after I’ve written it – by re-editing it, moving paragraphs around when I float from one thought to the other.

4. No I don’t really – well, yes and no. I have several drafts I’m still writing but I don’t have any completed ones ready and waiting to be posted.

5. Some books are easier to review because I have more to say about them but some books I find hard – because I don’t like talking too much about them due to spoilers. Some books I just plain enjoyed but didn’t resound too deeply with me. If I’m going through writer’s block then I try to write something else, something fresh. If I just sit there trying to force myself to write something it never comes out how I want it. I tend to go off on tangents and ramble a lot and that causes me to lose my way.

6. Inspiration comes from the books I’m reading, other blogs and lately chatting on twitter to all the other bloggers. I really love twitter and it’s a great way to connect with people, plus very interesting to just watch conversations between people.

7. I don’t write formally, but I do try to have a more open, conversational style I suppose. When I’m communicating on message boards etc I even add in a lot of the ums and ers because I tend to just let my fingers type whatever is in my head. On a blog I suppose I might edit those out and I round them off a bit because in the end, a blog is more self indulgent and I am writing with the aim that it’s going to be read.

8. It can take anywhere between half an hour to a couple of hours – but then I might write it in spots and spurts throughout the day or I might sit for a solid amount of time to write it all out.

9. I chose Blogger because it was the one I knew about and it seems the easiest. I did sign up to Wordpress who at the time had a better choice of themes and customisations but it felt complicated and I was used to Blogger.

10. I use Windows Live Writer myself but there are others like Scribefire which you install to your browser and you can just hit F8 and it will pop up however you want it – full screen in another tab or split screen so you can blog and browse websites without switching between tabs. I liked Scribefire but had problems with the titles coming out mangled when I published. I admit I haven’t really used it much since because Windows Live Writer I just find so much easier. It’s a programme that you install to your computer and I find it so much easier to use. I like how you get a full screen to write in rather then that annoying little box.

11. My blog’s only been around for about three months now. Before I used to take part in more memes like the blogger hop and that but I’ve cut down on those now a bit mainly because otherwise it’d all be just too samey. I have a little bit more confidence now and not bothered about making a post every day. I’ve met some fantastic bloggers out there and it’s great feeling more part of the community. I kinda have more of a ‘feeling’ for my blog now and less floaty. How it’ll be in a year’s time though is anyone’s guess!

So how do you write your blog and one last question… what does your blog mean to you?

Character Connection – Hazel

2010-08-12T13:27:00.001+01:00

Character Connection is hosted by IntrovertedJen over at The Introverted Reader every Thursday.

We all have characters we love. Let's spotlight these fantastic creations! Whether you want to be friends with them or you have a full-blown crush on them, you know you love them and want everyone else to love them too!

My last character connection was with the four most important men in Harry Potter and this time it is about Hazel from Watership Down. If you haven’t read or heard very much about Watership Down then it is an anthropomorphic novel about a group of rabbits who escape human destruction of their home. It isn’t a cute little story about cute little bunnies – it is aimed more at older young adults to adult readers.

Hazel is a kind rabbit who is clever and quick witted. He may not be the strongest in physical strength, but he becomes a good leader because of his kindness and his intelligence.

I have always liked him because of his deep inward strength, he is a rabbit you could rely on. It’s a funny thing thinking of rabbits – they, at first glance, look like cute insipid little things. They are not. When I was younger we had a pet rabbit – mean little thing she was but very clever and mischievous. Rabbits have often been shown as clever tricksters in literature – think about Br’er Rabbit and even Bugs Bunny – neither of them are what you’d call cute and fluffy.

Hazel is such a strong character and he held the little group of rabbits – consisting mostly of runts – together. He is brave, honourable and he always has the group in his mind, rather then himself. He is a brilliant leader – not arrogant or power-hungry like the mean old General Woundwort. He is a fine example of what a good leader should always be – whether human or rabbit.

A Spoiler…

I’d seen the 1978 film before I’d read the book and so my image of Hazel has always been from this most magnificent of films. I’ll never forget the song Bright Eyes by Art Garfunkel when Hazel is shot that time. When I read the book I had that song going through my head.

Here is the song Bright Eyes by Art Garfunkel, it still makes me tear up just listening to it!

If you haven’t seen the film, I strongly recommend it – it follows the book as well as it can. I love the watercolour backgrounds and the detail of the rabbits and that for the most part, they act like rabbits and not cute cartoon versions of the things.

Review: Trespass by Rose Tremain

2010-08-09T22:37:00.001+01:00

Genre: General Fiction/Literary (Man Booker Long listed)
Published: 2010
Pages: 253

I decided to read this partly because it’s on the Man Booker Longlist and I’m never usually “with it” enough to have read any of them. I hope very much that Trespass wins.

Trespass is a difficult story to describe. In short, it is about a struggling antiques dealer who decides to move to France, near his sister, to get away from everything in London he has come to hate. Whilst trying to find the perfect, ideal house, he bumbles into a lifelong argument between a brother and a sister. Trespass does not refer simply to the physical, territorial of the word – but also the personal and private spaces that we can’t always see. It is a very subtle book – by no means slow moving because the writing is beautiful, but it does not move great distances and is more about the small, delicate interwoven relationships between mother and child, brother and sister.

Rose Tremain is one of my favourite authors and I would not say I have many authors that I would follow to the ends of the earth, but Tremain is one of them.

I have read three of her previous books and loved them all more then this one – which is why I have given it a three point five stars rather then a round four. It’s still a book I would recommend – but not before reading at least one of her others. I would recommend either The Road Home or Restoration to start with, because these are two of my all time favourite books.

Tremain is one of those authors who can bring the three parts of a good book together – good writing, good story and good characters making them some of the most perfectly balanced books I have ever read. She has a unique, quirky voice that is very strong and clear. She approaches her writing not from a face on angle – but just a little to the side, making her books a little unexpected, a little different and not like any other. It’s a style of writing that is very different to others out there, but it isn’t distracting or interfering.

The sibling relationships are dark and dysfunctional. They aren’t particularly likeable because there is something deeply unsettling about their relationships with each other. What I have always loved about Tremain is that she is capable of creating very real, three dimensional characters who aren’t nice all the time. I didn’t think that the characters were quite so well drawn in Trespass as her others, but I’m putting this down to the fact that it is more about the dynamic between brother and sister then the individual characters.

This feeling of trespass pervades through almost every page of the book – like strangling ivy. It’s not a very nice feeling but an effective one and still an enjoyable book because of it. It’s probably more enjoyable for those who already love Tremain rather then newcomers to her books.

I can’t recommend Tremain enough, I think she’s a fantastic author, but this book just doesn’t seem to be up there with the others. That isn’t to say it’s a bad book – I really enjoyed it. Her writing is so good I can practically taste the words in my mouth.

If you haven’t read Tremain before please do check out The Road Home and Restoration. The Road Home is set in modern London about an immigrant from the eastern bloc and Restoration is set during the restoration of King Charles II. Although I enjoyed Trespass, it is a comparatively weaker book to her others.

Unputdownables’ 48 Hour Readathon

2010-08-02T15:14:00.001+01:00

I had good fun taking part in this, more fun really for following the book blog chat on twitter and feeling like I was reading with people in some joint effort. I didn’t really get much read over the weekend as I was hoping. I think the moment I try to set out to read a lot I go slower then planned, but I did read about 282 pages over the weekend, and for such a slow coach as myself, I’m going to pat myself on the back.

I mentioned in my previous blog post what I have been reading – I am still reading Trespass by Rose Tremain which I’m actually really enjoying and if I hadn’t been trying to read like a cheetah, I might have read less like a snail and finished. But there you go! That serves me right for impatience.

Over July I finished off Magic Kingdom, then stormed through the whole Harry Potter series and chomped through Eight Days of Luke by Diana Wynne Jones and The Housekeeper and the Professor making up a total of 9 and a bit books which is pretty damn good for me. All together that is 3920 pages. I wish I could do that more often but as I said, I am a snail. I am more molluscan then avian, I should have chosen a different theme for by blog then being ‘The Book Coop’.

I still have to complete my review for The Housekeeper and the Professor (five stars, loved it, magnificent, read it!) never mind the two remaining Harry Potter books. I’m feeling very overwhelmed all of a sudden! So apologies for not being able to link to them at the moment.

I find the problem with being a British/European blogger is that the vast majority of people I know through blogs, Twitter, Goodreads come from the USA which means that I miss out on some of the activity unless I try to exist in all three time zones within the US as well as my own time zone… it is all rather exhausting to say the least. I am a bit of a night owl I admit, but when I wake up the next day I am rather too groggy and the old brain takes a little while to get back into gear – usually waking up in the late evening when I should be getting to bed early.

However, this is what I love about the internet – how international we all are and we can get to know each other even though we’re sitting on opposite sides of the world. How else could I sit down and read here – knowing that someone else, was doing the exact same thing with a different book, but for the same purpose – somewhere around the other side of the world? Not just between England and the USA, but across different parts of Europe and Asia too.

People criticise twitter for various reasons – dumbing down of society, trivialising communication, etc. That might happen on other people’s twitter feeds, but I certainly haven’t noticed it. I feel so much more connected via twitter – with the whole world. It’s like a massive group chat across the globe where everyone is invited. It connects people, it doesn’t trivialise or divide. It is not full of inane text language, in fact it probably helps people to become more articulate because each word has to be considered.

Anyway, I’ve really enjoyed taking part in this, especially the #bookblogchat which I wish I could have taken more part in. Only trouble is, the more time I spend staring at twitter, less reading I get done! I think Wallace from Unputdownables is scheduling another blogger chat like this in August though so I shall be keeping a watch out for that.

I did sit down and read my heart out, I didn’t bother trying to multi-read because I’m no good at that and never have been and it never works so I don’t. I just sat down in the knowledge that others were doing the same and read my 282 pages feeling very happy. I have read so much over the past month and it’s made me more then eager to read more and more and more and try to get this dread TBR pile down to something respectable again.

I do wish I’d picked up the non-fiction I tried multi-reading with though, I really need to get back into that. Natasha’s Dance by Orlando Figues is very good and very interesting and it’s really making me want to pick up another Russian. So that is my one regret that I didn’t find time to read a few pages of that in the least.

I hope everyone else that took part in this had a lot of fun and got a lot of books read, or just sat down and read, read, read and enjoyed their wonderful book. I love reading, I love giving myself to a book and I love it when a book receives me whole heartedly and completely. It’s the best ever of feelings.

Review: Eight Days of Luke – Diana Wynne Jones

2010-08-01T21:05:00.001+01:00

Genre: Children’s Fantasy
Published: 1975
Pages: 203

I read this to take part in Jenny’s Books Diana Wynne Jones week from the first to the seventh of August. If you don’t know already, as I’m sure this author has cropped up a few times in earlier posts – she is one of my favourite authors. I won’t go on too much about how amazing I think she is and that I think everyone should just drop what you’re reading now and go and read Howl’s Moving Castle. I won’t do that. I’ll just let you know how I found this book.

It is the summer holidays and David Allard has to spend his summer with his awful relatives. He lives with Aunt Dot and Uncle Bernard and his Cousin Ronald and his wife Astrid. They’re all perfectly horrible, so he’s quite glum at the prospect of all those weeks being told to be grateful. Then Luke turns up and David’s summer holidays become a lot more fun – and extremely weird.

Typical of DWJ her books contain shoddy parenting and grumpy, sometimes evil gardeners. What more could you want? This was a fun, imaginative read that I had a great time reading. In typical Diana Wynne Jones fashion the fantasy and the magic just oozes out from around corners. She rarely spends much time explaining things because when you read one of her books you simply, just magically know and I can’t explain how.

I don’t want to say too much more about the book – it’s quite short and so I don’t want to ruin it for anyone. It probably isn’t my favourite of hers. One of her flaws is that she does tend to dash things out a little too quickly and this one didn’t seem to have the strength of characterisation that is so strong in the other books I have read. Luke felt a little generic and not as fleshed out as I’d have liked. It is however a good, fun, enjoyable read.

It loosely inspired Neil Gaiman’s American Gods in that he found out his fantastic idea had already been thought up by Diana Wynne Jones. I wonder if the Wallsey in this book is any relation to the town of Wall in Gaiman’s Stardust?

What I do love about her books is that I always feel that they never end and that they just carry on after the pages stop She always leaves you satisfied with the end, but she doesn’t let the characters or the world die, just because that part of the story is over. In that way, her stories are never ending. Diana Wynne Jones created a multi-dimensioned, multi-universed world in Chrestomanci – and in a way that is where all her books are based. In different worlds, different times, split by different histories but all inter-linked. Maybe that’s why she doesn’t need to spend a lot of time explaining the world, because if you read enough of her books, you’re already there.

If you are interested, you can also check out my Time of the Ghost review.

If you’d like to read more Diana Wynne Jones then I whole heartedly recommend Howl’s Moving Castle, Dogsbody and the Dalemark Quartet (starting with Cart and Cwidder), all of which are my favourite.

48 Hour Read-a-Thon

2010-07-31T11:03:00.001+01:00

The 48-Hour Read-a-Thon is hosted by Wallace over at Unputdownables.

So I’m a bit late starting this I know but I thought I’d join in since I had been thinking about it (then forgot about it) and then saw the twitter chatter on #bookblogchat and well, I was planning on reading all weekend anyway! I already feel like I have been on a massive read-a-thon already what with Harry Potter, so why stop now?

Technically it started yesterday so so I think I can count The Housekeeper and The Professor as part of this read-a-thon! And so today I intend to read Trespass by Rose Tremain and then after that… hmm decisions decisions. I guess it depends if I can finish this book by today, maybe tomorrow. I am not the fastest reader on this planet however! And if I don’t make myself some breakfast very soon I’m not going to be fit for reading anything.

Read: Reading: To-Read: ?

The Literary Lollipop’s 55 Quirky Questions

2010-07-30T00:43:00.001+01:00

Check out The Literary Lollipop whose posted these 55 fun, quirky questions. Just a little way to get to know each other.

1. Favourite childhood book: Dogsbody by Diana Wynne Jones, since I was 9 years old.

2. What are you reading right now? The Housekeeper and The Professor by Yoko Ogawa

3. What books do you have on request at the library? None at the moment as I have a big guilty stack of library books still waiting to be read that I ought to take back before I get more fines.

4. Bad book habit: Buying too many of the things.

5. What do you currently have checked out at the library? Ugh loads… Arabel’s Raven by Joan Aiken, Captain Pamphile by Alexandre Dumas, Watchmen by Alan Moore which I feel guilty about. Uhm and a load more but can’t remember now.

6. Do you have an e-reader? No way. Not the way things are. We should stand up and support publishers and authors by NOT getting an E-Reader. I don’t want to give up print books.

7. Do you prefer to read one book at a time, or several at once? One book at a time. I like to give each book my full attention.

8. Have your reading habits changed since starting a blog? Not really, but they’ve changed since joining sites like Goodreads. My reading’s become a lot more active.

9.Least favourite book you read this year: Hmm, possibly Stardust by Neil Gaiman, but i still enjoyed it somewhat. I haven’t read a stinker this year.

10. Favourite book I’ve read this year: Any Human Heart by William Boyd. Simply beautiful.

11. How often do you read out of your comfort zone? I hate myself for this, but I don’t think always very often. I’m not sure. Hmm. I wouldn’t say I stick to one or two safe genes but I tend to stick with what I think I’ll like rather then read something I think I won’t. I rarely read non-fiction sadly.

12. What is your reading comfort zone? Not sure. A well written book? I don’t like post-modern literature or books with peculiar styles.

13. Can you read on the bus? I love reading on public transport. I’m tempted to just get a day ticket for the county and just read on the bus going all over.

14. Favourite place to read: In a cafe drinking a cuppa coffee.

15. What’s your policy on book lending? I don’t lend a book, I’ll give it. Saves the bother. If they don’t want it anymore they can give it away.

16. Do you dogear your books? NO!

17. Do you write notes in the margins of your books? No, wouldn’t mind doing so actually but I feel silly because who, other then myself am I writing it too and my handwriting is illegible so I’d never be able to read it later anyway.

18. Do you break/crack the spine of your books? Well, not on purpose but it happens. I’m not just going to sit there trying to read through a crack just in case a crease appears on the spine. Sometimes it depends on the book. Books from the US, I have noticed – their spines do not crease easily. UK editions though just about fall apart the moment you open the first page.

19. What is your favourite language to read? English seeing as reading in any other language would be impossible.

20. What makes you love a book? The characters mainly, I’ve got to love the characters. Without the characters there is nothing.

21. What will inspire you to recommend a book? Depends on the book and the person I’m recommending it to. If I read a book and find it ‘just ok’ but think someone I know might like it I’d still recommend it. I try not to recommend certain books to people if I don’t think it’ll be there thing. I do recommend some indiscriminately (I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith and Shogun by James Clavell) because they carried me away into a different world.

22. Favourite genre: Lately I’ve been really enjoying the historical fiction genre.

23. Genre you rarely read (but wish you did): Non-fiction – on history, politics etc so I’m more worldly.

24. Favourite Biography: Samuel Pepys: An Unequal Self by Claire Tomalin. About the famoust 17th Century diarist who loved books, all sorts of culture, women, sex, politics…

25. Have you ever read a self-help book? (And, was it actually helpful?) No. I did try reading one once but it wasn’t very helpful.I’m afraid my brain just shuts off and thinks “you’re just a book filled with words" and I go read something else.

26. Favourite Cookbook: I don’t cook but I wish I did.

27. Most inspirational book you’ve read this year (fiction or non-fiction): Hard. Not sure… probably my Harry Potter re-reads actually. I find HP so inspirational.

28. Favourite reading snack: tea and biscuits.

29. Name a case in which hype ruined your reading experience: Uhm The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak. I don’t think I was ever destined to like it, but I was expecting something amazing and got nothing.

30. How often do you agree with the critics about about a book? Depends on the critic.

31. How do you feel about giving bad/negative reviews? Positive and Negative. They’re both the same, just different. There has to be balance and I review every book I read so if I read a dud I will review it and try to be fair. There are very few books I absolutely hate but if I read one any time soon, I’m not afraid to rip it to shreds. They’re just opinions. My opinion if I hate a book is merely my own I am not God, what I say doesn’t go it’s just how I feel about a book.

32. If you could read in a foreign language, which language would you choose? French for Alexandre Dumas, Russian for Dostoyevsky and Japanese for Murakami. Hmm. But to just pick one – I suppose Japanese actually.

33. Most intimidating book I’ve read: Argh, not sure. I guess Bleak House, my first Charles Dickens and really the biggest classic book I ever read. Before reading that I hadn’t really read many classics.

34. Most intimidating book I’m too nervous to begin: War and Peace by Tolstoy is probably a rather generic answer and besides I don’t even own it. Hmm… I guess David Copperfield by Dickens. I had a bad experience reading The Tale of Two Cities which I couldn’t even finish I thought it was that bad – so been reticent to dive into another one of his again, despite loving the ones I read previously.

35. Favourite Poet: Uhm, not sure. I don’t like poets on a whole, but I do like their poetry. This one is a favourite of mine:

Revenge - Luis Enriqu Mejia Godoy

My personal revenge will be your children's
right to schooling and to flowers.
My personal revenge will be this song bursting for you with no more fears.
My personal revenge will be to make you see
the goodness in my people's eyes,
implacable in combat always
generous and firm in victory.

My personal revenge will be to greet you
'Good morning!' in streets with no beggars,
when instead of locking you inside
they say, 'Don't look so sad.'
When you, the torturer,
daren't lift your head,
My personal revenge will be to give you
these hands you once ill-treated
with all their tenderness intact.

36. How many books do you usually have checked out from the library at any given time? Hmm 5 sometimes.

37. How often do you return books to the library unread? Usually most of them. :(

38. Favourite fictional character: Cassandra Mortmain, I Capture the Castle.

39. Favourite fictional villain: Severus Snape, harry Potter.

40. Books I’m most likely to bring on vacation: Depends what I’m in the mood for at the time I guess. Probably nothing too hard to pack.

41. The longest I’ve gone without reading: Hmm, well I didn’t go entirely without reading at all but I only read about 30 books in 2 years once which is pitiful. I was at uni and just wasn’t reading reguarly. I kinda… I hate to say this – forgot I loved it so, filled my time up with something else.

42. Name a book you could/would not finish: The Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. I hate metaphors.

43. What distracts you easily when you’re reading? People who play their MP3 players SO EFFING LOUD I can hear them from the back of the bus when they’re sitting at the front. Every little noise. TURN IT THE EFF DOWN YOU SELFISH LITTLE ZOMBIE. *breathes deeply*

44. Favourite film adaptation of a novel: Oh, soo many. Uhm. I Capture the Castle made a really good film but I’m not sure if it is my favourite. It is one of the best I have seen though.Oh and Atonement.

45. Most disappointing film adaptation: Many of the Harry Potters. Some of the changes just didn’t make sense. I enjoyed the 6th movie but was pissed off by the fact they blew up The Burrow. What was the point in that? I understand cutting things out, but having to cut things out and then replacing them with something nonsensical like that, eh well! And there is so much they haven’t covered. Has Snape’s story ever been properly explained?

46. Most money I’ve ever spent in a bookstore at one time: coughcoughcoughcoughcoughcoughonecoughcoughcoughcoughcoughcoughhundredcoughcoughcoughcoughpoundcoughcoughcough

47. How often do you skim a book before reading it? I don’t skim the writing really, I do have a quick check through to see if I fancy reading that kinda book at the moment if that counts.

48. What would cause you to stop reading a book halfway through? When, for whatever reading I get bored and my brain stops reading the words on the page. If I have to read the same page more then three times and it isn’t going in then I stop. I don’t mean, if I can’t understand it, but that it’s just too boring or pointless. If I don’t see the point in torturing myself and I find myself losing all interest in plot or characters.

49. Do you like to keep your books organized? Mine are stuffed, wedged and hammered into a bookcase. I did sort it into genre categories so for a good part I can find classics in one corner, crime in another but as I’ve got them all out so I could get to something at the back (3 rows of books per shelf) then they’ve all got a bit higglety pigglty now.

50. Do you prefer to keep books or give them away once they’ve been read? Depends. I like giving books away because I like the idea of sharing a book. Nowadays I try to only keep the books I think I’ll read them again, or if they’re a particularly pretty copy. Most crimes I usually give away as they’re quick disposable reads. Most of them are also second hand ones, those that I own.

51. Are there any books that you’ve been avoiding? War and Peace. So long, so long…

52. Name a book that made you angry: The Lovely Bones. Crap.

53. A book I didn’t expect to like but did: Uhm. Shogun by James Clavell and I ended up adoring it.

54. A book I expected to like but didn’t: The Tale of Two Cities. I didn’t think Dickens would fail me.

55. Favourite guilt-free guilty pleasure reading: Uhm not sure. I always read guilt-free.

Character Connection: Four Men, Harry Potter Edition

2010-07-29T16:06:00.001+01:00

Character Connection is hosted by Jen at The Introverted Reader every Thursday.

We all have characters we love. Let's spotlight these fantastic creations! Whether you want to be friends with them or you have a full-blown crush on them, you know you love them and want everyone else to love them too!

(Massive Series Spoilers Ahead!)

This character connection is going to be a bit different because it isn’t about one person. It is about four people from the books of Harry Potter. They are:

Albus Dumbledore, Lord Voldemort, otherwise known as Tom Riddle, Severus Snape and Harry Potter.

Each one of these characters represents one of Rowling’s most prevalent themes: that of choice and the consequences and responsibilities that come with it. She does not condemn people for making the wrong choice, because that is part of life and no one person can be perfect. There are consequences, but just because you chose the wrong way does not mean that you cannot turn back and make the better choice later on. Each one of these characters conveys part of that message.

These four men all entered Hogwarts as outsiders, they shared similarities in personal experience and yet they all turned out completely different.

Albus Dumbledore

Dumbledore is first introduced as a wise, grandfatherly wizard. He is the greatest wizard alive and the only person that Voldemort fears. He is headmaster of Hogwarts and has always been relied upon to have the answer to everything. He is always so calm and so caring, so loving and compassionate. For six books he comes across as just that – a figurehead of wisdom and trust. No one bothered to question him, as Voldemort was evil, Dumbledore was good. This of course is never the case – in book seven the truth about Dumbedore’s past reveals him as someone not so perfect as everyone thought. What makes a person that they are today? What drives them to act as they do? No one is simply born good or bad, it is down to their upbringing and their choices.

In the seventh book we are shown a different side to Dumbledore, one we don’t want to know about and don’t want to accept. As a young man he was carried away with his own greatness, he was arrogant perhaps and seeking glory. Yet he had a troubled past. His sister Arianna had been abused by muggle children and her magical powers turned in against herself. His father was sent to Azkaban for killing muggles and his mother was left alone to care for his mentally damaged sister whilst he and his brother went to Hogwarts.

Dumbledore entertained ideas of wizard rule over muggles – his wild ideas were not so dissimilar from Voldemort’s only that they were born more from the idea of creating a great society where wizards didn’t have to be in hiding – rather then the wish to wipe muggles out completely and rule supreme. When his sister died in a tragic accident involving a fight between Dumbledore, his once old friend Grimdelwald and his younger brother – all his big dreams and wild ideas came to an end. He spent the rest of his life fighting against what he almost became and never recovering from the feelings of guilt and regret. He sort to redeem himself.

Dumbledore’s weakness was for power, not unlike Voldemort, but he recognised this weakness and chose not to take it when offered. He became a teacher and then Headmaster of Hogwarts.

Dumbledore, for all his greatness seemed to have no one close to him. His brother would not forgive him for what happened and though he had the respect of many, he never had anyone who was really close to him. Even Harry whom of them all he was possibly the closest to – but the reasons for that were not born out of paternal concern. Harry Potter was the key to defeating Voldemort and though Dumbledore came to love Harry as a person, he never forgot the greater purpose he needed him for. The only other person perhaps – was Severus Snape although again, out of necessity.

Tom Riddle, otherwise known as, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, You-know-who, the Dark Lord or Lord Voldemort

Tom Riddle’s existence is a sad story. His mother was the poor, abused daughter of Marvolo Gaunt who ran away with a muggle she entranced with a love potion who would never love her. She gave birth to Tom Riddle in a muggle orphanage and died, leaving him unhappy and alone.

Personally, I think Voldemort’s story is much more simple and not so much about choice. He was a psychopath and his choices were as much genetic as they were personal. Maybe he’d have been different if he had grown up in a loving family, or at least a proper home. Harry Potter grew up under not so different circumstances – and though he hated the Dursley’s, the hate never became malignant.

Voldemort, like Dumbledore was a magical genius and also like Dumbledore, he entertained ideas of a wizard rule, but he took his ideas much further then beyond paper – he started putting them into action when he was a teenager – developing a following and murdering his remaining family. Voldemort always saw himself as different, special and above everyone. The thing he feared most was death and so he went to extreme lengths to prevent it, by creating Horcruxes.

Voldemort had no friends, he did not want any friends – he wanted only to be at the centre of greatness. He made many terrible choices and he never learnt remorse and never wanted to know love. Dumbledore never trusted him, but he gave him the opportunity to turn back and choose a different path.

The only time he seemed to express regret, quite ironically, was when he killed Snape. It wasn’t remorse, nor really regret I suspect – more of an inconvenience of losing a good soldier.

Severus Snape

Perhaps the most complex and fascinating character I have ever read. From the moment he entered the page, Snape became a character you were not likely to forget. He is a nasty, miserable, small-minded man who allowed past prejudices and grudges to turn him into a bitter man full of anger and hate. There is no real justification for his behaviour throughout the books, although it might have been harder to do his job had he acted in a friendly manner towards Harry Potter.

Snape is, despite all this, my favourite character in the series. I cannot help but like him, despite his many faults. I do not think I would like him were I to actually meet him or a person like him in person – but as a character I do like him. He is ambiguous from the very beginning – one moment trying to get Harry expelled and the next trying to save his life.

He is a rather tragic character and I can’t help but feel for him. He obviously had a rather difficult upbringing with a violent muggle father, growing up in poverty in a poor, deprived neighbourhood. It is perhaps understandable that as a child, he grew up hating his father the muggle, and dreaming of a time when he could escape to Hogwarts. His mother was from Slytherin and so that is where he was probably conditioned to to think he should go.

He was socially awkward, skinny, poor and weird. He first met Lily as a child, before Hogwarts although his first encounter went wrong and he was left feeling bitterly disappointed. I think this was a common trait in Snape’s life. He was a lonely child and Lily was his first friend and of her he was possessive, hating anyone who came between them. Lily became his only true friend.

Snape was not a confident person, he had many insecurities and lacked self esteem. He bottled up grudges and stored them close to his heart, never relinquishing them throughout his life. Snape lacked confidence and self esteem – he probably felt worthless and unable to see himself as just himself. He had to find a bigger stronger power – he aspired to become a death eater. He never admitted to Lily that he loved her – he could not see that he, himself on his own could be attractive. He was too afraid of failure and of rejection and grew infuriatingly jealous of the more popular, attractive people, especially that of James Potter and Sirius Black. He knew James fancied Lily and he wrongly perceived him as a threat. He was never able to rise above his bullies and could never stand up for himself properly. When angry he loses control and become incoherent, in the end his lack of confidence in himself causes him to sink to low standards – cursing and hexing rather then being able to come back with a smart remark.

Had he chosen to listen to Lily and hear what she wanted – he might have chosen to give up his fascination with the dark arts, stand up to his bullies and have become a better person. Rowling said in an interview, post-Deathly Hallows that Lily loved Severus as a friend and might have come to love him romantically. But she didn’t – because Snape could not separate himself from his fears and he broke her last straw by calling her a Mudblood because his pride had been too broken.

I’m not sure what Snape would be to love – he would have been possessive and selfish. Even when he turned against Voldemort and told Dumbledore what he had done, he did not think that James or Harry’s lives were worth saving if only Lily could survive. After what must have been about four years as a Death Eater he probably did some quite unforgiveable things. I doubt he was ever happy – his loss of Lily, the only tie he had to becoming a decent person cast him off into that dark world. I think there must have been something good in him though for Lily to have been friends with him for so long. She must have seen that light in him.

He was the victim of bullying as a child and yet he ended up becoming the bully. If he had been born with confidence perhaps he would have been the bully to begin with – who knows, some people are like that – they learn to behave from the examples they have been given. It is unfair to lumber the child with all the responsibility of becoming a good person. Changing the way you think and feel isn’t easily done. However, Snape had the chance – Lily gave it to him, but he turned her away.

I suppose though, that acting as a double-agent and having to lie to Voldemort – he could not have changed too much. He would need to maintain close contacts with the Malfoy’s and treating Harry Potter with any kind of kindness probably wouldn’t go down well with Voldemort. Maybe the trick to becoming good at occulemency is to be as miserable as possible. The only time Harry managed it was when he was feeling the loss of Dobby.

Dumbledore forgave Snape because he had chosen the wrong path too – perhaps had his sister not been killed he would have gone down a different past. He blamed himself for providing Grindelwald with ideas that he put into motion. Dumbledore knew the influence of guilt and regret. There is no one that hates Snape more then himself.

Afterwards, when he changed sides, I think he came to redeem himself. In the chapter ‘The Prince’s Tale’ when Harry visits Snape’s memories – Snape said that lately the only people who died were the ones he could not save. Snape would never become a nice person, he would forever be a miserable git. Some things after so long I guess, you just cannot change. He bottles all his feelings up like a potion, and stores them alone near his heart, never letting them out unless it is in a fit of rage or jealously. Yet, from the moment he realised his gravest of mistakes – he worked closely with Dumbledore to protect Harry Potter and defeat Voldemort. He was indeed a very brave man and also, incredibly loyal.

Harry Potter

And finally, the forth generation. An orphan after his parents were killed by Voldemort and brought up by his Aunt and Uncle who treat him so badly I wonder why he never phoned Child Line. Harry is very much like Snape in that he was brought up in an unloving family and suffered many the same kind of humiliations and feelings of loneliness. Unlike Snape however, he didn’t lack confidence or self esteem and he could stand up for himself without losing control.

At a very young age, Harry Potter made an important choice. He chose to enter Gryffindor rather than Slytherin. However, had he not met Ron Weasly at the King’s Cross maybe his life would have gone in a slightly different direction, who knows.

Also, unlike Dumbledore, Voldemort and Snape Harry developed some very close friendships, especially with Ron and Hermoine and these are what kept him strong – and probably the reason why he’s alive. He never became over enamoured with his fame or powers, as Dumbledore and Voldemort did and he chose a different path then Snape, not allowing his past to effect his future.

Harry Potter was surrounded by love. Love from his parents who died for him, love from his friends who would fight beside him and would have died for him. Love from Dumbledore. Even in a way – Snape’s love also influencing his life. It all sound rather sappy, but Rowling's message strongly promotes the idea of love and friendship being the strongest qualities that a person can hold. Her message is etched into each of these four characters, but the message is subtle and doesn’t patronise or preach.

These four men are all linked with each other and together – Dumbledore and Voldemort, Snape and Harry. They are the polar opposites of each other and yet they are all the same. Harry Potter is the youngest – and the product of the other’s life’s learnings, successes and failures. He is I think what they could have all become had they had the right friends and made the right choices.

Dumbledore and Snape both made grave mistakes in their earlier lives which resulted in a death or deaths of people they loved and many others. Both of them redeemed themselves. Voldemort never felt remorse despite being given the opportunity. Harry Potter felt guilty for everyone who died for him and felt remorse for every single one – well apart from the Death Eaters perhaps.

Each of these four men represent an important journey in the Harry Potter series and an important moral story that carries through each book until the very end.