Playing the Moldovans at Tennis by Tony Hawks
Read: April 2010
A final Dahab read that was mostly devoured on the bus home. We decided at the end of this break to get the public bus back as flights were getting too expensive So with five hours of reading time ahead of me I got stuck into this (journey was longer than five hours, but darkness led to looking out of the window rather than trying to squint at the text).
You can't go wrong with Tony Hawks to be honest. He's just a normal guy who does random things and writes about them. Now there are a few of those around (Danny Wallace, Dave Gorman etc) but Hawks is surely the original. He decides (in a bet of course) to try and find the Moldovan football team and play them all at tennis. The story is fun and entertaining but as it's Moldova he's exploring you get to find out more than say he was travelling across America (although reading about all the arse-end-of-nowhere towns that DG visited was pretty cool). The book was written a fair few years ago and so Tony seems to have bagged himself the only translator and tourist visa to get there. Getting around is fun and reminds me of Cairo as he walks pot-holed streets in the dark to get home. He struggles with public transport, boarder bureaucracy and jobsworth officials. Reminds me of Egypt again, but with a Eastern Europe flavour.
Thursday, 29 April 2010
Wednesday, 21 April 2010
Aberystwysth Mon Amour by Malcom Price
Aberystwysth Mon Amour by Malcom Price (1991)
Read: April 2010
Another one started/finished in the Dahab break - holidays and bus rides are great for reading :)
Now the cover of this really reminds me of the books my dad has; pulp-y. It's intentional as the book is a pulp crime novel...it just happens to be set in Aberystwyth in the 1980's! Sounds dubious, I know, but it actually turns out to be very good.
The writing style is really mmy thing here. It's just so tongue-in-cheek and totally serious about the crime in question, being a detective etc which might be otherwise difficult when it invovles ice cream and kids! It's got the right number of twists and turns too. So easy to read, but not simple, just engrossing. Funny in many places and really funny in more.
We were lent this by JT and after I'd finished I did email dad to see if he'd heard of it. I think dad would approve as it's pulp but very tongue-in-cheek. It turns out that dad has actually got this (amybe I've subconsciously already seen it on the bookshelves) and knows that there are a few others in the series. He'll keep an eye out for them at car boots / jumbles for us. It's also be turned into a radio play too....I feel we're behind the times in Cairo.
Read: April 2010
Another one started/finished in the Dahab break - holidays and bus rides are great for reading :)
Now the cover of this really reminds me of the books my dad has; pulp-y. It's intentional as the book is a pulp crime novel...it just happens to be set in Aberystwyth in the 1980's! Sounds dubious, I know, but it actually turns out to be very good.
The writing style is really mmy thing here. It's just so tongue-in-cheek and totally serious about the crime in question, being a detective etc which might be otherwise difficult when it invovles ice cream and kids! It's got the right number of twists and turns too. So easy to read, but not simple, just engrossing. Funny in many places and really funny in more.
We were lent this by JT and after I'd finished I did email dad to see if he'd heard of it. I think dad would approve as it's pulp but very tongue-in-cheek. It turns out that dad has actually got this (amybe I've subconsciously already seen it on the bookshelves) and knows that there are a few others in the series. He'll keep an eye out for them at car boots / jumbles for us. It's also be turned into a radio play too....I feel we're behind the times in Cairo.
Tuesday, 20 April 2010
Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
Read: April 2010
Mum bought me this for Christmas as she'd read it and really enjoyed it. I think it was a few years ago and remember seeing it around...and often getting confused between this David Mitchell and the other David Mitchell (from Mitchell and Webb). Having seen the title around, and front cover, I had misconceptions about what the book was about. Now that I've read it, can I say what it's about? (now feeling bad for writing this review months after having read it) but generally it's hard to say exactly what the book is about.
Cloud Atlas is a series of stories that at first make sense individually and seem to have things in common, but it is only when you are a few stories in that the links really become clear. To my reading (and maybe I missed something here) they aren't overly connected, but there is a tie between each consecutive story. I really got into the book in the second half where the stories start going back on themselves. A bit complicated to explain, but somehow it works.
The story I enjoyed most was that of Somni - who is discovering the world for the first time through new eyes so to speak. One of the stories was written in a regional dialect type thing and this was difficult to read - probably like Trainspotting is. I really enjoyed the Louisa Ray story which was that of a whistle-blower-cum-detective. Great read.
Read: April 2010
Mum bought me this for Christmas as she'd read it and really enjoyed it. I think it was a few years ago and remember seeing it around...and often getting confused between this David Mitchell and the other David Mitchell (from Mitchell and Webb). Having seen the title around, and front cover, I had misconceptions about what the book was about. Now that I've read it, can I say what it's about? (now feeling bad for writing this review months after having read it) but generally it's hard to say exactly what the book is about.
Cloud Atlas is a series of stories that at first make sense individually and seem to have things in common, but it is only when you are a few stories in that the links really become clear. To my reading (and maybe I missed something here) they aren't overly connected, but there is a tie between each consecutive story. I really got into the book in the second half where the stories start going back on themselves. A bit complicated to explain, but somehow it works.
The story I enjoyed most was that of Somni - who is discovering the world for the first time through new eyes so to speak. One of the stories was written in a regional dialect type thing and this was difficult to read - probably like Trainspotting is. I really enjoyed the Louisa Ray story which was that of a whistle-blower-cum-detective. Great read.
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