Stories We Could Tell by Tony Parsons (2006)
Read: June - July 2010
Now I wasn't a huge fan at all of Tony Parsons when I read a few of his last year that were passed onto us, so I guess you're wondering why I'm reading him again. Well in Dahab way back in April I think it may have been Scotty was caught short without a book to read. OK in Dahab you can just chill and no need to read, but we were about to get on the public bus home -a ride that takes at least 8 hours - and he needed something to entertain him. This was the pick of the two second-hand bookstores in Dahab as it was about music journalists and going to gigs in the 70's
I've picked it up now at the end of the school year to fill in the gap before getting to a new load of books we've ordered into the UK. I'm hoping to finish it before we fly back, and I don't, so then I hope to finish it in London before we fly to America, but I don't. I think I finish it after nearly 2 weeks in America, because once the holiday started we really didn't have time to read much as we'd flop straight into bed after busy, awesome, days.
I definitly enjoy this more than the other two books of his I read. It's written from the point of view of three guys who all work for a music magazine. Their antics getting to, into, and kicked out of gigs are entertaining and the scene that they work and live in is set very well in the mods and rockers. The three stories are woven together, then torn apart and finally collide towards the end. This narrative at times was difficult to follow, but as the book closed I could see how it had been cleverly written to tie the characters together.
Thursday, 15 July 2010
Friday, 25 June 2010
The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova
The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova (2005)
Read: May-June 2010
We bought this book in the UK at Christmas time as we'd seen numerous copies in charity shop, after charity shop and so deduced that it must be popular. Also the title was obviously a draw for Scotty!
Scott read it first a few months ago and I finally got onto it last month and only had to put my mind to it slightly these last two weeks to make sure I finished it before the summer. I wanted to make sure I had it finished because at 704 pages it is quite a tome!
There were only a few times when I picked it up that I was confused by the narrative - otherwise I enjoyed the dual story-telling devise that Kostova uses. Part of the story is told by the daughter of an academic, the other part of the story is told by the acadmic himself as he speaks to his daughter. This is interspersed with letters and extracts from texts written by, about, or being read by other characters.
There are two parts to the novel, and within these two parts there is obviously the two different narratives. For me, this meant it didn't feel like I had over 700 pages to get through. This was quite impressive for a book of this lenght for the story to keep going at a good pace and the reader not be lost. What keeps the book together is the reader themselves trying to solve the mystery and follow the story as the narrative and narrators move about. The changing narrative was a great device and allowed the reader to see both the father and daughter as they grew up with the dracula puzzle.
Somehow it's not totally predictable that dracula is found in a hidden tomb, as again the story keeps moving and feels modern and new, rather than old and repeated.
Read: May-June 2010
We bought this book in the UK at Christmas time as we'd seen numerous copies in charity shop, after charity shop and so deduced that it must be popular. Also the title was obviously a draw for Scotty!
Scott read it first a few months ago and I finally got onto it last month and only had to put my mind to it slightly these last two weeks to make sure I finished it before the summer. I wanted to make sure I had it finished because at 704 pages it is quite a tome!
There were only a few times when I picked it up that I was confused by the narrative - otherwise I enjoyed the dual story-telling devise that Kostova uses. Part of the story is told by the daughter of an academic, the other part of the story is told by the acadmic himself as he speaks to his daughter. This is interspersed with letters and extracts from texts written by, about, or being read by other characters.
There are two parts to the novel, and within these two parts there is obviously the two different narratives. For me, this meant it didn't feel like I had over 700 pages to get through. This was quite impressive for a book of this lenght for the story to keep going at a good pace and the reader not be lost. What keeps the book together is the reader themselves trying to solve the mystery and follow the story as the narrative and narrators move about. The changing narrative was a great device and allowed the reader to see both the father and daughter as they grew up with the dracula puzzle.
Somehow it's not totally predictable that dracula is found in a hidden tomb, as again the story keeps moving and feels modern and new, rather than old and repeated.
Saturday, 15 May 2010
Khufu's Wisdom by Naguib Mahfouz
Khufu's Wisdom by Naguib Mahfouz
Read: May 2010
Rather than a novel this feels more like an extended moral. The story does start with a foreshadowing that then plague Khufu's reign. The reader knows the secret and wonders how long the pretence will last and will it ever be found out. The story is really one of nature vs. nurture; what does "parent" mean, and I think that this tale shows that for the individual biological is only a small aspect of who you are compared to how you are raised. For Khufu though biological and foreshadowing is everything and he cannot see beyond this.
This was one of Mahfouz's earliest novels. I understand that he wrote tales about ancient Egypt, to gain a steady footing as a writer, before moving into the more contentious modern world.
Read: May 2010
Rather than a novel this feels more like an extended moral. The story does start with a foreshadowing that then plague Khufu's reign. The reader knows the secret and wonders how long the pretence will last and will it ever be found out. The story is really one of nature vs. nurture; what does "parent" mean, and I think that this tale shows that for the individual biological is only a small aspect of who you are compared to how you are raised. For Khufu though biological and foreshadowing is everything and he cannot see beyond this.
This was one of Mahfouz's earliest novels. I understand that he wrote tales about ancient Egypt, to gain a steady footing as a writer, before moving into the more contentious modern world.
Tuesday, 4 May 2010
Karnak Cafe by Naguib Mahfouz
Karnak Cafe by Naguib Mahfouz (1974, translated 2007)
Read: May 2010
A short story, retold to the narrator from three different perspectives.
Karnak Cafe hosts the young and the old, those who sit and drink tea, those who come for shisha, those who come to talk, those who come to look and those who come to be alone. Mahfouz's descriptions takes me to any number of cafes that I see along the streets (those of real Cairo) as the locals while away their time their. The characters too are fascinating to read. I think I see them in the cafe's themselves, but to have them translated into print means I do know when I am looking at the hostess, the lady who runs the cafe and then the man who runs after her, the quiet and regular and the outspoken. But the outspoken can't stay for long and soon the cafe's dynamic is turned upside down after police raids. Young friends and lovers aren't the same and its' only once we get the second story starting do we begin to understand why. It is then the final story that lets us see the full picture of the cafe. Everyone has a different desire and a different price they can pay.
A really great book here that paints a stunning picture of this cafe and the life that takes place in, around and through it.
Read: May 2010
A short story, retold to the narrator from three different perspectives.
Karnak Cafe hosts the young and the old, those who sit and drink tea, those who come for shisha, those who come to talk, those who come to look and those who come to be alone. Mahfouz's descriptions takes me to any number of cafes that I see along the streets (those of real Cairo) as the locals while away their time their. The characters too are fascinating to read. I think I see them in the cafe's themselves, but to have them translated into print means I do know when I am looking at the hostess, the lady who runs the cafe and then the man who runs after her, the quiet and regular and the outspoken. But the outspoken can't stay for long and soon the cafe's dynamic is turned upside down after police raids. Young friends and lovers aren't the same and its' only once we get the second story starting do we begin to understand why. It is then the final story that lets us see the full picture of the cafe. Everyone has a different desire and a different price they can pay.
A really great book here that paints a stunning picture of this cafe and the life that takes place in, around and through it.
Thursday, 29 April 2010
Playing the Moldovans at Tennis by Tony Hawks
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.
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.
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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