My "Local History Project" is proving to be very interesting! I am finding out a lot more about the history of the town I live and some of the names of the estates of the town are not so random as they seem. Apparently there is evidence of people having lived and settled here back in Roman times. Here's me thinking that Milton Keynes was just this boom/commuter town that was created about40 years ago.. well hey, who knew. I've just finished one book on the history of Newport Pagnell - where they once found a body which had its bones filled with lead, and I have now moved on to the history of Stony Stratford - where Henry VIII stayed several times on his way to his hunting grounds.
#### SPOILER ALERT ####
Someone like You - Roald Dahl
Just before I started my project I did manage to complete a very nice one by Roald Dahl. It is a selection of 18 tales by Dahl according to the front you need a broad mind[s] and nerves of steel to read them. Whenever I read his work I am always struck by the characters he writes and the calculated-ness ad shrewdness they have in going about their business. The way that their minds work always seems perfectly acceptable in the framework of the story his characters are in but outside them they would probably all be locked up for thinking what they do and acting like they do. His tales always have a dark edge on them which to me seems to contrast with his easy going writing style as he merrily hops and skips his way through remorseless murder and twisted reasoning. A lot of the tales seems to end at a point where you can fill in the blanks and they tend to leave you feeling like the hammer is going to fall just as Dahl puts the final full stop at the end of his final sentence. And... they are perfect the way they are.
Taste
The famous gourmet Mr Pratt lives up to his name (I am guessing his name is not just chosen randomly!). The host of a dinner party makes a bet with the gourmet in question and almost loses his most prized possession. The host has found an obscure wine somewhere and the gourmet thinks he can name it. However, the gourmet turns out to be playing with loaded dice and I do not think he will be attending the next dinner party.
Lamb to the Slaughter
Prim housewife does not like the fact that her husband says she is leaving her (has she not always taken care of his every whim and fancy?!). She kills him with the leg of lamb and then quietly waits for events to run their course. The policemen that come to investigate try not to let the trail go too cold.
Man from the South
A gentleman makes a bet with a young lad. The lad stands to gain a car and lose a finger - easy choice some would say. Before things get out of hand (sorry could not resist) the game comes to an end.
The Soldier
A man slowly loses his senses. The world becomes a strange place to him as everything around him seems to change faster than he can keep track of. Even his wife is not what she seems any more.
My Lady Love, My Dove
A long suffering husband with an overbearing wife and a game of cards. The possibilities are endless and the fun lasts till long into the night. A couple invite some friends over for a game of cards even though they do not like them much. Turns out they have every reason not to.
Dip in the Pool
A gentleman tries to tip the odds on the ship's pool in his favour. There is a bet on how many miles the ship will travel over a certain time frame and the man is determined to win. He takes a giant leap of faith.
Galloping Foxley
A man set in his ways, used to order and discipline finds his routine disturbed by and unexpected fellow commuter. He thinks he knows exactly what this guy is like but is proven wrong.
Skin
A young artist paints but does not sell to many. His older friend does a lot better at tattoo work. They combine their talents and create a very special work of art. Years later the young painter's work is much more "appreciated" and to the enjoyment of many (but not the old friend) the special work of art is brought to the market.
Poison
A snake seems to have taken refuge in a man's bed but for all their efforts no one can find it. The doctor advises going on holiday to de-stress the mind.
I have to say this I did not quite get this one. I went back at the end of it thinking I had missed some important clue?
The Wish
A young boy's imagination makes everyday things the adventure of a life time. A brilliant example of how Dahl gets into the mindset of a young boy and creates a wonderful world of make believe.
Neck
Rich man marries silly woman. A newspaper man is invited to come and stay with them for a weekend and is witness to a very interesting event. The woman gets her head stuck inside a statue (I believe it is a Henry Moore) and there is some debate between the butler and the gentleman on what the best tool is to release her from her predicament. The way the rich man is described and the way he acts are absolutely delicious!
The Sound Machine
A man invents a machine that can do a Dr Doolittle on anything. Not sure why you would want to, but he seems to be happy enough with it.
Nunc Dimittis
A cruel joke is played on an innocent woman. Our gentleman in this story is a bit of a pompous idiot who is not very good at reading the true character of people. He finds out that a painter has a very special way of treating his subjects and gets a work commissioned for a lady friend in order to get back at her. However, the stunt backfires and he is the one left on his own.... feeling ever so slightly queasy... actually, he's not really feeling that well at all.
The Great Automatic Grammatizator
it has finally happened.... someone had invented a machine that can replace all human involvement in writing a story. Well, almost all human involvement. Honestly, all you have to do is set a few parameters and the machine will do the rest. But is all what it seems?
The last couple of stories are in a separate section called Claude's Dog. They have a set of characters that recur in each of the stories and so create a little world of their own.
The Ratcatcher - a man who has a very particular way of catching rats.
Rummins - the missing are found in unexpected places.
Mr Hoddy - first tip of the day: when going courting, keep your fancy ideas to yourself!
Mr Feasey - second tip of the day: if you have a plan, get on with it and do not hedge your bets.
I always love reading Dahl. His stories are always unexpected and have twists that you do not see coming. I like the way he surprises his readers. He creates situations that are completely normal and then at the last minute on little thing puts all of it on its head and you are left with this weird but wonderful story.
The copy I have was apparently a Christmas gift for Paul back in 1988. I hope Paul enjoyed it as much as I did before it went to the charity shop where I picked it up earlier this year, 2010.
Title: Someone Like You
Author: Roald Dahl
270 pages
Penguin Books
ISBN nr 0-14-003074-3
Books to be read: 69
Books bought: 0
Library books read: 1 out of 4
Monday 29 November 2010
Sunday 21 November 2010
Split Loyalties
At the moment I am still reading my way through some short stories by Roald Dahl but my next project is waiting in the wings already and it might mean I have to divide and conquer.
In order to start up my new little project I did something quite extraordinary this weekend. I (re)joined the Library! Being a book buyer myself I always struggle with the concept of having to give books back once they have been in my possession so it will be interesting to see how I get on with returning books after three weeks. I had joined the library years ago but moved a few times, started buying books, found it a hassle to remember to renew library books and forgot about having a library card. Add to that, that the library where I lived at the time did not seem to have too many books published after 1980 (and no books about ghosts) and you can see why me and libraries did not get on. I thought that they would have removed me from their systems as I had not used my library privileges for years but it turned out I was still registered (one big Hurrah for bureaucracy). So.... my account was reactivated, I got a new library card and decided to put it to good use immediately by taking out some books. For years now now I have been meaning to find out more about the history of the place I live but until now I have never found the time. Most of where I live is "new" and "modern" but some of the estates have some history to them and there are even some Roman ruins in one of the parks. Milton Keynes was created when several small, separate villages were combined into one big town but not everything is boom town territory here. We do have some older estates and it is these I am interested in. I managed to find some books about the history Stony Stratford, Wolverton and Newport Pagnell and will be immersing myself in it over the next few weeks. I am not sure how this is going to affect my reading of my normal stock of books or much "other" reading I am going to be able to do but we'll see how it goes. Onwards to new discoveries!
Books borrowed from library: 4
In order to start up my new little project I did something quite extraordinary this weekend. I (re)joined the Library! Being a book buyer myself I always struggle with the concept of having to give books back once they have been in my possession so it will be interesting to see how I get on with returning books after three weeks. I had joined the library years ago but moved a few times, started buying books, found it a hassle to remember to renew library books and forgot about having a library card. Add to that, that the library where I lived at the time did not seem to have too many books published after 1980 (and no books about ghosts) and you can see why me and libraries did not get on. I thought that they would have removed me from their systems as I had not used my library privileges for years but it turned out I was still registered (one big Hurrah for bureaucracy). So.... my account was reactivated, I got a new library card and decided to put it to good use immediately by taking out some books. For years now now I have been meaning to find out more about the history of the place I live but until now I have never found the time. Most of where I live is "new" and "modern" but some of the estates have some history to them and there are even some Roman ruins in one of the parks. Milton Keynes was created when several small, separate villages were combined into one big town but not everything is boom town territory here. We do have some older estates and it is these I am interested in. I managed to find some books about the history Stony Stratford, Wolverton and Newport Pagnell and will be immersing myself in it over the next few weeks. I am not sure how this is going to affect my reading of my normal stock of books or much "other" reading I am going to be able to do but we'll see how it goes. Onwards to new discoveries!
Books borrowed from library: 4
Sunday 14 November 2010
Eeeww and oh my
Without further ado....
#### SPOILER ALERT ####
Nocturnes - John Connolly
The first time I met this author was when I read The book of Lost Things. It was kind of a weird, slightly scary book about a boy who get lost in this alternate reality. It showed great imagination although I found it a bit slow going to start with. The stories in Nocturnes are similarly weird, strange and spooky but flowed more and get to the point quicker. I guess that is due mainly to the fact that they are mostly short stories and as a writer you have to get to the point and the main action quickly before you run out of pages to round of the story neatly. Connolly has no issues doing that here. By the way the "recommendation" from the Radio Times on the back of my edition is slightly misleading. It says "Twists the classic ghost story in a modern macabre way" - well... I did not really find a lot of ghosts in the tales but what it lack in ghouls it makes for in macabreness... in spades! Don't buy it if you want to read about ghosts but if you have a brain that likes weird stuff you'll love it.
There are two stories in this volume that are classed as novellas and I will start with these.
The Cancer Cowboy Rides
Blood and guts galore! The beginning of the story is: a man wakes up in the desert and does not know who he is or where... could be the start of a joke... a very dark and bad joke in this case. He decides to call himself Buddy Carson.. it will become clear why soon enough. I guess the story can be described in a few words. Man has an urge that drives him on to do bad things to good people. People die and he gets a temporary reprieve. But as usual with these things it just wants more and more and before you know it entire populations are at risk. Buddy has this thing inside him that needs to be fed and he has found the perfect little place to do this. Whoever he touches gets infected and had better start thinking of investing in a cemetery plot. At first the story seems a bit bitty and disjointed - people die in one place from unknown causes, we meet Buddy "settled" in a new place with new people. However, soon the dots are connected and Buddy's Master Plan is revealed. As usual there is the Defender of Men who arrives at the scene when it matters and manages to stop mayhem in it's tracks, but a quite few people and some chickens die before this is accomplished. This thing inside Buddy is an eerie presence in the story and what it stands for is even eerier.. the sheer insatiability of the thing and its lust for destruction give the story a very dark edge... and the fat lady has not sung either!
The Reflecting Eye
A deserted house that used to be owned by a child murderer is the scene of this mystery. A private detective is hired to find a child in a photograph and he is not sure what might happen to her, if anything. The man who hires him has lost his daughter several years ago - she was taken and killed and he thinks that something bad will happen to the girl in the picture it was left in the post box at the house). He bought the house where his daughter was killed; maybe to keep a connection to her as it was the last place she was alive. It carries with it many bad memories and the ghost of a crazed killer who took the life of his little girl. The killer is dead, he took his own life inside the house but it seems that some ghosts are more difficult to lay than others. I can honestly say I had no idea who the bad guy was going to be in this one. We meet a few candidates but you kind of dismiss them because they are handed to you.
Then there is the thing about the mirrors. You get the idea that the mirrors are important but not sure how. In the end it is the detective's heavily pregnant "lover" who gives us a hint about what might be going on. It turns out that the mirrors show a perceived reality to the one looking in. It shows things as they should be, not as they are. In the mirrors the house looks beautifully decorated and homely but the reality is very different. The mirrors have managed to bewitch someone once more and they are after the girl in the picture. They get her but fortunately for her our hero is at hand to make sure things and well.....well for some of the characters in the story at least.
I liked the pace of the story and the humour in the dialogue. The characters have bee through a lot in each of their lives and that seems to load them up with a certain kind of heaviness or perhaps even darkness yet the dialogue between most of the sparkles.
What annoyed me a little bit is that our private detective who tells us the story keeps commenting on things that have not yet come to pass, usually bad things. He seems to be looking back on what happened to him in the past and how his life now has changed because of it. You get little hints of things to come but they are not in the scope of the story at hand so they are not expanded upon.. well... if they are obviously not of any influence over the present story why are you telling me about them? Hoping I'll buy the next book too?
The rest of the stories in this one are shorter ones and all of them are really good. They have the right mix of "could be true"-ism and "you've got to be kidding me"-ism in them and they often left me needing to put the book down for a few minutes between stories to let my mind relax a bit before starting the next one. This is what Connolly seems to be good at. There is truth in the characters of the stories, the things that happen can be explained in a normal way but then he takes it one step beyond that whilst still making you believe that what he suggest could be true and you go with him on that journey.. that's clever!
The stories have a great pace and they all have great humour, cynicism and fun in them. They are also quite dark and eerie. They do not really go into full horror but they do nibble on the toes of it at times.
Some words of advice from Mr Connolly to the reader:
Title: Nocturnes
Author: John Connolly
486 pages
Hodder Headline
ISBN nr 978-0-340-93399-2
Books to be read: 70
Books bought: 0
#### SPOILER ALERT ####
Nocturnes - John Connolly
The first time I met this author was when I read The book of Lost Things. It was kind of a weird, slightly scary book about a boy who get lost in this alternate reality. It showed great imagination although I found it a bit slow going to start with. The stories in Nocturnes are similarly weird, strange and spooky but flowed more and get to the point quicker. I guess that is due mainly to the fact that they are mostly short stories and as a writer you have to get to the point and the main action quickly before you run out of pages to round of the story neatly. Connolly has no issues doing that here. By the way the "recommendation" from the Radio Times on the back of my edition is slightly misleading. It says "Twists the classic ghost story in a modern macabre way" - well... I did not really find a lot of ghosts in the tales but what it lack in ghouls it makes for in macabreness... in spades! Don't buy it if you want to read about ghosts but if you have a brain that likes weird stuff you'll love it.
There are two stories in this volume that are classed as novellas and I will start with these.
The Cancer Cowboy Rides
Blood and guts galore! The beginning of the story is: a man wakes up in the desert and does not know who he is or where... could be the start of a joke... a very dark and bad joke in this case. He decides to call himself Buddy Carson.. it will become clear why soon enough. I guess the story can be described in a few words. Man has an urge that drives him on to do bad things to good people. People die and he gets a temporary reprieve. But as usual with these things it just wants more and more and before you know it entire populations are at risk. Buddy has this thing inside him that needs to be fed and he has found the perfect little place to do this. Whoever he touches gets infected and had better start thinking of investing in a cemetery plot. At first the story seems a bit bitty and disjointed - people die in one place from unknown causes, we meet Buddy "settled" in a new place with new people. However, soon the dots are connected and Buddy's Master Plan is revealed. As usual there is the Defender of Men who arrives at the scene when it matters and manages to stop mayhem in it's tracks, but a quite few people and some chickens die before this is accomplished. This thing inside Buddy is an eerie presence in the story and what it stands for is even eerier.. the sheer insatiability of the thing and its lust for destruction give the story a very dark edge... and the fat lady has not sung either!
The Reflecting Eye
A deserted house that used to be owned by a child murderer is the scene of this mystery. A private detective is hired to find a child in a photograph and he is not sure what might happen to her, if anything. The man who hires him has lost his daughter several years ago - she was taken and killed and he thinks that something bad will happen to the girl in the picture it was left in the post box at the house). He bought the house where his daughter was killed; maybe to keep a connection to her as it was the last place she was alive. It carries with it many bad memories and the ghost of a crazed killer who took the life of his little girl. The killer is dead, he took his own life inside the house but it seems that some ghosts are more difficult to lay than others. I can honestly say I had no idea who the bad guy was going to be in this one. We meet a few candidates but you kind of dismiss them because they are handed to you.
Then there is the thing about the mirrors. You get the idea that the mirrors are important but not sure how. In the end it is the detective's heavily pregnant "lover" who gives us a hint about what might be going on. It turns out that the mirrors show a perceived reality to the one looking in. It shows things as they should be, not as they are. In the mirrors the house looks beautifully decorated and homely but the reality is very different. The mirrors have managed to bewitch someone once more and they are after the girl in the picture. They get her but fortunately for her our hero is at hand to make sure things and well.....well for some of the characters in the story at least.
I liked the pace of the story and the humour in the dialogue. The characters have bee through a lot in each of their lives and that seems to load them up with a certain kind of heaviness or perhaps even darkness yet the dialogue between most of the sparkles.
What annoyed me a little bit is that our private detective who tells us the story keeps commenting on things that have not yet come to pass, usually bad things. He seems to be looking back on what happened to him in the past and how his life now has changed because of it. You get little hints of things to come but they are not in the scope of the story at hand so they are not expanded upon.. well... if they are obviously not of any influence over the present story why are you telling me about them? Hoping I'll buy the next book too?
The rest of the stories in this one are shorter ones and all of them are really good. They have the right mix of "could be true"-ism and "you've got to be kidding me"-ism in them and they often left me needing to put the book down for a few minutes between stories to let my mind relax a bit before starting the next one. This is what Connolly seems to be good at. There is truth in the characters of the stories, the things that happen can be explained in a normal way but then he takes it one step beyond that whilst still making you believe that what he suggest could be true and you go with him on that journey.. that's clever!
The stories have a great pace and they all have great humour, cynicism and fun in them. They are also quite dark and eerie. They do not really go into full horror but they do nibble on the toes of it at times.
Some words of advice from Mr Connolly to the reader:
- Don't go digging at church foundations - something might dig back.
- Don't leave your windows open at night - those few leaves on your window sill could be hiding god knows what.
- Keep your real children close -you don't want them getting lost.
- Do not trust bullies - if they are nice to you without a reason they must want something.... it could be more than you are willing to part with.
- What goes around comes around - evil works the night shift too.
- Don't mess with women - especially not if they come in threes.
- Don't let a monkey suck your thumb - monkey see, monkey do
- Sand is not just for building sand castles - it moves in mysterous ways.
- Never let a clown lick your face..... 'nuff said
- Never dive in anything you cannot see the bottom of - however tempting the offer.
- Never trust a friendly Vampire - leopards and spots!
- If it's hard to get to maybe there's a reason for it - some things are better left undiscovered.
- There are other instruments to play than just the piano - never heard a bad thing about playing a recorder.
- Don't leave your wife alone with a folly she does not like - unless you have a cement truck ready.
- Not all women are affected in the same way by the moon cycle - some of us go only slightly mad.
- Never make a promise you cannot keep, provoke an enemy you cannot see and make sure you travel with the latest version of the hotel guide.
Title: Nocturnes
Author: John Connolly
486 pages
Hodder Headline
ISBN nr 978-0-340-93399-2
Books to be read: 70
Books bought: 0
Thursday 11 November 2010
On the go
After having several days without a bicycle I am now once again racing down the redways of Milton Keynes. One of my old work colleagues had a bike in his garage that had been left there by someone and he asked if I wanted it..... well YEAH! So since Monday I have been cycling to work again and enjoying every minute of it. Even if the weather has been a bit pants... it has been cold and it has rained on just about every day (except for yesterday but then it was quite cold) I have loved being outdoors and being able to make my own way home when I want to go home.
I have actually finished another book but I have not yet decided how to write up the review. There are quite a lot of short stories in it so I might just do the highlights.. but then again most of them were really good. Then perhaps a more general approach is better but then you lose the details of what was good about the individual stories. In short.. I am still mulling it over. Should be done milling in a few days.
Having finished this one now also means that the book count is dangerously close to hitting below 70!!!! Also I can reveal that I have not bought a book in at least 10 weeks!! Maybe I should cancel that trial membership to Book Buyers Anonymous?
I have actually finished another book but I have not yet decided how to write up the review. There are quite a lot of short stories in it so I might just do the highlights.. but then again most of them were really good. Then perhaps a more general approach is better but then you lose the details of what was good about the individual stories. In short.. I am still mulling it over. Should be done milling in a few days.
Having finished this one now also means that the book count is dangerously close to hitting below 70!!!! Also I can reveal that I have not bought a book in at least 10 weeks!! Maybe I should cancel that trial membership to Book Buyers Anonymous?
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