Fun links and good books

For Christmas this year Santa gave me a few good books. They are not really reading type novel-ly kind of books but cookery books so I will not be adding them to the total. I guess that you can call that cheating, but hey this is my blog and I make the rules! One of then was all about how you can combine flavours and which ones go together. I am looking forward to experimenting with that one in the years to come.

On a completely different vein... It is funny how you sometimes come across things via something that you hear or read. I am on Twitter and follow this dishy actor guy called Emmett J Scanlan. He tweeted/twittered.... well whatever the correct lingo is.. he wrote something about this one song so I googled it and listened to it. I have to say... the man may be onto to something here! Ben Howard - The Fear, listened to it and got the album! Also watched Shrek today and there was a song on there People they aint no good. Googled that one and found it was by Nick Cave and the Bad seeds.. got the track as well. Then googled something else I have been meaning to google for ages now. There is this add on telly and the song on it sounded really good. Every time I just hard a snippet of it but was intrigued as it was a version of a Stevie Winwood song that I like called Higher Love. So, I found out who sang, listened to the full version it and was blown away by it, almost cried so beautiful. I now have the guy's album on order. He is called James Vincent Mc Morrow in case you are interested. I love this about life.. how one thing leads into another and you discover some beautiful things on the way. Hoping for much more of that next year.

Gotcha

On top of having completed my first assignment for my OU course on Friday, today my quest to find a certain book ended. After months of looking I finally found a decent copy of Faulks' Birdsong! Hurrah! I read Charlotte Gray ages ago and really liked it. Then I found out that together with The Girl at the Lion D'or and Birdsong it was part of the War Trilogy and now I have all of them!! Bliss. Just in time for Christmas.

I also ended up buying another Agatha Christie one so have two more to add to the total.
Books bought: 2
Books to be read: 79
... will I make it into the new year below 80?

Inspirational

It has taken about one and a bit afternoon of solid thinking, writing and re-writing, 6 cups of tea, three cups of decaff, 5 custard cream biscuits and half a bag of cheesey-whats-its but the first draft of my assignment is now done. I only have to chop about 500 words and go through everything again and then I am ready to hand it in. I did send of a mail to my tutor about one of the questions and he will have to come back to me on that one and then I have to amend that question but apart from that it is 99% there. I think... it's hard sometimes to know if you are doing the right thing and thinking along the right lines. I am now in the dangerous process of going through it all again and seeing where I can cut some words to hit the 3000 word target. When you go through it again there is always the risk you realise that you got it wrong (or think that you got it wrong) and redo things.. I am working very hard to resisting that temptation. Perhaps another custard cream will allay those fears?

Another one that almost got away

Is it too late to declare a book I got given by someone at work when it has been about 3 weeks ago? Nah, did not think so. One of my colleagues was having a clear out and came across a few books. He asked if I wanted any and most of them were chick lit which I am not into at all. But.. one of them looked good. It is called Talk to the hand and claims to be about the rudeness we all encounter in everyday life. It looked interesting, it was free, someone offered it to me.... what can I say? I am a sucker for a book sob story and this one was going to be left all alone in a box somewhere if I had not rescued it. Now it a spacious living environment and 76 other friends to talk to... and I have another book to read. Win, win!

Books given to me: 1
Books to read: 77

Gone but not forgotten

Bet you thought that I had won the lottery and decided to pack a suitcase filled of books and jet off to a deserted island to finally give myself half a chance of getting through the 70 odd books I still have left to read! Alas my friends... no such luck. I have not even bought a lottery ticket in ages (note to self: remedy that situation). Life is still mainly determined by working on my OU course just about every evening. I do not get round to reading anything else but my course books, and the weekly TV guide, and Twitter... and my emails, oh and Facebook.
Actually... It is amazing how much reading you actually do in a day. You would almost start to wonder why people would want to read more in their spare time. How many of our jobs and things we do in our daily lives do not involve reading one thing or another? Be it e-mails, proposals, letters in parcels from loving family members, cards from the best sister ever, websites, information on phone and computer screens, subtitles on telly and so on and so forth. Perhaps it is a miracle anyone wants to read in their spare time at all? But they do, for otherwise why would there be books and magazines, and all the other printed and digital media we have at our daily disposal?

I am thoroughly ashamed though of not updating the blog for so long. What's a little post amongst friends? I have mentally put a "Must do better" in my school report on updating my blog. I will now go stand in a corner for a few minutes. Partly so I do not have to read any more and partly because I am ashamed.

Status Quo

Nothing to report really... except that I have finished studying the first book of my course! Now there is only about 80 or so pages to go in the second book and then that one will be finished as well.
I had a sneaky peek at the subjects dealt with in book 2 and some of it looks a bit tricky. Oh well.. nothing for it but to keep going and get to the end! The good news about finishing book 1 is that I am now a whole week ahead of schedule. This in turn means that I will have more time to do the assignment due on the 19 December, more time for revision and that if I do fancy doing nothing for a day or two that will be okay. I think I am feeling trepidatiously optimistic about this situation.... yep, I think I am.

Change of topic

I have been a bit busy reading my course stuff over the past week or so. So busy in fact that I even forgot to update my blog on the usual "update Sunday"-day.
Doing the reading or the course has been a bit of a mixed blessing. It is not the most exciting of reading that I have to do. It is business like and a bit dry. I had kind of forgotten that proper academic/study books are like that. However, it is nice to be doing something, learning new things. I like knowledge and learning new things, it does not scare me too much to have to dive in and see how I will cope with it. I'm doing okay, getting the scheduled pages done (Yes - I did do a study plan, why leave it to chance!) and have only had a few moments where I have thought "what the heck do they mean?". I have had a few instances of "why did they not structure this chapter differently", or "why are they mentioning this term now when they only properly explain it 6 pages down the road"... but I guess that is to be expected.
I am doing my project summary this weekend to see if my idea of what project to submit is okay. I just completed my first big one successfully and feeling justly proud of that I was going to use that one as my special friend for the rest of the course.

Still no other reading done.. .don't think I will be doing much reading other than for the course to be honest. Working during the day and spending about an hours or so every night doing my course work is keeping me plenty busy. Might give myself tomorrow off... all work and no play and all that.

One conclusion I have reached is that the study of Feasibility - technical and financial, is greatly improved by a glass of red wine! Classic combination!

Starting over

Well... another week of not reading a "normal" book has been completed! I decided to see how I got on with just reading my course stuff  for now and it has been okay. Not brilliant.. but okay. I did my study plan, divided the books I have to cover over the weeks I have and left some time for the assignment and revision. I do find that I have to get back into a studying frame of mind. It takes more attention and concentration to read something and try to retain information than it does to just read a story in a book. That has focus and is entertaining. Usually it will grab you with some kind of event or character and you use that to drive your reading on. With the reading for this course it is different. I am having  remember how I used to study, how do I approach a subject matter that is kind of dry and slightly alien to me? How do I train my brain to retain the information? Maybe I should read that study guide that come with the materials to see if there are any helpful hints in it? I feel that I am doing okay as I have already completed my set pages for next week but I find that I have to remember to put myself to work and to focus on what I am reading. I am getting there and I guess once I have done a bit more it will become more routine to study. I just have to find a study rhythm that works for me. I plan to do a bit every evening so I get the regularity in my daily routine and get used to hitting the books. I think that is the best way for me. Build it into my day, make it part of my routine and just keep chipping away at it. The first assignment is due 19 December! Should be all done by end of April next year.
Not sure I can go that long without reading anything other than study stuff... good thing I do not have to.

Unexpected problems

I am finding myself in a bit of a unexpected position at the moment. I do not know what I want to read next! In fact I do not even know if I want to read a book at all! I have 75 to choose from so it is not a lack of choice. I think what might be playing on my subconscious is that I am going to be starting a course for work soon (OU course in Project Management) and that this will involve a fair bit of reading any way. The first assignment is due 19 December and I am not sure how much spare reading time I will have left after I have to potentially plough through a couple of course books between now and then. Maybe I should read a "normal" book as well so I have something else to read besides course stuff. Then again, maybe doing the course out of working hours will claim enough of my time and I will not have the energy to read anything else.
I am actually really excited about doing this course! I always feel that it is good to learn new skills and to expand your horizons. I am a language person and Uni did not really equip me with a load of practical skills on how to manage projects. It taught me to think about what I read, appreciate books, fall in love with language, how it works and what the consequences are when it does not. I guess in a way I have had to learn to plan my studies and structure  my work to make sure I completed my essays and revision in time but that is all academic stuff. Not the same as in a proper working environment. I have worked in jobs that were sort of project based but this is my first stint as an independent project manager. I am hoping this course will make me feel a bit more secure in what I do and that I am doing it the right way. It looks like all the basics are covered so at the end of it I should have the tools to be able to do what I need to. So far my job as a PM has been a bit of a "thrown in at the deep end" kind of thing. There has been no real training and I have had to find things out either by looking at what the other PMs do or by doing things the way I think it should be done and hoping for the best. I am happy that the course seems to cover the basics and at least give me some tools to manage my workload. That is never a bad thing. I am okay baking cakes without a recipe but it would be nice to have an idea if what all the ingredients are supposed to be.

Maybe I could go be a teacher's pet and start looking at my course books already, get ahead of the game.. or.... maybe I will just have a quick look at a possible normal book to read...

The Folly of Man

After spending a few days in the lovely Liverpool I found time for quite a bit of culture, some good food and some giggles about the posh-ness of the hotel room. I visited one bookshop in Sefton and managed to restrict myself to buying only 1 book. I was very impressed with myself. I did go into the Waterstones in Liverpool One but I was so put off by the prices of new books that I did not buy any. I spotted a few good potential buys though and might have to treat myself again a bit later in the year. Think I need to buy a new bike first a the rear wheel is really loose and the bike is getting impossible to use... just in time for Christmas.

So.. books bought: 1
Books to be read: 76


But fear not friends.. I have finished one as well! I think I will not be needing the spoilers for this one.


Follies - Sir Hugh Casson (Ed)
This one is a charming little book about Follies. For those that do not know: a Folly is a building that is merely ornamental, apparently constructed for a certain purpose but not actually fulfilling that purpose; a ruin that is not really a ruin, a tower that you cannot really climb etc. At times they were built as poor relief. People would work on them and get paid when times were hard and there was no other work to be had.
The book I have dates back to 1963 and reading it I did wonder how many of these follies are still around at present. Some of them were said to be in a bad state of repair at the time the author visited them so they might already be lost and fallen down.
The book is basically a list of follies, who built them, where they are and what they look like. The drawings adjoining some of the descriptions are excellent! Some of these buildings just seem so random. It makes you wonder why people bothered with these buildings. What possessed someone to build a chicken coop that looks like a pyramid made of yellow brick? Why build a Colosseum-like building, just the one circular wall, nothing else behind it. What mind wants to construct a triangular building where everything seems to came back to the number three (triangular building, three floors, rooms that are three or six-sided)? Sometimes we learn a bit about the history of why the folly was built but not always.. which is a shame. Not to the discredit to the editor. He had to work with the information he had available and it seems that it was not always recorded why these buildings were built. A lot of the follies seem to be sham castles, sham ruins or sham look out towers. Many of them have a mixture of building styles. One folly has a tower that is almost Gothic in style on one side and more broad and roman like on the other. Maybe the builders could not agree on what it needed to be and decided to go for both? Even London has some follies.... should be able to find them! Actually, after reading this book I had the idea of taking some time off and plan a trip around a few of them! It might be fun trying to find them although the author does advise to make sure you check if if is on private land before you venture towards any of them! Sound advice.
A fun little book on what kind of weird things man gets up to building in wanting to adorn their gardens and estates with something other than a run of the mill garden gnome.

Title: Follies
Author: Sir Hugh Casson (Ed)
124 pages
Chatto And Windus Limited
No ISBN nr


Books to be read: 75

I deny everything...

now... before you start. I did say last week that I would probably do it so not sure why you would be surprised by my announcement that I have now actually bought the two books I did not buy last weekend. It was really just postponing the inevitable.. I did tell you!

One is a ghost story by Michelle Pavner and the other one is a Bill Bryson one about the home and private life. The modern ghost story should be interesting. I usually tend to read older ones. I have never really looked into too many modern authors writing ghost stories. Just reading the classics and older ones seems to keep me plenty busy. I have some good memories of reading Bryson. I remember he once described how he looked when he slept and it made me laugh out loud. Not sure how funny a book about the home is going to be?


Books bought: 2
Books to be read: 75

The Alternative is not that attractive

I am preparing for a little trip away next week. I have all the essentials sorted out already. My hotel is booked. I know what I want to go and do and see (Tate Liverpool to see Magritte exhibition, Blundell Sands to see Gormley's Statues and do some early Xmas shopping). And, last but not least, I have found some addresses for second hand book shops that I can go and visit! I have not booked my train ticket yet but that is on the cards for later on tonight... or tomorrow evening. A girl addicted to books has to have priorities!

#### SPOILER ALERT ###


Fatherland - Robert Harris
I am not sure I would go as far as to call it "stunning" as apparently The Times did at one point in history but this one definitely is a good read! The book is blessed with a good mix. Let me explain.
The story is set in an alternative reality where Germany has won the Second World War. Peace with England and America has been achieved and Germany rules most of Europe with an Iron fist. Well apart from the bit that borders on Russia. There are some skirmishes going on there and things might be worse than the people of the Proud Germany Nation are told but we don't like to talk about that.. ehm, I mean the Fuhrer does not like people talking about it... so we don't.
The world that Harris is based partly in fact. it is based on his interpretation of what the world might have been like if the Germans had won he war. He has set it not too far away from the victory as the story plays out in 1964 so it does not feel too modern. It feels like I would expect a totalitarian state to feel in 1964. The society we find is sober and controlled. There is to be a large government influence in people's lives and the place feels controlled, organised and (somehow fittingly) a bit dreary.

The story starts several days before the Fuhrer's Birthday and starts with a corpse. From then on the plot leads you up one garden path and down the other before it reveals what it is actually really about. At first we are led to believe it is about murder, then it seems it might be art fraud and in the end it turns out to be about the Final Solution that Hitler had planned for the Jewish population of Europe.. probably the world if he would have had his way. As the story is presented each of these options come along and they all seem equally plausible. I even thought when it went towards the Final Solution Plot that perhaps that was another red herring and it was all about making money of art illegally obtained during the War. It seemed a more comfortable thought to have. The body at the start of the book is not the only one we see. there are several ones and apparently the killing has been going on for a long time. These men are killed for what they know and what they might tell. The story of the Final Solution is based on fact but Harris has brought his own artistic interpretation in to develop it more and make it into a good book plot. It works for me. The historic facts give the story a good solid basis and the added poetic license used by Harris sits well within that.
The characters are a bit predictable. March is the dogged detective. He may seem casual and not very imposing but he never shows you all his cards and he notices more than you think. March is divorced and his son is more fond of his new uncle who tows the party line than his own father. There is the female foreign journalist who becomes March's lover. She is a free spirit who shows March what the free world is like. She is also a pain in the backside for March and seems to only be after a good story. However, she becomes involved in the story and ants to help March get it out to the world. Naturally, becoming personally involved with March is essential for that. Globus is a brute. He is described as one and behaves like one. He is the enforcer. Most of the other police officials we meet are brutal, dedicated to the Party and would never think of stepping out of line. Only Arthur Nebe has a bit of character. He is one of those guys that has managed to stay alive and in a position of power for years. He seems to be made of Teflon as not hing bad has ever stuck to him. Not a bad way to be in a totalitarian society. March has a partner he works with (Jaeger( and he is the dumber half of the investigative team.. well that is what we are made to believe at the start. Mr Jaeger turns out to like his toast and knows which side the butter goes. That is really the only surprise in the characters.
What saves March as a character is the fact the he seems to be a bit of a rebel and he seems to still have the power of individual thought in a totalitarian society. He does not join the right groups, does not attend the right parties, he certainly does not bow down to the right party officials. He does not live the right kind of life. You feel that deep down he has doubts about the country he lives in, about how they won the war and about what his country has become. He is not sure he likes the way it treats its people. There is doubt in him about the State in general and about the state of affairs his life is in. He feels that he is not being told the truth and that he deserves to know.This is what drives him to find out what is going on with the murders, it is what leads him to discover the truth and it ultimately leads him to his death. The moment he is caught he knows he will be interrogated. He knows that most likely he will die and he seems okay with this. He goes through all of it so he can keep the prying eyes of the investigators turned onto him and away from his journalist lover. He needs to give her enough time to get to the border and out of Germany with the incriminating papers that will expose the German government and its plans for the Jewish People. She is his only hope to ensure the rest of the world learns the truth about the German plans. We never know if she makes it. Like March I hope at she did.
So, although the characters are not always that great the story is good and it moves along at a nice pace. The fact that the nation is preparing for Hitler's birthday adds an extra pressure to the investigative work and keeps the story moving along. March is by far the best character of the bunch and makes up for the mainly  stereotypical other characters. He is a hero you can identify with and you want the best for him. You kind of know that that will not happen but there is at least the glimmer of hope that the story got out and his death will not have been in vain.


Title: Fatherland
Author: Robert Harris
386 pages
Arrow
ISBN NR 0-09-926381-5

Books to be read: 73

The Resistance

I was very good this weekend when doing my food shopping! I managed to not buy two books. They tugged at my heartstrings, messed with my brain. I stood there looking at them and then at the price offer.. two books for only £7.-. That is a good deal... and I really did want them... but I resisted. I picked them up, held them for several minutes and then put them down again and walked away with a pain in my heart.
Funniest thing is, I know am just postponing the inevitable. I will probably get them next weekend. I have no backbone when it comes to not buying books. This much I know to be true. Self knowledge is a great thing and can also be expensive! Ah well, as the Borg said "Resistance if Futile"... why fight it?!

I have finished one more but the review will have to wait a few days as laundry is poling up and needs to be done. I can hear my mum tut her disapproval from here. I'm off to do some folding.

The Devil's in the details

I got another one!! A book that is. I finally made my mind up which book about Scotts final polar trip I wanted. I opted for the Journals. The fact that a man gave everything he had to get to a very very cold place amazes me and I am really looking forward to reading the journals to find out what drove him to this extraordinary feat of human endurance.

At the moment books are a very welcome distraction for me. Work is really busy.. too busy really but I am coping as best I can and trying to remember that I can only do so much. Also heard last week that one of my friends has been diagnosed with a brain tumor and needs an operation. The two combined have been keeping my brain quite busy. Work being busy tries to make me believe that it is important to perform, do well and achieve. My friend being ill makes me realise that actually people are so much more important than work.
I would rather get to the end of my life and look back at all the people I have shared it with, remember the good times I have had with them and the great memories they have let me with than take pride in how much money I have left in the bank. The strange thing is that even if I believe and know this to be true it is still hard to let go of the work stuff and to relax. My life is still a work in progress. I guess this is probably the way it should be. What fun would it be if I knew everything there was to know already. You can have so much fun making mistakes and trying out what suits you best. Mum and I always joke about why all the other people in the world cannot be as perfect as we are as life would be so much easier then. We both know we are not perfect and we both would not have it any other way.


#### SPOILER ALERT ####


Never Let Me Go - Kazuo Ishiguro
Part of the surprise of this one had already been "ruined" by my good self by going to the exhibition in the British Library several months ago. It was one of the books that was discussed in one of the displays as an example of science fiction literature and it mentioned some of the premise of the book. Fortunately for me I could not remember all the details (I have slept since then) but I remembered it was about body parts and people being "grown" for them. Unfortunately for me, that is sort of the whole crux of the book and in a way it was a bit of a shame I already knew. But... the book is still a surprise! On the one hand it seems to be mainly a story about friendships and relationships but it is much more than that. Then there is the the part about the people being grown for body parts. But put together it becomes more that those two parts and it makes you think! I like that about it. I did not think too much about it all when I was reading it. I was focusing on the story and what was happening to the characters. Now that I am looking back I tend to think more about the situation these people were in. How it shaped their lives and what those lives might have been like to live. I wonder how their world differs from my world... or how similar it is.
The story is told by Kathy H who has been a carer for 11 years and she will soon become a donor like all of her friends before her. Initially you do not know really who she cares for or why. Donations are mentioned later on and the fact that she is from Hailsham seems to be important. Even though these people seem to live in a world very similar to ours you pick up on something being off. These people do not live in the same world as we do. Something is different about them. They are here for a specific reason, they are treated differently for a reason.
As I said, Kathy is the one who tells the story of how she got to be where she is now. She tells her story in constant flashbacks which is sometimes a bit tiring. I am all for looking back but to flashback inside a flashback, inside a flashback is sometimes a bit much. Ishiguro does the trick of "let me tell you about this thing even longer ago whilst I am telling you about something not so long ago" quite a bit and at times it gets a bit old. However, the story that unfolds is very interesting. We find out about how Kathy has grown up and the friends that Kathy has made at the school she was sent to called Hailsham. I am just remembering now that I do not remember parents ever being mentioned and I just realised as well that I never questioned that. These kids just are. It is like they come out of nowhere and just all are in these institutions being prepared or something. The other main characters in the book are Ruth and Tommy. The three of them seem to have a kind of connection or bond that inevitably keeps them drifting back in and out of one another's lives. In a way all the stuff they go through is what we all know from our own childhoods. They go to school, make friends, have arguments value the little things in life. But their lives seem different. The school they go to is not like the ones you and I went to. They do not really learn as much as we do. They are taught about the outside world an how it is different from their world. There are people called guardians and at time some of them seem to step out of line just that little bit and a veil is lifted on what the kids' lives will really be about. Bit by bit you get more information. You learn that they are prepared for donations not for "real" life. They will never have families as they cannot have children, they are not prepared for jobs as they job is to give.
Some of the best bits are between Tommy and Kathy. Although they spend most of their young lives just being friends at Hailsham you can tell that they understand one another at some deeper level than just friendship. The fact that they do not get it together is due to Kathy's friends Ruth. She gets in there first and has a relationship of sorts with Tommy. For my life I do not see what he sees in her. I do not like Ruth very much. She seems to me a domineering, shallow and vindictive kind of person who needs to be the centre of attention. At the end of her life she does help get Tommy and Kathy together but then for both of them the time for their happiness seems to have passed. Their moment was back at Hailsham when they were kids and now they can never quite get back the promise of the past.
What I find interesting to observe in myself when reading this book is that once I worked out what exactly was going on I considered myself not one of the Hailsham kids but one of the outsiders, normal people who get the organs donated by these people created for harvesting. It is perhaps rather telling that I tend to see myself as that. I guess it ties in with wanting to believe that I have a choice in my life, I have a soul, I am a full and complete human being. I am not created to make someone else's life complete or to be subservient to them. I am the stronger not the weaker. I wonder if anyone reading it thinks of themselves as a Hailsham kid? Why is that? You understand Kathy and what she experiences, you even identify with all the emotions that she feels and yet you know that she is not like you and you do not really want to trade lives with her either. Perhaps that is part of what Ishiguro want to make you think about as a reader.
I know this review does not tell you much about the story line of the book but that is because for me it is not about the story but about what it evoked in me and what it made me think about.

Title: Never Let Me Go
Author: Kazuo Ishiguro
Faber and Faber
ISBN nr 978-0-571-27212-9

Books bought: 1
Books to be read: 75.. what.. still.. I demand a recount!
.....
Well, I counted them again and also figured out that the one mentioned in my post from 25 July, the one my mum was bringing over... that one was added twice. One that date and again on 4 September. So.. actually I get to deduct another one.

Books to be read: 74

BP but not as you know it

Finished another one!! Hurrah.
Not sure I am really going to need spoiler alert for this one as it is a factual book. However, if you do not want to know about the amazing work carried out during the Second World War by so many people in a small part of present day Milton Keynes then look away now and go and paint your toe nails or sort your laundry.

Station X - Michael Smith
This is the amazing story of the codebreakers that worked in Bletchley Park (BP) during the Second World War and everyone should read this one!
The efforts of the people who worked on breaking into the codes that were used by the Germans and Japanese are simply amazing. The way that they laboured on day after day trying to get one step ahead of the enemy is such a wonderful and interesting story and shows the true dedication of the people selected for the task.
The main thing that the people working at BP tried to do was break into the messages sent by the Germans about the movement of all the separate parts of their armies. The Germans were not making it easy for the Brits by using a thing called an Enigma machine. Basically it was a sort of typewriter with keys used to type the message, a keyboard to read off the encrypted letter and several wheels that would turn every so often changing the link between the letter typed and the one encrypted. Sounds easy to figure out but was not. You have to remember that this was all before the time of computers and fast mainframes. All they had in BP was pens and paper, an awful lot of very, very clever people and a lot of black coffee.
The book tells the story of who the people were that did this decoding work and how they approached their job. It gives you a very good insight in what it was like to work in an environment where you really only knows what you do and not what someone in the building next door is doing. Nor do you know what the consequences of your work are. All you know is that you have solved your part of the puzzle and that would make you more proud than anything in the world. One of the best parts of the book is the little anecdotes that the survivors tell of the people that worked there. some of them were as brilliant as they were eccentric. One of my favourite stories tells of one of these men standing by the lake on the grounds with a cup of coffee in his hands. After he had finished it he looked kind of at a loss at what to do with it so he threw the cup in the lake! Other stories tell of the antics they got up to with laundry baskets and games of rounders with the Americans that nearly started another war. then there are the stories of the excitment that was felt when you knew they had broken a code and that you had contributed to it in one way or another. These people took real pride in their work and are some of the unsung heroes of WWII. Some historians say that the work carried out in BP took about 3 years of the duration of the war so their contribution must not be underestimated.
What you have to remember is that there was not just one code that the Germans were using.. oh no the crafty invaders used several different codes for each part of their military machine. There were an Enigma code for the Navy, Army and all of them changed on a regular basis. The only reason the English were able to get into the codes was that the Germans were so convinced that they were the master race they were not always as careful as they should have been in how they used their coding en encrypting. Sometimes it seems a really insignificant, almost stupid mistake that gave the codebreakers a way in. It could be that they send the same message with different enigma settings, forgot to encode part of a message or simply not bother to change the settings on the enigma machines.

It is hard to imagine what the world at the time of BP was really like but this books gives you a really good insight into the people that worked in BP and how they experienced the war. It tells of the geniuses that contributed to the code breaking, the challenges they faced, the prejudices they had to overcome to get their contributions recognised and the impact their work had on the shaping of the new world post WWII. It is a fascinating read and I cannot recommend it highly enough and I am so proud that I live in the city where the museum is now based. It is a great place to visit.

By the way, BP is also called Station X. Not for any super cool reason and to make it sound all fancy but simply because it was the tenth station station in the line.

Title: Station X
Author: Michael Smith
Pan Books
ISBN nr 978-0-330-41929-1

Books to be read: 75

Post Holiday Update

It almost seems that all I do nowadays is travel, have holidays and time off. I can assure you that is not the case.... if only. What bliss it would be if one could make a living of just traveling around, not doing very much of anything. I must remember to buy that lottery ticket. Apparently you have to be in it to win it!? I am not going to be greedy and ask for a big win. Just a little one will do. All I really need is enough to keep me off work for a little while and/or make my dream come true.



No books finished but do have another one to declare. It is not really a reading book but one with all sorts of puzzles and riddles in it. I did think for a moment not to include it in the list but as I have included "You are what You Eat" as well I thought I kind of had to include this one as well.

Books received from mum during holiday: 1
Books to be read: 76


Also.. if some weird stuff happens over the next few days with this post then it is Blogger's fault. I just clicked a location tab and it seems to now think I am in 3900 Rd, Coffeyville, KS 67337 USA... I'm not.. let's see if we can fix this... ahah.. found the remove button!

Moving on

I finally managed to finish my book! Hurrah!! For a whole it seemed that it was going to take forever and ever but at last I got some time and persuaded my brain that reading was essential to it relaxing. It worked.
It has been good to get reading again. I have missed it. This not reading much phase happened to coincide with me getting stressed at work as well and it made me realise how important reading really is to me and how it relaxes my brain. Reading helps to keep my mind focused as I cannot read without paying attention to what I am reading. If I let my mind wander off I have to go and re-read bits as I do not remember what I read. Paying attention to the story makes my mind focus and blocks out all the day to day stuff like what to have for dinner, when to do the laundry and in the case of getting stressed about work, how many installs were going to go ahead and was it all going to be okay and did I tell the right person about what needed to happen on what day and so on and so forth. It was driving me mad! Add to that that I was feeling really run down and I seem to have caught this weird slightly sore throat thing that makes me sounds a bit hoarse, cough a bit but does not really develop into anything serious (... yet.. feels like it still might sometimes). I had to take some time off and ended up staying home for Tuesday and Wednesday. Tuesday I called in sick and then went back to bed to sleep until about 1.00pm. Felt tired and took it easy and tried to relax my mind. Read a bit but not too much and watched more telly than was good for me. On Wednesday I was a bit better but had to take myself out for a walk to sort my head out and realise that sunshine, a bubbling stream and flowers are to be enjoyed and it is not all about work. That worked and I felt loads better after that. Went back home and read some more and my brain let me focus and get on with reading. Hence, the finishing of one book and the start of another.


#### SPOILER ALERT ####


Hideaway - Dean Koontz
It had been while since I read one of mr Koontz' books. This one was a good one.
It starts off with a story that focuses on Lindsey who keenly feels the loss of her son and feels it has changed her relationship with her husband but is powerless to do anything about it. she and her husband then get into an accident where she almost dies and he does. Only... he is selected to be treated by a very experienced resuscitation team who bring him back to life. Then emphasis then shifts to the husband Hatch and becomes more about how he deals with the new lease on life. Naturally it has changed their relationship as well and they are actually able to deal with the grief for the loss of their son. They even start planning a new future with an adoptive child. Regina is an orphan with some minor disabilities but mainly very afraid of getting hurt and rejected. She tries her best not to be liked but Hatch and Lindsey cannot really help but like her. Hatch, Lindsey, Regina and the doctor that saves Hatch (Jonas Nyebern) represent all that is good in the world. The innocence of the child, the love that Hatch and Lindsey have and the selfless way that Nyebern dedicates himself to saving lives.
Mixed in with this is the story of Vassago. A deeply trouble soul who prefers to live his life in darkness. He has some very weird ideas on the best use of iron bars and timber that I do not think he picked up in a wood work for beginners course. He needs to kill. He wants to earn his way back into Hell. Where he has been before and he feels that taking other peoples live and "displaying" them in a way that shows their "sins" will earn him a place back with his master. Throughout the book you learn more about Vassago and how he became what he did. It is a combination of inheriting his granddad genetic disposition to psychotic behaviour and a possible negligent dad who as busy making hos own career rather than facing up to what was happening right under his nose.
Where the two stories is when Hatch gets visions of people dying horrible deaths and Vassago sees this beautiful woman in his dreams that he knows he must add to his collection. In some strange way these two have become linked. It takes a while for them both to figure out how this bond works and how to use it to their advantage. It is worse for Hatch who is a peaceful, kind man. He has to endure Vassago murdering, relishing in violence and anger and living in the darkness. Vassago in turn becomes obsessed with finding this woman, Lindsey so he can add her to his collection.
The twist comes when we find out a bit more about Vassago. He turns out to be the good doctor Nyeberns' son. A boy called Jeremy who killed his own mother and sister, pretended to be all retarded after that and then escaped only to kill and kill. You kind of feel that the doctor is the link between Hatch and Vassago but I was not really prepared for him to be the good doctor's son.
The book is well paced in the action bits and at the same time deals with some sensitive issues - the loss of a child and how it affects relationships between the survivors, bringing people back from the dead at what cost, is there such a thing as people who are truly good and truly evil. There is a good balance between what happens to Hatch and Vassago and you get to see the story develop from both sides, one side adding to the other and slowly realising what is going on.
The only down side for me is the slightly moralising lessons at the end of the book. Especially from page 497 onwards. The bit about perceiving experiences in different ways and taking different things from them followed by the doctor becoming a vet and turning away from resuscitation medicine (page 498), then followed by Regina's finding a friend in God, Lindsey realising she has live for the now and not be afraid of life coming at you and, finally, Hatch realising he had done his bit to stop evil (even though he never really understands why he was chosen). I know Koontz is rounding up his story and show us there is a way through the ugliness of evil but he seems to be pushing the point a bit. And yet... for all the weird things that happen to the main characters Koontz seems to also want to remind us that even if all this evil happens to you it does not change you drastically if you have the good in you to balance it out (Lindsey, hatch, Regina, the doctor all survive - Jeremy does not... this time). It may make you value life more but make you no less scared of what is to come. It may make you realise that you do not need to pay constant attention to God, as long as you are aware he is around and that if you had a laid back attitude to life something like this will not fundamentally change you. It may just make you more at ease with your life and who you are meant to be.
So.. apart from the moral lesson at the end.. a good read. But be prepared to be grossed out slightly about what Vassago does to his victims and where he keeps them and what an evil little s#&t he really is.


Title: Hideaway
Author: Dean Koontz
Headline
501 pages
ISBN nr: 978-0-7553-5953-0

Books to be read: 75

Leaving on a jet plane

I finally figured out who I can blame for me not making a dent in this book I am attempting to finish at the moment. The guilty parties are: Easyjet and the manufacturer of my laptop bag. I feel that both have seriously contributed to me not being able to fill the time spent waiting for flights and sitting on trains with reading. My case is this: My boss sent me to Holland for a meeting. Naturally any type of travel involves waiting for things to arrive, waiting for things to leave and sitting on the aforementioned thing needing to spend the time in a useful, or semi-useful manner. People watching is one of my favourite pastimes so I tend to indulge in a bit of that whenever I can. Let's be honest airports and train stations are just about the most perfect places to do some people watching! The next favourite thing to do whilst waiting for time to pass is read. However, after packing all the essentials in my laptop bag I was not able to fit in a book any more. Why do these bags not come with a expandable section for people like me who want to pack just that one little extra thing that would make the trip soooooo much more complete? But... there was no room for even a small pocket book, let alone a 501 paged Dean Koontz one. If only then, the good people of Easyjet would allow me to take a small handbag on board as well as my laptop bag. This little addition to my luggage allowance would have enabled me to get through a good few hundred pages. But no... they had to go and spoil the fun as well. So there I was with nothing to do but people watch and although it was good fun I would have liked my book there as well.

Slaying dragons

Another weekend gone, another two books to add to the total.
I went to do my food shopping and spotted a couple of nice books at Sainburys. Not even supermarkets are safe from my book buying frenzy. I got two for the price of one so I did save myself some money... a whole books worth of money actually. Which technically means that I can buy another book to fill the hole left by saving the money of buying these as a two for one... mmmm, book logic... I like this kind of reasoning!
The books I treated myself to are The Lord of the Flies and the latest Patricia Cornwell one, Port Mortuary.

In between doing the food shop and slaying dragons and other weird looking horned creatures in my DSi game I did manage to get some reading done as well. Saturday was the day for it. Read loads sitting on the sofa with a coffee, sun at the back of my neck and my Caro Emerald CD playing over and over again. Some days are just so close to perfection that it seems almost unreal!

Books bought: 2
Books to be read: 76

The Spell is broken

At last.... the spell is broken and I have managed to crash through the mental barrier placed in front of my non-book buying behaviour. Did I skip over it with one book.. no way. I hurtled over it with 4 new books to add to the total. I have to say - it feels good!
I acquired my lovely new books on Sunday when I was meeting a friend for some coffee over in Stony Stratford. I nipped into the Willen Hospice book shop for just a few minutes and that was all it took. I bought Never Let Me Go (remembered it from my recent British Library science fiction adventure), Thin Air - a ghost story anthology and two more Graham Greene books (Monsieur Quixote and The Honorary Consul).

I am actually reading a new one as well. It is the turn of mr Koontz again. About 60 pages in and I have one corps but maybe not for much longer. It is a miracle really, that in between watching the Hollyoaks omnibus, doing a food shop, making a nice salad and tidying away the laundry I found time to read this weekend but I do like to attempt the improbable.

With the spell broken the new tally now reads:
Books bought: 4
Books to be read: 74

Short and not so sweet

Luton Airport has proved to be a good place to do a bit of reading. Who knew that time spent waiting or a flight information screen to change would be good for catching up on reading?! I managed to get through about half a book waiting for my flight at Luton Airport. Between looking up at the board every 10 minutes to see if my gate was open already (you know it will not show the gate until the boarding starts but you still have to check just the same), watching people go by, getting a coffee and some early dinner/late lunch I feel rather pleased about the result. Then once I got on the plane I managed to get through a bit more. The rest of it I finished off yesterday.. whilst the washing was going round and round and round and round...


#### SPOILER ALERT #####


The Postman Always Rings Twice - James M. Cain
For years I thought that this was only a movie and ignorant of the fact that it was based on a real novel. I never did see the movie. I was not around when it was first released and never got round to watching it  once I was an adult. All I really knew about when I was younger it was that had a reputation for being slightly saucy and therefore possibly off limits for me at my tender young age. They even did a remake of it in 1981 but that did not appear on my radar either. I guess I was not into my 1940s American literature. Not that I think that any of my professors at Uni would ever put this one on the reading list... well... they the ones that are missing out.
On the book's cover Dashiell Hammett describes it as a "good, swift violent story" - I concur! It is a neat little package which seems one thing at the start, develops into another in the middle and morphs into something different altogether again by the end. It starts out as the story of a drifter (Frank) who has his wicked way with the wife (Cora) of the garage/diner owner he helps out. Together they hatch a plan to rid themselves of the husband. Their first attempt gets thwarted by a cat. However, a second attempt is planned. They set it up meticulously, make sure they have witnesses and go through what they will tell the police and how they will behave towards each other. What could possibly go wrong with the perfect preparation and Cora and Frank actually succeed in getting rid of the Greek. At one point they almost mess it up by their lust for one another and their desire to be together.. at the crash site. So, the Greek is suitably dispatched with in a staged car accident and it is after this that things go awry. Frank is hurt more than he had perhaps intended to and there is a lawyer sniffing around who thinks he smells a rat. He manages to back Frank into a corner, Frank chickens out and signs a statement to say Cora is the one who set it all up. Poor Frank thinks he can play the world but the world is really playing him. Frank makes the obvious choice of saving his own neck rather than trusting in others. In the end it is another slick lawyer that gets them both off, gets them an insurance pay out and all seems to be going well. Except for the fact that now Cora does not trust Frank and Frank does not trust Cora. They stay on in the diner and Cora seems determined to make it work, whereas Frank is determined to blow the joint and start drifting again. Then Cora's mum gets sick and she has to go away. Frank uses the time go away too. When Cora returns things change. They need one another and Cora's news that she pregnant means that for once in his life Frank might just man up and do the right thing. If only they would have stayed away from the beach. Needless to say things do not end well for Cora or Frank. Cora meets an ironically fitting end and Frank ends up where you always thought he would.... prison.
I really liked the characters in this book. the way Cain describes them is really alive and raw. The only ones you really remember in the end are Cora and Frank. The guy that gets killed is not really that important - bad news for the Greek but it fits. The guy that gets them off, no charges filed is not really that important - well he is a lawyer, how important are they anyway? The story is really about the two lovers. You see that these are not polished people. They are at times almost wild, make mistakes let their basic emotions rule them and follow their instincts. They seem to be intuitively drawn to each other as they first meet and you know then that it might not end well. Something is brewing between Cora and Frank from the first time they meet. Although they are scheming and manipulative in what they are trying to do, yet you feel for them. Frank is a drifter. He has probably been a disappointment to everyone he has ever met or been involved with. You know it will be no different this time round yet I like him as a character. He is cheeky, if he sees something he wants he goes and gets it, he is a man of action and energy. You can tell from the descriptions he would be a good looking guy and t kind of confidence he has would make him very attractive. Cora is presented as slightly sultry with a point to prove to the world. She makes sure that people do not pigeon hole her. You know that she will not let you get away with anything either. She is clever and also ruled by her passion, however she has made a choice to marry the Greek to get her out of a hole she did not feel she belonged. Then Frank comes along and shows her a life with no limits, no responsibilities except to one the one you really love.
There is a bit of violence in this book - Frank does not treat Cora well all the time, they kill for each other and people get beaten up. It is a gritty world they live in. It is no a romantic world, however it feels like the characters fit in there. This is where you wold meet them. People like Frank and Cora do not get the white picket fence or the slippers by the armchair. These people live on the edge of life - hanging on to what they have, getting what they want, however they have to go about it.
There are a few scenes in the novel that do not make sense at first sight and perhaps we could have done without. Why the blackmail story line, why did Cora have to go away to her mum, why did Frank have to cheat, but I guess having said that... The blackmail got them to show a united front again. Going away from Frank made Cora think about her future. Having the affair showed us that a leopard does not change its spots.
The ending of the books is very clever - Who is right and who is wrong..... it seems that it is all a matter of perspective. Having the book turn out to be Franks "confession" is great. The fact that even he doubts what his real motives were and what really happened is genius.
In short - I loved it! It's raw, short and sweet and has plenty of action. It drags you into the story and spits you out at the end wondering about how to feel about Frank and Cora and what they did or did not do.

Title: The Postman Always Rings Twice
Author: James M. Cain
Orion Books
116 pages
ISBN nr 978-0-7528-6174-6


PS: I also brought back two books from my NL visit and a friend gave me one as a belated birthday present as well so I have 3 books to declare. I also have to say that that there is still an unknown amount of books at my mum's that I have not read but I have chosen to keep them out of the "To be read"-total for now as I have no idea how many there are and they are all on a different continent too so that is another excu.. ehm reason not to include them... not that I need one...

Books read: 1
Books brought back from stock NL: 2
Books received as belated birthday present by friend and presently still in NL but being delivered by Mum when she comes over in August so added to the count now: 1

Books to be read: 70... again?! Is there an echo in here??

The sting is in the tail

Today has been a pretty good day. It started off with a bit of a lie in (until about 9.00), was followed by the Hollyoaks Omnibus (some good episodes!) and continued on with a shopping trip to the city centre (bought myself a new top and some useful holiday bits). To finish it all off, I have a lovely chicken roasting in the oven and it should be done in about half an hour! 
Mother Nature was kind today as well with the sun streaming into the living room. I was awake and alert (something that does not always happen on a Sunday afternoon), had my snack and drink (non-alcoholic) close at hand, in truth, the reading conditions were just about perfect. So, I once again find myself at the review stage.


##### SPOILER ALERT #####


Rosemary's Baby - Ira Levin
The only other book I have ever read by Ira Levin is The Boys From Brazil. I enjoyed that one. It had a good story to it. It had just enough truth in it to make it border on the believable and that fact, that what he described could take place, made it all the more spine chilling. This one is sort of the same.
It starts out as a story of  a young couple (Rosemary and Guy) moving into their first home together. They are happy and in love and the place seems just about perfect. Guy's career as an actor seems to be slow in taking off but everyone believes he will get his big break soon, Rosemary most of all. She seems a normal, strong independent woman. She married against the wishes of her family and is not really in touch with them any more but Guy and the friends she has made since coming to New York seem to be all she needs. They cancel a lease on another place as Rosemary has always wanted to live in The Bramford. She sees it as a place to raise a family. One of her friends, Hutch has some doubts about them moving in to their new place. He knows that some weird things took place there in the past (people eating babies and witchcraft being practiced there) but this is not enough to dissuade the young couple to give up the apartment. They laugh it off and get on with settling in. Once they get the place decorated the way they want married bliss erupts. In between being mr and mrs Blissfully Happy they get to meet some of the neighbours, notably mrs and mr Castevets and although she (Minnie - as in Mouse) seems a bit nosey they seem friendly and harmless enough. Guy does not want to mingle with the Castevets at first but later on they become like second parents to him. Apparently mr Castevets (Roman - as in Holiday) has been everywhere and has some great stories to tell and Guy is all ears.
There is nothing too sinister going on in the first part of the book. Well, that is if you discount the girl falling to her death from the 7th floor. A girl that Rosemary met in the laundry room only a few days earlier. Then there also is some weird dream that Rosemary has about being carried on a bier through a linen closet, hearing chanting, seeing naked people dance around her and being violated by some devil or other. But hey,.... don't we all get those sort of dream every now and again? Perhaps it is also a bit strange that Guy seems distant from her one day and then changes his mind about wanting to have kids all of a sudden. They love the place they live in, light fires, have dinner with the Castevets and all is well. The fact that they seem to socialise less and less with their old friends and more and more with the Castevets is slightly odd but apart from that Guy seems to be Guy and the neighbours seem nice as pie.. life could not be more perfect. Then Rosemary finds that she is pregnant. Naturally the Castevets know a good doctor and they insist she goes to see him and not the one that Rosemary's friend suggested to her. We meet Dr Hill and he seems like a nice enough guy. He worries Rosemary (and us) a bit when he asked her to come back in for more blood tests but he seems perfectly capable. Then again, so does the good dr Sapirstein.
By this time, as a reader you kind of guess that something is up. Rosemary even at times seems to know that something is wrong but her fears are only fleeting and most of the time she ignores them trusting those around her to do right by her. There is something ever so slightly unhealthy in the way the Minnie tries to (s)mother Rosemary. Then there is the way that the good doctor advises her to trust no-one concerning her pregnancy (well except him off course) and to take only the advice he gives her. It feels as if "they" are trying to separate her from her old friends and preparing her for something as well. Minnie keeps bringing over the green drinks and some cake and insists that she take it while she is there. Rosemary has a few flare ups of resistance - she invites their old friends round for a party and promises to go see a different doctor about her stomach pains. She stops drinking the gunk that Minnie feeds her thinking it is making her sick. When she catches up with her old friend Hutch he tells her she looks terrible and that he does not trust what is happening to her. From what she tells him you can tell the hairs on the back of his neck are prickling, which makes you more guarded as a reader. When Roman joins them briefly there seems to be some tension between the two men but nothing to disquiet Rosemary. She is a bit more disquieted when Hutch ends up in a come a little later.... as are you as a reader. Again, Levin places little bits of doubt in your mind and unlike Rosemary you are not inside the story being manipulated so you can sense that something is about to go very, very wrong. All the strange stuff that has been going on combined with Rosemary's doubts about what she feels and senses is about to come to a head.
Then Hutch dies and when Rosemary goes to the service she gets given a book and a message. The book is on witchcraft and the message is the "name is an anagram". This is good fun as it gets you thinking, whose name? I ended up thumbing through a few pages to see what the characters were all named and seeing if I could spell out something sinister with the letters from one of their names - Alas, no luck. I've always been rubbish at scrabble unlike Rosemary. She hits the jackpot when she figures out that mr Castevets is actually Steven Marcato, son of a witch who lived in the Bramford and was involved in some strange goings on there. She goes off on a train of thought that you hope leads to her getting her things together and getting out of that place, back to her friends who want only the best for her. But no.. Guy manages to settle her down and once again married bliss returns.... briefly. Rosemary is by now way too suspicious to let things lie and when she finds out that Guy has been lying to her about some other things she finally gets out of the apartment and runs to her old doctor and tells all. Unfortunately for Rosemary the good dr Hill delivers her back into the arms she is trying to escape from. The pretence is over now and we all know where we stand.
Rosemary is taken back to her home and very soon after gives birth. She is told the child has died. Some part of her knows they are lying to her and she is proven right. She manages to get to her child but he is not quite what she expected. Initially she does not want to know and thinks about ending it for both her and her baby. But she decides against this. Maybe it is something is those fierce eyes of her little boy, or the cute gloves he is wearing?

I enjoyed this one. Not only is that clear from the fact that it took me only two days to read it but also from the fact that I was sad it ended when it did. Don't get me wrong it ended in the right place. It leaves you with just enough doubt about what is going to happen that you turn the last page thinking "you clever little s...". The main characters are likable. The Castevets are written in way that they do raise some suspicion about their behaviour and interference but not enough to make any major alarm bells go off. Guy is nice enough, though a bit selfish and arrogant. Rosemary is written in a way that you feel she ought to be clever enough to have to realise what is happening to her but the people around her are equally clever and she is so isolated that by the time she realises what is really going on she is way beyond saving or redemption.
It is the borderline between truth and fiction that makes this one work. Everything that you read borders on the realistic and plausible (well, most of it). Levin gives you hint of what might be going on and then pulls the wool over you eyes again, tells you it will all be okay. He keeps doing this and yet keeps it interesting enough for the reader to keep on reading. It does not feel like he is taking you by the hand too much. He nudges rather than pushes you in the right direction. You find out some things as Rosemary does and you get to follow her train of thought. She is your main link in the story and you can relate to her. He keeps you involved in the present story line and gives you a little extra every now and again. Levin weaves his story well, dropping little hints about what is going on. Sometimes you miss them, other times you put them aside as irrelevant. I just remembered a one liner about one of the neighbours knitting someting for the new arrival. Rosemary comments that it is sweet of the woman but that the little bootees are rather strangely shaped... yeah.. I bet they are!

Title: Rosemary's Baby
Author: Ira Levin
Pan Books Ltd
205 pages
ISBN nr 0 330 02115 x

Books to be read: 68

Dear Blog,

Before I get on to reviewing my recently finished book I have to mention an absolutely fantastic exhibition at the British Library. On Saturday my best friend Becky and I went down to London for the day and apart from some Meanderthaling and eating some seriously scrumptious Greek food we also went to see an exhibition at the British Library. The exhibition is called: Out of this world. Science Fiction but not as you know it, and it is absolutely BRILLIANT!!! We spent about 4 hours in the Library and I am thinking of writing them a letter to see if they will let me live in their basement and cuddle some books.
The exhibition was about Science Fiction throughout the ages and dealt with various aspects of the genre: alien worlds, future worlds, parallel worlds, virtual worlds, the end of the world and if we can ever create the perfect world. It gave us examples of each genre and the god thing was that they had the books open in some cases so you could read a bit of what was on the pages. The little bits of text to accompany the books were good and for once I my life  actually read 99% of them. Usually I like to skip some of the explanations but in this case I was so engrossed with the subject that I wanted to read it all.
The exhibition is on until the 25th of September so get yourself down there!!!!
If nothing else going to this exhibition has definitely given me some new ideas on what books I want to read in the future.. whatever that future looks like.

Not only is the exhibition brilliant the room with Treasures of the British Library is well worth a visit as well. They have some of the most beautiful manuscripts out on display and it is a joy to look at them. You end up marveling at the skill involved in making them and wondering how they managed to preserve them for all this time. In a way it is strange to see that we still have some of these old books when nowadays books are everywhere in great quantities and, in many cases are considered almost a disposable object (depending on the edition you buy). Nobody cares too much if they leave a book on the train. Books are relatively cheap (and yet at times still to dear for us mainly second hand book buyers) and readily available and you know you can just get a new one whenever you want. I am pretty sure the illuminated manuscripts on display in the British Library have never been left on a train. They would not even have left the monastery, palace or the lord of the manor's library and were probably locked away from prying eyes most of the time. Anyway.. on with the show.


#### SPOILER ALERT ####


Graham Greene, A life in Letters - Richard Greene (Ed.)
I bought this one when I went to a lecture by David Crystal during the Graham Green Festival in Berkhamstead back in 2009. I had heard of the festival by some weird quirk of fate. I am a fan of the actor Vincent D'Onofrio. He has made a short movie called Five Minutes Mr Welles which is set during the shooting of The Third Man and deals with Orson Welles' fear to tackle his part, his struggle to do justice to the book and yet keep his creative freedom in interpreting what Greene had put down on the page. I read on a D'Onofrio fansite that the short was going to be shown at this festival in England, looked into it and found that it was in Berkhamstead (only 20 mins or so by train from where I live). So I decided to see if I could get a ticket go and see it. Turns out that The Third Man was the central theme of the festival in 2009 and there were a number of other interesting lectures and events as well. So, I went to see the movie and the next day went along to mr Crystal's lecture on the use of language and accents in Graham Greene (apparently having n accent does not bode well for your life span as a Graham Green character) and browsed round the various Graham Greene books on sale in the room. I had not read that much of Graham Greene at that time but remembered him from my Uni days and was interested in hat the man was like. Usually letters can tell you a good deal about a person as they are very.. well.. personal.
It is kind of hard to review a book of letters. You cannot really say that a particular letter was well written of good, or had a good plot. I guess I can really only judge it by the enjoyment factor and I really did enjoy reading this book! Once again I did not read the introduction to the book so if there was anything useful in it I'm sorry I missed it. I did not really know a lot about GG's private life to begin and that was probably a good thing. Sometimes the less you know, the more you will understand. I definitely understand more about the man behind the books now. I had to crack a smile when in I read the first letter in the book. It  is one written by Graham at the age of sixteen going in a trip with his Aunt and visiting her husband who owned a coffee business in Brazil. Well that solves the problem of how Travels with My Aunt came about.
The image that I get from GG is one of a man who struggles with various things during his life. His passion for women, his love for more than one woman and his faith as a Catholic. He tries to come to terms with all of these with a varying degree of success. His marriage to Vivienne does not strike me as a particularly happy one (he seems almost happy to be separated from he due to the Second WW when she moves away from London but he stays behind). His earlier affairs seem to be a mix of lust and love and it is not until the end of his life that he finds his balance and a relationship (with a married woman) that gives him the anchor in the storm that he needs.
Greene also strikes me as a loyal friend and one who will give his honest opinion whenever he can. His letter to Evelyn Waugh are a joy to read and you can tell that he respected him immensely. It is also good to see that his sense of humour comes across the same way in his letters as it does in his books. He has a cynicism to him that you see reflected in the characters he paints in his books.
He also seems to be fond of an adventure or two and is eager to explore new worlds and new experiences. Perhaps because he knows it will enrich his world and imagination so he can use that in future books. It was great to read of how all his travels helped him find the inspiration for his books and how combinations of people he met helped create the characters we love in his books. He literally went all over the place to find his inspiration: Africa, South America, Cuba and even Brighton.
Some of the letters are to his fellow authors, some to his family and lovers some to regular, average Joe people who wrote to him telling him of their experiences reading his books or asking him questions on how to resolve their own dilemmas. He deals with them all in a very sincere way and never seems to put people down or get the better of them. He does some time put people in their place and is not afraid to let critics know what he thinks of them, or even his fellow authors. One letter in particular to Mervyn Peake about his manuscript for Titus Groan can be classified as harsh but fair and Peak seems to have taken Greene's comments to heart.
The book has given me more of an insight into who Graham Green was. I understand more of him and can see how he struggled with various issues in his life and how he used his novels as a way to explore how he felt about life as it went on. I look forward to reading more of his books and seeing if I can find some of the things he talks about in his letters in the story on the pages and between the lines of them.
Well worth the read if you want to know more about the man behind the books!!


Title: Graham Greene. A life in Letters.
Author: Richard Greene (Ed.)
432 pages
Little, Brown
ISBN nr 978-0-3167-2793-8

Books to be read: 69

Burn Baby Burn

Although there in nothing much to report on the book front I can announce that I have caught the first sun of the year. If you put a traffic cone on my head and gave me a green skirt to wear I could probably help stop traffic. I did spend some time wandering around outside today. I went to see a friend of mine for a bit of a BBQ. However, I did not spend that much time in the sun. Just walking out and about for about 50 minutes in all. The rest of the day was spent sitting on a comfortable chair in the shade. Maybe they had some special kind of sun over where I was? It has been a good day today. Nice little BBQ, nice catch up and nice bus trip there and back. I like going on the bus. It was a double decker so I sat on the top level and just feasted my eyes on the gorgeous English countryside.... nice!
The not-book buying phase has still not come to an end.... might have to see if I can break the dry spell somehow. I just cannot get over how much new books cost in the shops nowadays. Normally I tend to pick up second hand ones and they are all just a couple of pounds, if that. Sometimes a new book even of just about 150 pages will cost £7.99...... I want at least 200 to 250 pages for that kind of money. I might have to resort to buying on line but have not really decided what has priority yet... soooooo many books to choose from.



The book of Graham Greene's letters is progressing well. You can actually recognise the writing from the books in the letters he writes. His sense of humor comes through as well. Still quite a bit to go on them so once I complete this post I will delve into some more of it.

Goods to Declare

I may not seem to be able to buy any books but I have managed to acquire another one none the less. A friend I used to work with has been clearing out his garage and found a few that he thought I might find interesting. I ended up saying "no thank you" to the No1 Ladies Detective Agency but said "yes please" to Robert Harris' Fatherland. The scores on the doors are now:


Books given: 1
Books to be read: 70

At the moment I am reading a book with letters from Graham Greene. Very interesting to get an insight into his private thoughts and correspondence.

Mind over matter

I am sorry to report that I seem to be losing my touch when it comes to finding books to buy. Well, actually.. let me rephrase that. I seem to be losing my touch hen it comes to finding cheap books to buy. I went into the Age Concern Bookshop in Wolverton yesterday and had a good rummage through all the book shelves and could not find one single book that took my fancy. I feared that perhaps I had trained my mind so well in the not buying books mentality that I had subconsciously raised a book buying barrier in my brain that would not let me part with any money in a book store. So I decided to put the theory to the test by going into another 2 bookshops today. A Waterstones in MK was my first port of call. I went in and immediately spotted a couple of books that I would not mind having but then my conscience kicked and as I looked at the price I thought... You know, I could probably get these cheaper online?! Yeah.. let's do that. I have yet to order them. Then I went into WH Smith where the signs of buy-one-get-one-half-price screamed at me from the minute I got into the store. Again, I noticed a few books that I was tempted by but then again my conscience kicked in and told me... You know. Buy one get one half price is not that good a deal. Buy one get one FREE would be a better deal. Also, if you bought them online you might be able to get more for your money. So, once again I let out a sigh and went out of the store.
Now, if I am honest I do have plenty of books that I still have to read. But it is always so nice to have something to read that you can look forward to. To have that book that you have been looking for for so long or have become intrigued by because you heard about it or have wanted to read since you were a child or that you heard someone else talk about and are sure that you will like too. So for now reason and my conscience reign victorious in the (non) book buying sector of my brain but I am sure I will catch them out..... eventually.

#### SPOILER ALERT ####

Ghosts over Britain - Peter Moss
I notice from the first page that I have had this one lying around since June 2008. I fear there may be more like this on my stack of books to be read. I bought this one on a little expedition to the bookshop in Wolverton. I remember buying it and going for a Full English in the Agora afterwards. I am not sure which I enjoyed more? Finding the book or eating the breakfast.
The books is in essence a collection of factual ghost stories, sightings and strange goings on in Britain. It does exactly what it says on the tin. The events retold are all noted down from the people who experienced them and collected in several (sort of random) categories. The events portrayed range from ghost pigs, to eyes in floor boards, animals going beserk and malevolent spirits wandering in and out of houses. As you might expect a number of the stories feature old mansions and churches but it seems that the regular two up two down is not stranger to haunting presences either.
One of the tales that struck a chord with me is one of the earlier ones. It tells about a young woman going to stay with some friends and being awoken by some female presence only to find out the next day that the person that used to live in the room committed suicide there. I am not sure what amazed me more about this one. the fact that she saw the ghost of the suicide victim or the fact that the people who let her stay in the room had not even bothered to change the bed or mattress since the event took place. There is also the one about the headless cyclist. Being a cyclist myself I can tell you that we are kind of attached to our heads in more ways than one. A man spots a cyclist plodding through the snow towards a car and only afterwards realises that it seemed as if the guy was headless. The car does not slow down but the inevitable crash does not materialise. The landlord of a pub close by obliges in revealing the origins of the story. Someone was knocked of their bike there.. about 25 years ago.
The book shows ghosts in their many different guises. Some are helpful and try to prevent bad things from happening to those they appear to. Others seem hell bent on taunting and torturing the ones they visit. There is also a fair few stories in which animals seem to be the ones who are more aware of something being here. Dogs or cats that refuse to go into certain rooms. One story mentions a dog that goes crazy when a family moves into their new home. It gets so bad that they have to re-home the dog and as soon as that happens it becomes its usual cheery self again. There is even one about Bletchley where there is a ghost nurse that wanders round the wards of the RAF sick quarters. She and her trolley of surgical equipment seem to vanish through a wall of the ward.
All in all, this is a nice little collection of factual ghost stories of all over Britain. Nothing spectacular but worth the reading.

Title: Ghosts over Britain
Author: Peter Moss
173 pages
Book Club Associates
no ISBN nr

Books to be read: 69

Way to go

This is not a "another day another book finished"-post. I am still reading my way through a ghost story one and have about half the book to go... perhaps finish it next weekend, depending on how much reading I get done this week.

However, I do have something else I have been meaning to get off my chest. It has to do with some little blue creatures called Smurfs. Apparently they are not as innocent as I always presumed them to be. Let me explain how I found this out.
My sister very kindly keeps me posted on interesting Dutch news, on little things she feels I would find interesting or quirky. She has great taste in this department and the articles she sends always make me chuckle or go "mmmm, interesting" or "mmm, weird but interesting". Also, I love getting post the old fashioned way by proper post, not e-mail or Facebook  message so it serves a double purpose. Anyhoo... back to the Smurfs. This article sis sent me mentioned that when the Smurfs were first introduced in the 1960s that some Americans had trouble on how to interpret the Smurfs!? This made me go: Really.... how? As far as I can see they are a race of blue cartoon characters that live together and get up to all sorts. That is all there is to it. But apparently the Smurfs and their tendencies to wear their white, tight little trousers and white pointy hats made our American friends think that they are gay and/or members of the Ku Klux Klan (the article does not mention which they would consider to be worse?). I myself do not see the comparison but if you look hard enough you will always find what you seek I guess. Maybe this analysis says more about the person than the actual facts presented? To add to the raw deal for the Smurfs there is also a French writer (Antoine Bueno) who has now written a book presenting "a serious sociological study" of the world of the Smurfs, and it is not good news. According to mr Bueno the Smurfs live in a society that is "the embodiment of a totalitarian utopian society, drenched in Stalinisn and Nazism". Poor Smurfs. I always thought they seemed rather happy go lucky and cheery to be living in their little world.
I do have a few simple words of advice for mr Bueno: GET OVER IT! It is a cartoon and it is only make believe. I cannot honestly believe that mr Peyo (the creator of the Smurfs) set out to give us a true reflection of human society. He probably just wanted to create a cartoon with some funny looking characters that each represent a certain personality trait present in each and every one of us. The fact that they have a society where they all work together to get the job done or the fact that the only female smurf around has blond hair does not mean that they are all going to be flying the Soviet flag and calling eachother comrade or are a portrayal of the Arian race. Geez... really.. if we took all our cartoons so seriously someone should sue Warner Brothers, Hanna Barbara and every other cartoon producing company for representing organised, repetitive homicide on a mass scale (how often does Tom kill Jerry again.. oh that's right EVERY cartoon) and animal abuse (animals dressed up in human clothes.. really)! Let's just keep it real here. The Smurfs are just a cartoon not to be used for a polemic against present day society. Leave them be! The only thing you could probably blame them for is the fact that the theme tune is soooo annoyingly catchy that even after not having watched them for at least 10 years I can still sing along with it.

Keep 'm coming Sis!!