I have been watching a few series on books over the past couple of weeks. One of them I have mentioned before and is The Beauty of Books. This week it was about illustrated books, mainly about Alice in Wonderland but in general on how these books developed from illuminated manuscripts and how the interaction between the text of a book and the pictures can create a wonderful bocks if these elements work together well. The whole series traces the history of the books from its initial beginnings to... well, I guess we'll find out at the end of the series.
Another series I have been following is on BBC2 and called My Life in Books. I have to say that this has been a bit hit and miss. Anne Robinson is a bit repetitive in how she approaches her guests and in how she asks them about their choices but the guests usually make up for that. The people that have been on have been varied although some episodes have proven to be less interesting than others. Some people read some weird books! It was kind of interesting to discover that a number of guests have studied English and ended up in television.... maybe I need to start thinking about a change in careers?
The other good thing about the series is that you get to hear about all kinds of books. Some that I think I should really read and some that I think I will probably never read. Also, all of it has made me think a lot about what books have been important in my life and which ones I would like to take to a desert island. I'm not sure how big the suitcase would be that I could fill on the "trip" to the deserted island, but some books that I would like to take to keep me company are:
The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde
Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
Ghost Stories - MR James
Greek Myths - Robert Graves
Macbeth - William Shakespeare
Collected stories of Sherlock Holmes - AC Doyle
I might think of some more in a while......
NB: remember 5 March it is World Book Night!!!
Friday 25 February 2011
Sunday 20 February 2011
The Future is now
Even though I finished this one at the begining of the week I have only just gotten round to writing this one up. I was not feeling too well at the start of the week - had some kind of exczema rash and needed to take allergy pills that made me tired, antibiotics that made my stomach feel weird and use a steroid cream to make the rash all better. Fortunately the rash is almost gone now and my stomach has gotten used to taking the antibiotics. I feel like a robot sometimes having to set alarms to remind myself to take my pills. But is is all for the best and it is only for a few more days.
The one I have just finished means that I can finally cross off one more of my BBC Top 100 reads list (it is nr 11 on the list). This is a result as I have not been reading too many books on that list and hope to get through it before I reach 50... well you gotta have goals!
#### SPOILER ALERT ####
1984 - George Orwell
I absolutely loved it!!
The story feels alien enough to be fictional but real enough so that it might actually become reality if the right circumstances would come together at some point in time.
As I write this review I realise that it is full of opinions and emotions that I can afford to have but none of the characters in the book can. I cannot imagine what it would be like if the human race would ever allow itself to become what Orwell projects in this book. I think that this is part of what makes the books so special. It was written back in 1949, just a couple of years after the end of the Second World War and it must have been a time of uncertainty, despair and rebuilding. You can tell that the events of the war have had an impact on Orwell. The Second World War might have made some people realise that the future may not always be rosy and bright. It has shown the world that it may only take a charismatic nutter, one dangerous idea and a lot of people who do not care about what happens to them or others, to create a world that is completely alien to the one you know now. In 1984 Orwell seems to have created his vision of a world that seems extreme but yet has elements in it that are too far away from the truth to make it possible to become reality. It shows what might have happened if mankind had accepted a totalitarian rule where the individual does not counts and all that is done is for the greater glory of the Party not the individual. There is no individual - no individual feelings, no individual thought, no individual activity. One of the things that struck me is that it is not so much that people are hounded for what they are (Jews, Gypsies, anything but German) but that they are targeted when they want to have their own thoughts, feelings and ideas. All that Winston really wants is the right to believe that 2 and 2 make 4 all the time, not just when Big Brother tells him to. It might seem trivial but it is in essence the freedom to have your own thoughts and not to have someone tell you what to think. It is knowing that what you know in your heart to be true is not going to get you killed.
In the world that Winston lives in his time is never is own and he is always watched, even when he sleeps. People are always kept busy, there is work, collective activities and then sleep. There is some free time for the individual but most of them probably use it for Party related work anyway... what else is there? Not one person we meet (except Winston and Julia) seem to want time for themselves to get away from the Party regime. The rest of the masses seem to be happy to follow the party's lead in everything.
The Party is everywhere. There are monitors in his house - although Winston has managed to find one corner in his living room where the screen does not see what he does. Yet how he thought that Big Brother would allow that to continue for long is beyond me. He knows that the Party wants to take control of all individuals in all areas of their lives. How did he think he was the one who was going to escape that influence? Why did he think that Big Brother would not be suspicious if he moved out of the line of sight of the television screen and hid hours of his life from the Party?
Winston's job consists of re-writing history and making it fit in with the Truth as the Party sees it. He spends his time changing stories in the media to fit in with the Party ideology. Even if this means changing who they have been at war with for the past 5 years or who got killed when and what for. I believe that at one level Winston knows that what he is doing is wrong and that he is helping in keeping up the farce of this unreality that he lives in. However, he seems to be unable to use that knowledge for anything useful as rebelling or organising a resistance. The Party and the strict way society is organised has made sure of that... remember that there is no individual and the Party is always right. Winston has this knowledge of altering history but does not know what to do with it, who to talk to about it - for who can you trust, or how to even start to make a change in his life or that of others. He keeps saying that he does not know what history is but he forgets that his mind contains his past, his history and that of the world around him. If only he understood that he can simply see how the world changes around him by what Big Brother makes him change in the documents. If he kept hold of the changes that Big Brother asks him to carry out then he would be able to trace the past back. But Winston does what he is told keeps changing history and wanders through life thinking he is the only one having these un-Partyish thoughts. Winston is leading a double life in a way. On the one hand he keeps up the facade of believing Party ideology while on the other hand he tries to make sense of his un-Party thoughts. He is forced to see one truth and thinks that there is another truth out there but how he proves this is beyond him. He knows his thoughts are not in line with what the Party wants him to believe. Part of him thinks he can escape, that perhaps he is the one who can get away and start the resistance. But it is a plan doomed to fail from the start - Winston does not know what to do with his freedom of thought. He is not a man of great ideas. All he wants to do is write in his diary and share his thoughts with his lover, Julia.
Julia who does not really care about him, the Party of anything else in this world. Julia who might well have been the one to set him up into betraying how he really feels about the Party. She is the one who makes the first move on Winston. Why? From the way he is described I cannot imagine that Winston is the catch of the century? It seems that all that Julia wants is to have some fun. She is manipulative and very clever. She knows how to play the system, knows exactly what to do, what to say, how to act. She does all this so Big Brother does not suspect her of having un-Party thoughts and feelings. And yet she gets caught with Winston. At best you could say that if she is not a plant then she is the one who gets the worst deal. On the face of it she does everything right, she tows the Party line and yet she gets caught. It seems that even when on the surface you do everything right they will find you out, they will catch you and they will punish you! They will know if you are not true to the Party, they know everything and to try and resist or escape it's influence is futile!
The world around Winston feels dark and depressing. I cannot remember Winston having a happy thought or feeling happy very often. Well, he does get really excited when he finds the notebook to write in and the glass paperweight because to him they are a link to the past. I think he experiences some kind of freedom of mind in what he writes in his notebook but he is not generally happy or relaxed. His affair with Julia gives him pleasure and she is a little bit of light in his life. However, you already know it cannot possibly last. Not in the world that Winston lives in. In the end we learn that the Party knew what he was up to all along! They had been watching him for years. It does not even occur to Winston to question this. To me it seems unlikely that Big Brother has been watching Winston for almost 7 years and that now he has finally been caught. It seems more likely that someone sold him out not too long ago and that is how he ends up arrested. However, Winston is sure that Big Brother has watched his every move and downfall and that there is not even any chance of escape. Strangely enough neither him nor Julia try to even move when the TV screen shouts at them to stay put until the soldiers come to get them. To me this kind of warning means that they are not there yet and there is still time to get away. To Winston it just means that they have found him, he will be caught, he will be punished. Whatever will follow is inevitable so why even try to move. The idea to escape does not even cross his mind!
The story takes place in only a few enclosed spaces. The flat where Winston lives... or maybe I should say exists, is a shabby flat. The place that Winston works is a small cubicle where he sits, huddled over his little desk space, whispering amendments to articles into his speakwrite. When Winston and Julia meet for the first time it is not out in the open but in a clearing surrounded by trees hidden away from the grasp of Big Brother (they hope). When Julia and Winston meet later on in their affair it is in a small back room in the slums of the city. When he is being "re-educated" he spends his time in small cells being de-humanised and forced into betraying everything that he knows is right.
The man who is sent to re-educate Winston in the cells is one of the scariest characters in the book. O'Brien is one who realises what the Party is, how it operates, how it manipulates reality and how it influences people's lives. He sees the truth and chooses to still carry on as he does for the good of the Party. What the Party says is true and even if is his own eyes see that it is different he will convince himself that the Party is right. He is a blind faith follower of the Party and what it stands for and that is why he is so good at his job. He does.. he does not question. Winston tries to resist him up to some point, for what is the harm in thinking that 2 and 2 is four when the Party wants you to say it is 5? But in the end he is no match for O'Brien and he succumbs to the Party line and is released back into the world a broken man, harmless.
What scares me most about the book is how easy it seems to be for a relatively small group of people to have absolute control over the masses. None of the people we meet are stupid or dimwitted but all of them accept their fate and seem resigned to their place in life. They really have no opinion one way or the other as to what is reality and what is fiction. They are spoon fed their history and accept it because Big Brother could not possibly be wrong.
Reading the book and from the remarks that O'Brien makes I get the feeling that there is not even a Big Brother any more in this world of Orwell's. It is just an idea invented to keep the masses under control. I think the war that is going on is probably never going to be over and that life will always be full of party activities and restrictions for the people who live in that world. I also believe that none of the people in Orwell's world will give a flying hoot if that was the case. This is the life they know and if they were to be free as we understand it they would not know what to do with it. It's a depressing view of mankind and the world but if you look at the world around you in some nations, some elements of Orwell's invented world are not too far from the truth.
The appendix on the Principles of Newspeak is genius!!! In this one chapter about language and how the Party uses it to restrict and change the meaning of words really teaches you all you need to know about the society that invented it.
Title: 1984
Author: George Orwell
326 pages
Penguin Books
no ISBN nr
Books bought: 0 (my Bookaholics Anonymous sponsor will be proud of me!)
Books to be read: 67
The one I have just finished means that I can finally cross off one more of my BBC Top 100 reads list (it is nr 11 on the list). This is a result as I have not been reading too many books on that list and hope to get through it before I reach 50... well you gotta have goals!
#### SPOILER ALERT ####
1984 - George Orwell
I absolutely loved it!!
The story feels alien enough to be fictional but real enough so that it might actually become reality if the right circumstances would come together at some point in time.
As I write this review I realise that it is full of opinions and emotions that I can afford to have but none of the characters in the book can. I cannot imagine what it would be like if the human race would ever allow itself to become what Orwell projects in this book. I think that this is part of what makes the books so special. It was written back in 1949, just a couple of years after the end of the Second World War and it must have been a time of uncertainty, despair and rebuilding. You can tell that the events of the war have had an impact on Orwell. The Second World War might have made some people realise that the future may not always be rosy and bright. It has shown the world that it may only take a charismatic nutter, one dangerous idea and a lot of people who do not care about what happens to them or others, to create a world that is completely alien to the one you know now. In 1984 Orwell seems to have created his vision of a world that seems extreme but yet has elements in it that are too far away from the truth to make it possible to become reality. It shows what might have happened if mankind had accepted a totalitarian rule where the individual does not counts and all that is done is for the greater glory of the Party not the individual. There is no individual - no individual feelings, no individual thought, no individual activity. One of the things that struck me is that it is not so much that people are hounded for what they are (Jews, Gypsies, anything but German) but that they are targeted when they want to have their own thoughts, feelings and ideas. All that Winston really wants is the right to believe that 2 and 2 make 4 all the time, not just when Big Brother tells him to. It might seem trivial but it is in essence the freedom to have your own thoughts and not to have someone tell you what to think. It is knowing that what you know in your heart to be true is not going to get you killed.
In the world that Winston lives in his time is never is own and he is always watched, even when he sleeps. People are always kept busy, there is work, collective activities and then sleep. There is some free time for the individual but most of them probably use it for Party related work anyway... what else is there? Not one person we meet (except Winston and Julia) seem to want time for themselves to get away from the Party regime. The rest of the masses seem to be happy to follow the party's lead in everything.
The Party is everywhere. There are monitors in his house - although Winston has managed to find one corner in his living room where the screen does not see what he does. Yet how he thought that Big Brother would allow that to continue for long is beyond me. He knows that the Party wants to take control of all individuals in all areas of their lives. How did he think he was the one who was going to escape that influence? Why did he think that Big Brother would not be suspicious if he moved out of the line of sight of the television screen and hid hours of his life from the Party?
Winston's job consists of re-writing history and making it fit in with the Truth as the Party sees it. He spends his time changing stories in the media to fit in with the Party ideology. Even if this means changing who they have been at war with for the past 5 years or who got killed when and what for. I believe that at one level Winston knows that what he is doing is wrong and that he is helping in keeping up the farce of this unreality that he lives in. However, he seems to be unable to use that knowledge for anything useful as rebelling or organising a resistance. The Party and the strict way society is organised has made sure of that... remember that there is no individual and the Party is always right. Winston has this knowledge of altering history but does not know what to do with it, who to talk to about it - for who can you trust, or how to even start to make a change in his life or that of others. He keeps saying that he does not know what history is but he forgets that his mind contains his past, his history and that of the world around him. If only he understood that he can simply see how the world changes around him by what Big Brother makes him change in the documents. If he kept hold of the changes that Big Brother asks him to carry out then he would be able to trace the past back. But Winston does what he is told keeps changing history and wanders through life thinking he is the only one having these un-Partyish thoughts. Winston is leading a double life in a way. On the one hand he keeps up the facade of believing Party ideology while on the other hand he tries to make sense of his un-Party thoughts. He is forced to see one truth and thinks that there is another truth out there but how he proves this is beyond him. He knows his thoughts are not in line with what the Party wants him to believe. Part of him thinks he can escape, that perhaps he is the one who can get away and start the resistance. But it is a plan doomed to fail from the start - Winston does not know what to do with his freedom of thought. He is not a man of great ideas. All he wants to do is write in his diary and share his thoughts with his lover, Julia.
Julia who does not really care about him, the Party of anything else in this world. Julia who might well have been the one to set him up into betraying how he really feels about the Party. She is the one who makes the first move on Winston. Why? From the way he is described I cannot imagine that Winston is the catch of the century? It seems that all that Julia wants is to have some fun. She is manipulative and very clever. She knows how to play the system, knows exactly what to do, what to say, how to act. She does all this so Big Brother does not suspect her of having un-Party thoughts and feelings. And yet she gets caught with Winston. At best you could say that if she is not a plant then she is the one who gets the worst deal. On the face of it she does everything right, she tows the Party line and yet she gets caught. It seems that even when on the surface you do everything right they will find you out, they will catch you and they will punish you! They will know if you are not true to the Party, they know everything and to try and resist or escape it's influence is futile!
The world around Winston feels dark and depressing. I cannot remember Winston having a happy thought or feeling happy very often. Well, he does get really excited when he finds the notebook to write in and the glass paperweight because to him they are a link to the past. I think he experiences some kind of freedom of mind in what he writes in his notebook but he is not generally happy or relaxed. His affair with Julia gives him pleasure and she is a little bit of light in his life. However, you already know it cannot possibly last. Not in the world that Winston lives in. In the end we learn that the Party knew what he was up to all along! They had been watching him for years. It does not even occur to Winston to question this. To me it seems unlikely that Big Brother has been watching Winston for almost 7 years and that now he has finally been caught. It seems more likely that someone sold him out not too long ago and that is how he ends up arrested. However, Winston is sure that Big Brother has watched his every move and downfall and that there is not even any chance of escape. Strangely enough neither him nor Julia try to even move when the TV screen shouts at them to stay put until the soldiers come to get them. To me this kind of warning means that they are not there yet and there is still time to get away. To Winston it just means that they have found him, he will be caught, he will be punished. Whatever will follow is inevitable so why even try to move. The idea to escape does not even cross his mind!
The story takes place in only a few enclosed spaces. The flat where Winston lives... or maybe I should say exists, is a shabby flat. The place that Winston works is a small cubicle where he sits, huddled over his little desk space, whispering amendments to articles into his speakwrite. When Winston and Julia meet for the first time it is not out in the open but in a clearing surrounded by trees hidden away from the grasp of Big Brother (they hope). When Julia and Winston meet later on in their affair it is in a small back room in the slums of the city. When he is being "re-educated" he spends his time in small cells being de-humanised and forced into betraying everything that he knows is right.
The man who is sent to re-educate Winston in the cells is one of the scariest characters in the book. O'Brien is one who realises what the Party is, how it operates, how it manipulates reality and how it influences people's lives. He sees the truth and chooses to still carry on as he does for the good of the Party. What the Party says is true and even if is his own eyes see that it is different he will convince himself that the Party is right. He is a blind faith follower of the Party and what it stands for and that is why he is so good at his job. He does.. he does not question. Winston tries to resist him up to some point, for what is the harm in thinking that 2 and 2 is four when the Party wants you to say it is 5? But in the end he is no match for O'Brien and he succumbs to the Party line and is released back into the world a broken man, harmless.
What scares me most about the book is how easy it seems to be for a relatively small group of people to have absolute control over the masses. None of the people we meet are stupid or dimwitted but all of them accept their fate and seem resigned to their place in life. They really have no opinion one way or the other as to what is reality and what is fiction. They are spoon fed their history and accept it because Big Brother could not possibly be wrong.
Reading the book and from the remarks that O'Brien makes I get the feeling that there is not even a Big Brother any more in this world of Orwell's. It is just an idea invented to keep the masses under control. I think the war that is going on is probably never going to be over and that life will always be full of party activities and restrictions for the people who live in that world. I also believe that none of the people in Orwell's world will give a flying hoot if that was the case. This is the life they know and if they were to be free as we understand it they would not know what to do with it. It's a depressing view of mankind and the world but if you look at the world around you in some nations, some elements of Orwell's invented world are not too far from the truth.
The appendix on the Principles of Newspeak is genius!!! In this one chapter about language and how the Party uses it to restrict and change the meaning of words really teaches you all you need to know about the society that invented it.
Title: 1984
Author: George Orwell
326 pages
Penguin Books
no ISBN nr
Books bought: 0 (my Bookaholics Anonymous sponsor will be proud of me!)
Books to be read: 67
Friday 11 February 2011
All good things..
Last weekend I decided I needed to treat myself to a little treat. So I got online and ordered myself a nice CD. I got Adele's latest one 21 and it is goooooooooooood. Her voice is nice and soulful and you can feel the real, raw emotion in her voice. When she sings "we could have had it all" you really believe you could have, if only.... At this moment in time it is playing away in the background and keeping me company whilst I write up this entry.
#### SPOILER ALERT ####
Playback - Raymond Chandler
Whenever I read one of Chandler's stories with Philip Marlowe I get a comfy feeling. Marlowe is a great character! He is a wisecracking private eye with a keen eye for a hot foxy lady, a wicked sense of humour and a love of a drink or two. Also, I am a great fan of Chandler's writing style. His relaxed style seem to be enhanced by the fact that his stories are set in a warm climate. Chandler is and absolute genius at describing his characters. He can paint you a picture of someone in only a few words and then you know exactly what the guy looks like and what he has for breakfast. For example, he describes a singer of a Mexican band as follows: ... [he always] has too long and too oily hair and when he isn't making with the love stuff he looks as if his knife work in an alley would be efficient and economical.
From this I know that they guy is slick looking in a cheap suit, he looks mean under the lights and like a thug in an alley. He's slightly sleazy and drinks his whiskey straight up. He'll have a wife somewhere slaving away in the kitchen but probably is not too bothered about being faithful to her. He would kick a dog if he had one and is not that interested in the New York stock exchange or saving his money for a rainy day. I know he probably has a creaky table in his kitchen where he has his overcooked steak with an ice cold beer (courtesy of the missus), and has nice and shiny car in the garage. On Saturdays he hangs out with his mates on the front porch of the house if he is not working. Is he a stereotype? Maybe.... probably. But I know who he is straight away. Chandler does the same thing with the places - with his descriptions you feel the atmosphere of a place instantly and know when things can get nasty and when they will not.
This novel is the last one in the Philip Marlowe series and it sort of feels like it. It feels tired and worn down. Marlowe feels like he is more tired than usual; tired of life, tired of chasing around California after people he does not know, does not care about and does not really want to get to know. He is tired of chasing his tail and doing jobs where he never really seems to know what he is getting himself into and how much he is going to regret helping out some dame. Marlowe seems tired of finding bodies and having to explain why he found them, and probably tired of getting punched every few chapters.
The story in this one starts out simple enough. Marlowe gets hired to do a simple enough job - follow a lady and find out where she is staying, report back and then the ones who hired him will take over. However, he does not trust the reasons these people have given him for wanting to find her. Then the whole things gets complicated by the fact that the lady in question meets some guy that seems to have some kind of hold on her. All of a sudden her behaviour changes so naturally Marlowe's instincts kick in and he wants to find out who she is, why she is behaving the way she does and how (if at all) he can help her. She is after all a woman is distress and Marlowe is... well Marlowe. The woman tries to keep Marlowe from telling the other party where she is (promises are made of the good life in Rio) and even tries to get him to help get rid of a body. However, Marlowe sort of gets to the bottom of the whole thing but neither party seems happy with the final results. Marlowe does have the unexpected pleasure of meeting a police chief who actually believes him when he says he has no idea what is going on and who chews out some jumped up rich dude. The lady does get to go on her merry way and will most likely end up with the dodgy guy she met in a bar after she argued with gentleman nr 1. She will probably score a medium on the happy ending scale of life. Marlowe gets to go home a few dollars richer and that will be enough for him.
However, that is not the end of it. There is another chapter. Marlowe gets home and gets a call from some woman (Linda Loring) he was involved with at one point and she apparently still loves him and wants him back. I guess I have to read the earlier Philip Marlowe ones to find out what went on there and trust me, I will find out!!. The last chapter just feels all wrong, it feels like Chandler himself was tired and thought, oh what the heck, let's give them a Hollywood ending. However, it does not fit Marlowe, it does not suit the character of a guy who wanders through his investigations blindfolded and with one hand tied behind his back most times. Marlowe gets beaten up by thugs, cheated on, double crossed, kept in the dark and he gets drunk. Yet his sense of perspective on life and sense of humour about others and himself sees him through and he does not do too badly for a private eye. For some strange reason Marlowe deserves to be on his own and sightly unhappy. Not because I dislike him but because I do really like him and "slightly unhappy" is what his natural state seems to be. He sees trouble and yet goes and finds out what it wants all the same. A guy like that should be found in a slightly crumpled suit, propping up the local bar. He should not be in his house waiting for some woman to arrive from Paris so he can become mr Blissfully Happy. Sorry mr Chandler but that's just the way I feel.
Title: Playback
Author: Raymond Chandler
166 pages
Vintage Books
ISBN nr 9-780-394-757667
Books bought: 0 (who needs Bookaholics Anonymous?!)
Books to be read: 68
I have now moved on to a classic in English Literature: 1984.
#### SPOILER ALERT ####
Playback - Raymond Chandler
Whenever I read one of Chandler's stories with Philip Marlowe I get a comfy feeling. Marlowe is a great character! He is a wisecracking private eye with a keen eye for a hot foxy lady, a wicked sense of humour and a love of a drink or two. Also, I am a great fan of Chandler's writing style. His relaxed style seem to be enhanced by the fact that his stories are set in a warm climate. Chandler is and absolute genius at describing his characters. He can paint you a picture of someone in only a few words and then you know exactly what the guy looks like and what he has for breakfast. For example, he describes a singer of a Mexican band as follows: ... [he always] has too long and too oily hair and when he isn't making with the love stuff he looks as if his knife work in an alley would be efficient and economical.
From this I know that they guy is slick looking in a cheap suit, he looks mean under the lights and like a thug in an alley. He's slightly sleazy and drinks his whiskey straight up. He'll have a wife somewhere slaving away in the kitchen but probably is not too bothered about being faithful to her. He would kick a dog if he had one and is not that interested in the New York stock exchange or saving his money for a rainy day. I know he probably has a creaky table in his kitchen where he has his overcooked steak with an ice cold beer (courtesy of the missus), and has nice and shiny car in the garage. On Saturdays he hangs out with his mates on the front porch of the house if he is not working. Is he a stereotype? Maybe.... probably. But I know who he is straight away. Chandler does the same thing with the places - with his descriptions you feel the atmosphere of a place instantly and know when things can get nasty and when they will not.
This novel is the last one in the Philip Marlowe series and it sort of feels like it. It feels tired and worn down. Marlowe feels like he is more tired than usual; tired of life, tired of chasing around California after people he does not know, does not care about and does not really want to get to know. He is tired of chasing his tail and doing jobs where he never really seems to know what he is getting himself into and how much he is going to regret helping out some dame. Marlowe seems tired of finding bodies and having to explain why he found them, and probably tired of getting punched every few chapters.
The story in this one starts out simple enough. Marlowe gets hired to do a simple enough job - follow a lady and find out where she is staying, report back and then the ones who hired him will take over. However, he does not trust the reasons these people have given him for wanting to find her. Then the whole things gets complicated by the fact that the lady in question meets some guy that seems to have some kind of hold on her. All of a sudden her behaviour changes so naturally Marlowe's instincts kick in and he wants to find out who she is, why she is behaving the way she does and how (if at all) he can help her. She is after all a woman is distress and Marlowe is... well Marlowe. The woman tries to keep Marlowe from telling the other party where she is (promises are made of the good life in Rio) and even tries to get him to help get rid of a body. However, Marlowe sort of gets to the bottom of the whole thing but neither party seems happy with the final results. Marlowe does have the unexpected pleasure of meeting a police chief who actually believes him when he says he has no idea what is going on and who chews out some jumped up rich dude. The lady does get to go on her merry way and will most likely end up with the dodgy guy she met in a bar after she argued with gentleman nr 1. She will probably score a medium on the happy ending scale of life. Marlowe gets to go home a few dollars richer and that will be enough for him.
However, that is not the end of it. There is another chapter. Marlowe gets home and gets a call from some woman (Linda Loring) he was involved with at one point and she apparently still loves him and wants him back. I guess I have to read the earlier Philip Marlowe ones to find out what went on there and trust me, I will find out!!. The last chapter just feels all wrong, it feels like Chandler himself was tired and thought, oh what the heck, let's give them a Hollywood ending. However, it does not fit Marlowe, it does not suit the character of a guy who wanders through his investigations blindfolded and with one hand tied behind his back most times. Marlowe gets beaten up by thugs, cheated on, double crossed, kept in the dark and he gets drunk. Yet his sense of perspective on life and sense of humour about others and himself sees him through and he does not do too badly for a private eye. For some strange reason Marlowe deserves to be on his own and sightly unhappy. Not because I dislike him but because I do really like him and "slightly unhappy" is what his natural state seems to be. He sees trouble and yet goes and finds out what it wants all the same. A guy like that should be found in a slightly crumpled suit, propping up the local bar. He should not be in his house waiting for some woman to arrive from Paris so he can become mr Blissfully Happy. Sorry mr Chandler but that's just the way I feel.
Title: Playback
Author: Raymond Chandler
166 pages
Vintage Books
ISBN nr 9-780-394-757667
Books bought: 0 (who needs Bookaholics Anonymous?!)
Books to be read: 68
I have now moved on to a classic in English Literature: 1984.
Tuesday 8 February 2011
Do it... do it now!!!
If you do nothing else this week then please go and watch a brilliant new series called The Beauty of Books on BBC4. I had to watch it on the Iplayer as I have a telly set up that is positively medieval but "normal" people can watch it on cable/sky or freeview.
The first episode was about some of the first books to be written: Bibles. It amazes me how some people can think and speak of the past as if nothing important happened except the invention of the wheel. These old Bibles are absolute works of art, the skill that went into illuminating the manuscripts is just fabulous. The hours it must have taken them to complete even one of those illuminated letters must have been staggering. The fact that these books are still around is even more amazing. I would expect books to be the first thing that would have been destroyed as one people conquered another. Books and knowledge can so easily be the first casualties of war but some of these early books have survived even to this day. The Winchester Bible has never even left it's perch and has always been where it was created all those ears ago... in Winchester Cathedral. So looking forward to the next episode!!
One side effect of the program is that I now really want to go and buy some more books.... must not give in!
The first episode was about some of the first books to be written: Bibles. It amazes me how some people can think and speak of the past as if nothing important happened except the invention of the wheel. These old Bibles are absolute works of art, the skill that went into illuminating the manuscripts is just fabulous. The hours it must have taken them to complete even one of those illuminated letters must have been staggering. The fact that these books are still around is even more amazing. I would expect books to be the first thing that would have been destroyed as one people conquered another. Books and knowledge can so easily be the first casualties of war but some of these early books have survived even to this day. The Winchester Bible has never even left it's perch and has always been where it was created all those ears ago... in Winchester Cathedral. So looking forward to the next episode!!
One side effect of the program is that I now really want to go and buy some more books.... must not give in!
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