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??
Monday 25 July 2011
Sunday 10 July 2011
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
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
Wednesday 6 July 2011
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
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
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