Not quite on point

This Sunday I not only went to the gym (still not loving it but going and finding it a tolerable enough  way to spend an hour or so) but I also went to see Django Unchained. The gym was painful but Django was good!! Yes there was lots of violence in it but as always with Tarentino it was so over the top and gory that it made you almost laugh out loud instead of be aghast at the level of violence displayed. Blood does not ooze slowly from people it bursts from them in great clouds of red gore. The story was good and to relationship between Django and Dr Schultz was touching and fun to see develop. For those who have seen it... the scene with the posse and the hoods is hilarious!! To say I have a fun weekend is about right!

Anyway.. I also managed to finish a book so off we go again...

### SPOILER ALERT ###

At Home - Bill Bryson

This one promises to be, as the subtitle suggests, A short History of Private Life. I am not quite sure that it is? I am pretty sure that I do not mind.

Bryson seems to suggest that he is going to write a history of the house, of the rooms in it and what we find in the rooms. However, this is not quite how it works out. He introduces us to his house, an old rectory, and uses that to walk us to the various rooms of the house. In this process he wanders off jauntily through history and proceeds to tell you about anything from how light bulbs came in to being to what building materials were used for which buildings or what struggles Jefferson had to overcome to build his Monticello.

I came away feeling that I still really did not know why a nursery is a nursery and how they developed through the years, or how a kitchen was used and how it differs from how e use it today. But.... I did read a lot of interesting facts about some buildings I know, and some I now want to learn more about. It is a book that sprawls all over the place. At times there seems to be next to no logic in what Bryson is telling you but it is a really interesting read and I really enjoyed reading it.

It is a story of people as well. It tells of people who struggle to make a name for themselves or who struggle to hold on to what they invented and patented before some other nutter claims it as his invention. These are the interesting stories. To learn just a little more (and trust me it is but a little) about the people behind the things that we now take for granted in our houses. Like... lights, wallpaper, plumbing, stairs, glass, steel and stone.

Yes the book sprawls, yes it covers a lot of ground thinly, no it honestly does not do what it says on the tin but it had me chuckling on quite a few occasions and any book that can do that is fine by me.

One more interesting thing I did find in the book is that it mentions a gentleman called Mr Beckford. He happens to be a slightly eccentric man with a penchant for wanting the impossible and a bad taste in architects. He also happen to be the author of a Gothic tale (Vathek) I read no too long ago. Bryson mentions that the story is nearly unreadable... I would have to agree.

Title: At Home, A Short History of Private Life

Author: Bill Bryson

632 pages

Black Swan

ISBN nr 978-0-552-77255-6

Books to be read: 116