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...

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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

New additions to the home

Although I am doing really well in not buying any books this week I still ended up having more of them in my house than last week's reported total. A colleague at work has been tidying up his cupboards and found some more orphan books for me to home..... 18 more actually!! This brings the running total to a staggeringly lovely 117 books to be read.
And he good news is.... I am not done yet! I remembered that I got some money from mum over Christmas and it would be rude no to spend it. Although I did buy some sensible new walking shoes today I thought that some of it might go on books. I only have a little list I am wanting to buy... maybe I should start looking into joining bookaholics anonymous for real?

The one I am reading now is going really well. Cannot say that it really does what it says on the tin but it is really interesting none the less. Will probably have finished it by next week.

One other thing that made my day today: I noticed that the National Library in London has an exhibition on about the history of crime fiction. That is going to be worth a visit... once the weather improves and the snow clears.

At least I made a start

One more week of the new year gone and another book read. This one is actually the first of a whole series of books that I am going to collect: The Fontana Book of Great Ghost stories. I have only 6 of them and will have to find the missing ones and how any exactly there are. The highest number I have is 15 but I think I may have seen a number 17 or 18 on a website somewhere. I got the ones I have all in in one go from little bookshop in Hemel Hempstead. They were only £1 each.... an absolute bargain! I have not seen any anywhere else since so will probably have to get the missing links on the web but I always keep my eyes open for the little fellas when I am out and about. You never know where you can pick up a good ghost story book!


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The Fontana Book of Great Ghost Stories - selected by Robert Aickman
I believe this is the first one in the series and if it is ant indicator for what the rest of the series is going to be like, I am in for a treat.
I have to note that I skipped the Old Nurse's Story as I have read it quite often now. It seems to feature in a lot of anthologies and kind of loses the surprise factor if you read it often. Another thing I skipped was the introduction... as per usual.

The Travelling Grave - L.P. Hartley
Some friends have a little get together and a little game a hide and seek goes  a bit awry. The host has a weird hobby that ends up making short shrift of him... literally.
Stay away from box shaped things in strange houses is what I learnt form this one.
It is kind of a fun little story but seems a bit disjointed. I think his idea was to let the various bits of the story intertwine naturally but for me that did not quite work as I find myself thinking.. "how did we get here?" and "where did he come from?".

The Ghost Ship - Richard Middleton
The village of Fairfield seems to be a popular haunt of ghosts. So much so that people do not even flinch at the site of them and get upset when they leave. There is a storm that throws up a ghost ship and disturbs life in this ghostly idyll. Apparently it is all the fault of some very lovely Rum.

Squire Toby's Will - J. Sheridan Le Fanu
This one is a dark tale. The men are dark of character and their environment seems dark and ominous. A mean old man leaves his two sons to fight it out over his estate. The one cheats the other out of his rightful inheritance but does not get to enjoy it much. The addition of the dog is a little gem.

The Voice in the Night - William Hope Hodgson
We have a ship being approached by a castaway from a nearby island. The tale he has to tell is grim and frightening. Do not eat anything grey if you ever get stranded on a deserted island!
This one had me dreaming of it once I read it! Not sure what it was about it that struck me so. Perhaps it is the desperation of the man who approaches the main vessel looking for food. He is doomed and he knows it. He has in a way doomed himself and knows he must stay away from civilisation never to return.

Three Miles Up - Elizabeth Jane Howard
Two man and a narrow boat,  a gentle trip down England's canals. What could possibly go wrong? Strangely enough everything until they pick up a mysterious woman. Then everything becomes smooth sailing. Well...almost everything. they keep not finding that illusive village 3 miles up the canal.
Lovely little tale that meanders along like the river they are boating along on. You do not see the danger until it is too late.

The Rocking-horse Winner - D.H. Lawrence
Boys and their toys. In this story one young boy makes a killing by literally hanging on to his little rocking horse for dear life. Shame his mum does not appreciate it.

The Wendigo - Algernon Blackwood
Some sturdy men looking to hunt some big game. Add to the mix the overwhelming nature of the vast American wilderness and insanity.. or near insanity. Although the environment is so vast this store feels closed up and narrow the wilderness almost seems to choke the characters. It creeps in to the places they thought were safe and takes one of them away. Not much is actually sees and much is suggested and although the abductee returns he is never quite himself again.

The Crown Derby Plate - Marjorie Bowen
Some people would do anything to get hold of a good, collectable plate.
A lovely little story out a woman who goes begging for a plate to complete her set and gets a bit more in the bargain. Gave me a good little chuckle at the end!

The Trains - Robert Aickman
This one feels more modern as it is about two young girls hiking across England. They end up somewhat lost in a eerie valley and end up in accepting the comfort of a stranger with a "man"-servant who goes a bit postal. The host is not all that he seems either and the girls end up perpetuating the myth surrounding the house.

Seaton's Aunt - Walter de la Mare
I did not quite get why this one was included in this collection. I could not really find any ghosts in it although they are mentioned, as are strange noises. The titled Aunt is a nasty, selfish, pedantic piece of work but certainly no ghost. The story is basically one guy (Seaton) trying to be friends with another and the other resisting the intimacy of this friendship.... yet he goes to stay several times. Had he just been less polite the lives of both men would probably have been the better for it.


Title: The Fontana Book of Great Ghost Stories
Author/Selected by: Robert Aickman
256 pages
Fontana/Collins
ISBN nr 0-00-613124-7

Books to be read: 99

Trying something new

The other one I finished is a detective one and I am just considering if it is worth trying to squeeze this review in before go and watch some telly, go and do my exercises and get ready for bed. Well.. there was not that much to it so yeah.. let's give it a go.


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City of Bones - Michael Connelly
I am in two minds about this one. On the one hand I liked it on the other hand I it annoyed me. I thought it had some strands of story left dangling as an obvious set up to a further book or future story line and that annoyed me a bit.
The story: some old bones are found on a hillside and we accompany Harry Bosch and his partner Jerry Edgar (well mainly Harry actually) in finding the killer. The bones belong to a child and we spend a fair few pages trying to find out who it is and then the rest of the story is about who killed him.

The pain is that we get side tracked by Harry getting involved with a rookie cop who then gets killed and we are supposed to care about that because he cared about her. We have the red herring sneaky neighbour with a dodgy past (no way I was falling for that one!). Then there is the broken up and messed up family of the boy - dad is a drunk and an abuser, mum ran out on the kids as she could not cope and the the daughter was abused and beat up her brother. the sad thing is her brother is the one who ended up dead and we do not even find out exactly what happened and why and none of them seem to care. I care more as a reader!
I think that is the bit that disappointed me most. After all this stuff that is brought into the story, half of which is unnecessary, we still do not know how the kid ended up on the hill, alone and dead. I can make up my own story about it but as I paid for the book I was kind of hoping the Mr Connelly would oblige.
Having said all that. Harry is a nice character, nothing too multi-dimensional but hey.. who cares. He has a sense of humour, he seems to genuinely care for his victims and is not too stereotypically written and that helps the story along no end. The other people he works with are hard working policemen kind of guys and Connelly is not afraid to take a few swipes at the top brass of the police force (hanging with the homeys eh Connelly!). He has a quick, well flowing writing style and I did want to get to the end of the story and find out where the twists would lead me. It was just a bit of a shame that in the end they lead nowhere and with Harry leaving for pastures new we will never find out either will we?

Title: City of Bones
Author: Michael Connelly
409 pages
Orion
ISBN nr 0-75284-834-8

Books to be read: 100

Been too long..... been way too long

I can see from the data of my previous post that it has been way too long since I spread my wings in Cyber Space. I have no excuse for being absent for several weeks. 
I have not been particularly busy, my back has been behaving fairly well, telly has been crap and there were times when I was folding laundry or scouring the Internet for music tracks to buy that I thought..."I really should be updating this Blog of mine!!". Whether it has been all the excitement in Hollyoaks over the past few weeks or the fact that I have joined the gym that have kept me away from here I am not sure?? It is bound to be one of them.

The good news is that I have only bought one more book since the last post. Although it was bought in the old year, (2012) the year of which I said in my previous post I would not buy any more books, I think I can forgive myself this purchase as it was a Christmas present to myself.
So the book count is on 102.
However.... I have finished 2 so I can start the year with a nice round number!!


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The Lord of the Flies - William Golding
I have been meaning to read this book for some time. I think I hoped we would have read it at Uni but it never made the reading list there. I did read some of Golding before and liked it although I found it a bit heavy and laden with some kind of...I don't know. I read The Spire years ago and remember liking it but being afraid that I missed the deeper meaning of it as I knew there was something more to it than it being a story about a man building a spire to his church. I kind of got some of it but I am not sure I was ready for Golding back then. Although it did not stop me from reading Fire down Below later one. You see.. I like the way he writes! It is not as springy, pacey or quick as Dean Koontz, Stephen King or Minette Walters. But that does not mean Golding reads slowly. You can read him quickly but he makes me want to take my time to read him. The beauty of Golding is that he seems to have weighed every word he writes to describe people and situations. He has chosen his words very carefully, deliberately. He conveys exactly what he wants.. nothing more... nothing less. When cliffs are described as "dark" they are and they are so for a reason.
I did not know a lot of the story of this book before I read it and I decided (as per usual) to skip the introduction but from the start of the book I got the feeling that things were not going to end well. Mind you.. a lot of young boys stranded on an island, not a lot of food, some severe weather, some fear, some lack of sleep, some very vivid imaginations and some big, alpha male egos... what could possibly go wrong?!
Most people probably know the story so I will not go into that too much. Suffice it to say that Piggy is really annoying, the killing of one of the boys is shocking and the battle for power between Ralph and Jack is very well written. Seemingly all that Golding does is place these boys on an isolated island and then he lets them get on with it. All we get to do is watch. Things fall apart fairly quickly. They stop doing the things that would have kept them "sane", in food and more likely to be rescued. They give into the more baser human emotions of fear, hate and anger and end up following the one who instils and controls these best.
What makes me love the book is that it is both a story of survival and of morals. It is a story of how mankind responds in a confined space. What he becomes when there are no agents to police his actions, no-one to tell you where the limits of acceptable behaviour are. It shows what happens when the individual becomes less important than the collective, when power becomes something you cannot avoid and have to bow down to or be destroyed. It is also the story of Ralph's survival on the island. At the start he is innocent an enthusiastic. He believes that all will be well as long as they all listen to him and keep the fire going. They will surely be rescued soon and it will be his dad that rescues them! His enthusiasm seems to wear off on the others and the idea seems to be that they are all just going to have fun until they are rescued. Ralph goes from leader to outcast and it is so wonderful to have Golding describe how Ralph searches for words to say what he feels, to find emotions to deal with the things that happen around him. He knows what to do, he just does not know how to tell them what he feels and is kind of afraid to do so as well. He would rather Piggy make himself ridiculous than face the others himself.
All through the book you have to keep reminding yourself a a reader that these are only small boys... schoolboys, young kids. They know only how to follow their parents' or teachers' instructions and guidance. What do the know of keeping order, fending for yourself, living independently and survival? They may know what they have read on their adventure books but being confronted with the reality of an isolated island life is something those books have not prepared them for.
It is a great book!! It has layers and depth and story line and purpose. The boys are well written, with tenderness and understanding. There is a happy ending of sorts but you know that for none of the boys life will ever be the same.

Title: Lord of the Flies
Author: William Golding
225 pages
Faber and Faber
ISBN nr 978-0-571-27357-7

Books to be read: 101

1. Must tidy living room

This post has the title of the one job I most need to do and have been successfully avoiding for the past five days. I got back from my holidays last week and have managed to avoid to fully unpack my suitcase ever since. The most important stuff is out of it... the laundry (which is still awaiting a spin in the washing machine), the licorice (more than half way through that now) and the biscuits (devoured by myself and the colleagues at work). There are just some random things that have a home to go back to... oh and there is my bag of toiletries that still needs to be put away. But hey.... it will all get sorted out in the end. It better as I have about 10 people coming over for lasagna at the end of the week!! 
On the good news front - my lower back and sacroiliac joint are a lot better. I do not know what muscles the physio leaned on last Friday but it seems to have helped a lot. It was a bit achy during the day and it seems that the longer I sit the worse it gets but overall in day to day life it is soooooo much better. Now on to the business at hand...


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Hogfather - Terry Pratchett
This is only the second TP I have read but I think I may venture into some more of his adventures. He has a great style of writing which is snappy and pacey. His characters takes things literally sometimes and this leads to some very funny dialogue and some double takes in reading.
This one is actually very fitting for the time of the year as it is all about the Hogfather who has a striking resemblance in appearance and actions to Father Christmas. Whilst writing this I actually realise I am getting this wrong. This book is about the absence of the Hogfather. It seems that some hilariously deranged group of entities has given an assignment to some vague groups of assassins to kill the Hogfather. The assassins have sent their best man for the job to go and complete the mission: Mr Teatime - his tombstone is likely to include the words "total nut job" and "demented lemming". Mr T has gathered a group of tough guys to implement his plan which involves getting to the tooth fairy.. who turns out to have set up a lovely and profitable franchise for collecting teeth. At the start of the story we also meet Susan who is Death's granddaughter and who is destined for greater things than she imagines, much to her chagrin. Susan is a very plucky governess who felt she needed a change from being rich and posh and has decided that children are where her talents lie. She is good with kids and very good at keeping the bad monsters under the bed at bay. I would not want to get on the wrong side of this girl while she is holding a poker... nor would any self respecting ghoul.
The story is really several story lines woven into one. It all starts with the request for the Hogfather to be terminated. He ends up not exactly getting killed but more.... forgotten. This motivates Death to take up to cause for mankind and start pretending to be the Hogfather because belief must not die. It seems that there is a certain amount of belief in the universe and as the belief in one (The Hogfather) diminishes it allows for all sorts of other Gods and fairies to turn up and vie for the Hogfather's crown. Throughout the book we have all sorts of weird fairies and gods turning up (the Oh God of Hangovers is great!!). The University plays a part in all this as well. There is the bathroom under development and a very clever Dean (despite all appearances). Our reluctant heroine in this book is Susan who ends up trying to save the world and mankind's belief in the Hogfather so the sun will come up tomorrow. It really is a wonderful mixture of stories and at times it is hard to try and figure out who are the important characters and which the not so important ones. You almost have to focus on things this way as there are so many in the book that it hurts your head trying to keep track of them all. Fortunately the stories all interweave in the end and it comes together in a heady mix of human happiness.
Death is one of the funniest characters in this book. I love him. I love how he tries to be human, how he takes thing literally, how he does no seem to get the joke and yet... he does save the world.
Susan is great too. She is a independent woman who is making her own way in the world. She is trying to break away from her past but finds that this is not always possible.. nor, perhaps, should you want to. She may not show it but I feel she loves being Death's Granddaughter. She feels some of the power that that brings with it and she understands that it is part of who she is.. for better or for worse.
There is a lot going on in the book that you have to try and keep track of and perhaps not all the characters are as well developed as they could be but is is a good read and the end is suitably festive.


Title: Hogfather
Author: Terry Pratchett
445 pages
Corgi Books
ISBN nr 0-552-14542-4

Books to be read: 101.. .as indicated in previous post. 
Only 13 more days until the year is done and I am managing to stay away from the cheap books.

Final purchases

The other week my last purchase arrived. Umberto Eco... it is going down as my first second hand purchase from Amazon and as it has now arrived in my house it is going to have to be added to the list of books to be read. That list is actually in balance as I finished one as well. 
Bought one: 102
Read one: 101
I vaguely remember the days when I worried about getting over 60.... that seems like a distant dream now. Will I ever get below 90? 
I have told myself that Eco is the last book I will buy this year but as it is only early December that might be a bit of an ambitious task to set myself. I will have to wait and see how I go. Bookshops are dangerously omnipresent, relapses are not unknown to me and the evenings are long and dark.

Work and my sacroiliac joint have kept me busy and in pain respectively so I have not had much chance to update this blog over the last week or so. But.... physio is going well and work is...well, work and still busy but I should have some more time soon to let you know what I thought about The Hogfather... I will say this for it, I really love Death in this one!