Catching Rays

This weekend I actually planned to get some reading done, however, the weather was soooo nice that I had to change my plans. Yesterday was supposed to be my active day. I did do a bit of shopping and wandering round the city centre. Once back home, this activity was followed by a nice little seep on the sofa and after that another little sit on the sofa, followed by a bit of telly watching. No real time for telly as the Eurovision song contest was on... and what a corker of a show that was.
So today... another lovely day and too good to spend it inside the entire day. So... my friend B and myself went up to Bletchley Park to the Forties Festival Weekend. Really good fun! Lovely day out, nice wander round, sit and relax, bit of a chat and ice cream to finish off.

I am reaching the end of a book though. It is the one about how you can get your wishes to come true. I know it sounds a bit Paul McKenna-y but is quite an interesting theory the author of the book puts forward. Hope to finish it over the next few days.

Confusion and red herrings

After some time away from the books I have returned to my old friends again. Not that they complained about being left unattended for so long, they never do. But getting back into my reading has been long overdue. I started on a book or two a while ago but never really found enough time to make a dent in either book. Well, I made a dent in one of them but it then got left alone again. I think I abandoned it because it was going to make me think about things and there was no room in my head to do that. Now my brain has calmed down again I might pick that one up again. However, knowing how fickle I am in deciding what to read, it may as well be the ghost story one that I pick up next.
My books waiting to be read are now out on my book case in the living room. This way I know exactly where I am at. I had 81 books to read, add to that one brought back from Mum's which makes 82.
Blimey.... good thing I finished one then.


SPOILER ALERT


The Breaker - Minette Walters
Detective fiction is one of my favourite genres to read and this one did not disappoint.
A body turns up on the first page, there are plenty of twists and turns, several red herrings (I fell for only one!!) and the ending is unexpected and wrapped up nicely. It is all done very cleverly.
The cleverness really starts with the title. The book is called The Breaker and because of the picture on the front of my book (a rolling wave) I kind of assumed that they would mean a breaker in the sea. Then you read the first page where we meet the victim and learn that her fingers were broken, deliberately,... different kind of breaker then. I had not read the back of the book that closely .. I try to avoid it nowadays as it will sometimes make you aware of names and characters I would rather explore as I meet them in the book.
The story starts with a young woman's body being found washed up on a beach. Two young boys find her and there is a handsome stranger (Steven Harding, local boy done good, aspiring actor, likes to blow his own trumpet) who helps them alert the police. A young woman runs into them and as the police is called the hunt for the killer is on. The woman, Maggie is written in such a way that she could not possibly be a suspect or a major player in the story but you know that she will be about in the book for some reason or other. The boys are just perving over a dead body and the stranger looks so obvious a suspect that you discount him straight away because of just that. Even though there is something slightly disturbing about him. The local cop seems an okay, kind hearted, sensible kind of guy but, naturally he could not possibly handle this investigation on his own so the big guns are called in. Also, the book would be twice as long if he had had to do all the interrogating on his own so I guess it works out well for everyone involved.

Throughout the book we find out bits and pieces about the murdered woman, Kate, she is not always portrayed as a very nice person. She comes cross as a money hungry, manipulative woman with an over-protective attitude towards her young daughter. This image is softened as the book goes along and you find that she had her reasons for doing what she did and even her overbearing attitude towards her daughter is not all that is seems. Who would not put additional locks on the doors if your young child sleepwalks? However, Kate is never really part of the book.. she is just the body they found. Her husband is fleshed out much more. He seems cold, distant, uninvolved. Someone who had a trophy wife just because he needed someone to take care of him and show him a good time whenever he wanted. He is completely unprepared on how to deal with life without his wife, he does not have a clue how to deal with the child and seems to prefers passive whimpering over taking control of his life. From the start I did not really think he killed Kate as the cops try just a little bit too hard to make him look bad. To be honest he seems like a guy who could not even scramble an egg let alone organise a brutal murder.
One character which is set up well to take the fall, and my personal favourite for the striped pyjama award is Tony. Personal friend of Steven, a chemistry teacher with a bimbo girlfriend and a cannabis habit.. oh and and inferiority complex the size of Alaska. He envies his friend Steven and he blindly believes any tall tale that Steven spins. He has gotten himself involved in all sorts of dodgy deals to make some extra money on the side and he has a bit of a problem with authority. The funniest bit is when one of the detectives decides to go round his house to have another chat with him to clear some things up. Tony answers the door stark naked and half stoned. Tony tries to mess the copper about but it does not quite work our. The cop cuffs himself to Tony and tells him that he is going to take him as he is to the station for questioning. He drags him to the door and out into the street where Tony then relents and pipes down a bit. Not before being "admired" by the neighbours. However guilty he looks at one point - he knew Kate, had opportunity to kill Kate, he nearly broke his girlfriend's fingers once, he is a little shit with a bad temper and a fuzzy cannabis addled brain - Tony turns out to be merely player of games and not the grand master.
Steven Harding is the one to look out for. You get a bad feeling about him at times but there does not seem to be enough of a relationship between him and Kate for it to lead to murder. You cannot immediately see why he would go after her. This is all because he is a master at manipulation, a very good actor and total psycho. There is this web of lies, of vague unclear relationships, mixed messages about sexuality and self importance around him that confuses you. It is really very well done. I definitely never saw the whole under age girlfriend thing coming but did have a suspicion that he was not all that he seemed. The book steers you into so many directions where he is concerned that you get very wary of another plot element being linked to him and I was never really convinced of his guilt or his innocence. There is so much that speaks against Steven that you almost want him to be innocent. You expect him to be innocent as it is at times so obvious that he is the one guy who could possibly have reason to murder Kate and how often is it the most obvious guy that turns out to be the killer... right? Well, I guess Walters did a good job on that one!
The book reads well. I liked the fact that the first person to "speak" in the book is Kate, the second one is her killer. Then the whole thing becomes a game of pick up the clue and see where it fits. With, of course the necessary red herrings already mentioned. The characters are well written though sometimes a bit stereotypical. the local cop who has potential, the loyal but deluded friend, the big shot coppers... however, they are sympathetically written and they come across as real people that you cold meet on any street corner. You want them to do well and nail the bastard that killed Kate. I never felt much sympathy or empathy for Kate but I guess it is quite difficult to make you like a person who is really only in the book as a corpse.

The one critical point that I have to raise is the fact that the author found it necessary to have a little romance-like sub plot for passer by Maggie and the local copper Nick. The book really does not need this. If the story line between them had not been there I would not have missed it. It might even have made the book a bit more compact and focused and that would have been fine. Was this side plot added to give some more insight into why these two people behaved towards each other in the way they did? Was it added in to give the book a positive note to end on... the yin to the main plot's yang? I am not sure.


Title: The Breaker
Author: Minette Walters
447 pages
Pan Books
ISBN nr -330-37326-9

Books to be read: 81

NB: just realised that if I consistently read a book a week it will take me 1.5 years to read all my books... never gonna happen! Conan is almost 1000 pages, then there's Gormenghast... oh boy!

Remember me??

You might be forgiven for thinking I am no longer reading books or interested in this blog. Wrong on both counts! I am still reading and I am still doing this.
Work went mental and getting up at three in the morning and updating a blog regularly did not really go hand in hand. I have also been busy getting my OU exam out of the way, getting through an office move and a home move.. oh, and going on holiday.
Now my exam has been and gone and I am fully refreshed after a nice two week holiday in the home country.. which no longer really feels like home.

I picked up a book to read from my stock at Mum's and am getting on well with it. Stay tuned to find out what it is!

Nothing to report...

For some reason or another I did not really get much time to read. Maybe it was that the weather was really nice, perhaps it was that there was some packing to be done this week. I managed to get quite a bit done and my shredder was working overtime. It will not have been the revision as I did not do much of that this week. Did some yesterday after some serious procrastinating. I bet I could win the Olympic Gold Medal on that one.
Hope to be able to find some time to read this week. Still a bit of course reading to do and then just the rest of the revision. got the results back for my final assignment and it was a decent enough score. I kind of knew I missed out on some points but as long as it was around 60 I was going to be happy enough. 67 will do very nicely!

Catching up

It almost seems that after my period of not reading much else but the obligatory course books I am now on a bit of a reading spree. I am reading two at the moment. Normally I do not do that as I feel it takes too much out of me to try and keep track of two different stories. I think the only way this is working now is that one of them is in Dutch and the other one is in English. With the language split, somehow my brain manages to separate the two fine. It probably also help that the one in Dutch is not really a novel or story but more a help-me-think-my-way-out-of-a-situation book. The book is all about how people get stuck in realising their dreams and how you can make sure dream or wish becomes a reality. So far the main thing that the book has taught me is that in the Creativity Spiral I am only on the first third of my wish coming true and am stuck on the Planning, Deciding and Taking Action stage... I kind of already knew this but I did find it interesting to find out that on the decision cycle Imagining is directly opposite Taking Action. I have no real issues in imaging how my wish and ideal future would look like. Taking the action to make my wish actually come true is what I struggle with. Now that I have read the first two chapters explaining all the stages I am hoping this book will give me some practical pointers on how to go full circle or at least gets me to a stage where I understand better what is stopping me. I am off to explore chapter three to see if it does.

The English one, by the way, is a ghost story one as I realised I had not read one in absolutely ages and could do with a decent dose of the sinister.

It's been too long

In my rush and excitement to get the review published I forgot to give you the details. I do apologise and have chosen to "punish" myself by making myself read another book. A ghost story one this time.

For the one I just finished the vital stats are:

Title: Mort
Author: Terry Pratchett
Corgi Books
316 pages
ISBN nr 9780-552-13106-3

Books to be read: 81.. had to look quite a way back to get the total!!

Early Release

Remember last week I was counting the weeks until I was allowing myself to read again? Well.... I decided that life is to short to deny myself the pleasures of reading and picked up a book. I have now finished aforementioned book... only took a few days to finish... I loved the feel of getting into a book again. Wondering which way it was going to end and what was going to happen along the way.
So, with out further ado... for the first time since... ages...


SPOILER ALERT


Mort - Terry Pratchett
This is the first Terry Pratchett book I have read. I do not think it will be the last. It has a very catching rhythm in reading, it ducks and dives, rushes along and makes you chuckle every page. It has a very nice pace actually, and reads really easily. In a way you can tell that it is part of a series as Mr Pratchett does his best to make sure you understand what the world we are dealing with is about and how it works. Having said that, the world we are presented with seems just about the same as the one we inhabit so you start of thinking that everything must thus behave in the same way as in our universe and it is the little quirks and surprising traits of Discworld that make you chuckle and make it a very enjoyable read.
In essence Mort is about Death taking an apprentice (Mort, short for Mortimer also French for Dead!) who messes up one tiny, little assignment and thus unleashes all kinds of strange goings on... or should that be stranger goings on.
When we first meet Mort he is an uncoordinated, unfocussed young lad that his father does not know what to do with. In the hope of securing some kind of future for him he decides that Mort must become an apprentice and learn a trade. This is how he meets Death. As soon as he finds out that the bleached bones look is optional and no dying needs to take place Mort agrees to take the job and his training starts. Mort is a thoroughly enjoyable character and not as stupid as he may look. He is able to look at things in a way that not many people can, simply and straightforwardly. I guess you could call him the hero of the book as he tries to right the wrongs, defies his master in order to do this. You want him to do well and achieve his goal even if it might mean tat Discworld as we know it ceases to exist. In the beginning Mort is a bit apprehensive about his new Master and what he has signed up to do. But he seems to settle into a routine quickly I guess you could even say that he enjoys what he does. He tends not to think about what he actually does and that I think helps him to get by. Mort accepts his lot for what it is, but then he meets Keli. She seems to be one of the few people that can actually see him. His wish to keep her safe leads him into a conflict with his boss and in the process causes a rift in reality that will have to be resolved somehow or other. In the process o trying to save himself and his reality Mort becomes more and more like Death. He is being taken over by Death slowly. Ysabell is the one that draggs him back to himself, makes him realise who he really is. One thing that you can say about Mort is that he is willing to die for what he believes in. He is even willing to take on Death itself to preserve what he thinks is right. It works! Death seems to take pity on Mort and decides to let him live. The only thing Death asks is that Mort and Ysabell make amends by making sure that what was meant to be is actually going to be.
Deaths is another great character in the book. He is written as a majestic, larger than life personality. With a sense of humour. He also seems to have a desire to learn about human behaviour and at times almost tries to behave like one. Death is there to do a job. He is not the one making the decision on who dies and lives but he merely does what needs to be done. He is also not a menacing character. He seems kind of reasonable, not scary, likes cats and seems to have compassion for those he comes to take. At the start of the book Death is very keen to do his job well and to make sure that Mort learns what he needs to so he can take over. And yet, when Mort does go out on his own and does a good job Death is almost disappointed. This seems to lead him to re-evaluate his "life" and leads to something like a crisis where he goes out and discovers what makes people tick, what do they do and experience, what makes their lives enjoyable? I loved Death as a cook! It is just the thought of this almost regal and impressive character that has been presented so far donning a apron and frying eggs. Death has created his own little space to live in outside of time and he has made it as homely as possible. Even though everything is a shade of grey or black it still has all the essentials.. animals, plants. He has even tried to make himself more human by adopting a daughter. At the end of the story Death seems to be the more human of the characters we have met. He seems to take pity on Mort and Ysabell and allows them to live to rectify their mistakes. This is unexpected as generally Death does not give you a second chance... unless you are a cute kitten perhaps.
When we first meet Death's daughter Ysabell she seems like a really arrogant, selfish and unkind person. She is almost like a Estella in Great Expectations. Haughty and ready to destroy any young man that dares to come near her. As we go through the book as she gets to know Mort she changes and you realise that she is kind of caught where she is, with no way out. She is there for eternity and time has stopped for her as it does for everyone living with Death. She knows she is only tolerated and there almost as a kind of experiment for Death. I think she is there because Death is intrigued by Mankind and wants to find out what make them tick. He has tried to create a place where Ysabell would feel happy but she knows only too well it is not real. I think that having Mort there reminds Ysabell about what it is to feel and to long for life to be different. She loves o read the life books of all the people that have passed on. She thinks that all love is dramatic, over the top and over romantic. Perhaps that is why she initially does not recognise her love for Mort. She and Mort make a really good team and she is one feisty character, not afraid to tell it like it is.

The story in the book is simple enough in itself. Mort becomes Death's apprentice. Gets to go out on missions to gather the dead. He gets obsessed by a girl that can see him when others cannot and decides to change her fate when he knows he should not. This leads to all sorts of contradictions in reality and Mort, Ysabell, a wizard called Cutwell, a servant called Albert (who is actually a wizard as well) and Binky the horse have to do everything they can to save their reality and themselves wih Death hot on their heels. Un-naturally... they succeed.

And yet under the surface the book is so much more than a story about Death taking an apprentice. Pratchett makes a point of telling us several times that people only see what they want to believe and that they tend not to accept what is right in front of them even if they can see it clearly. It also seems that Pratchett is representing Death not as a scary character but as a character who almost wants to be human and understand mankind. Death, it seems is nothing to be afraid of.