28th january 2008

I thought it would be interesting to try and keep some record of what I'm reading.
Hence this blog.

Recently, I've read

The End Of The Affair - Graham Greene
To be honest, I couldn't decide whether I liked this book or despised it. To clarify; I liked the way it was written, as in the prose; it was quite sparse and crisp (pretentious, moi?!), something I've come to appreciate as of late. However, I didn't like the characters much. Sarah was interesting, but she didn't feel very human, a little too emotional, wheras Bendrix was a little too short-sighted for my tastes. It had some clever plot-engineering; I especially liked the way Bendrix ended up effectively assuming Sarah's role with Henry at the end of the novel, and I very much appreciated the closing sentence.

Anything Goes - John Barrowman
Talk about "and now for something completely different"! I enjoyed this autobiography an alarming amount. It was actually quite funny, and I found myself staying up until some ungodly hour to finish it and laughing out loud at regular intervals. Nice pictures, too.

I Am Legend - Richard Matheson
I'm a complete sucker for cult fiction of any kind, and this is about as cult as it comes. I really enjoyed this, to my surprise as I'm not a big horror fan, but it was actually tastefully done (as proof of tastefulness, my mum is now reading it), and just graphic enough to be creepy without having to go into elaborate depictions of gore. The thing that I appreciated most about this novel was the use of understatement, both in the storytelling (ie you don't find out everything straight away, it's a very gradual, believable evolution of plot) and in the writing itself - not to spoil this for anyone, but Matheson -nails- the closing sentences of every chapter, and the final chapter just about killed me. Highly recommended.

The Game - Diana Wynne Jones
Oh, what a month for books it has been. Diana Wynne Jones is just about my favourite author, ever, and I -devoured- this novella in one greedy sitting, before turning to the back pages to read -glory of glories!- an extract from the forthcoming "House Of Many Ways", set in the Ingary-verse. The Game was wonderful, as I expected, and I especially appreciated the way it seemed (to me, at least) to reference DWJ's other books - there were clear references to Dogsbody, obviously, but the relationship between Hayley and Flute reminded me a little of Polly and Tom from "Fire and Hemlock", the description of Sisyphus brought to (my mind at least) images of Tacroy from "Christopher Chant" (co-incidence, alas, I think) and the description of the Mythosphere definitely reminded me of the Magid path - in fact, I'm not entirely unconvinced that they aren't the same thing. One of the things I like most about DWJ's books is that she always makes me want to read other things to gain more insight into the plot (hence the mammoth amount of books I read after rereading "Fire and Hemlock" for the fiftieth time - still struggling through "The Golden Bough"), and "The Game" has definitely rekindled my interest in myths, fairytales etc. I'm hoping to pick up some of the lesser-known collections of short stories in America next month, and have put in an appeal for signed copies of "The Game" at work - I would probably erect a shrine to the woman, if there was space in the Children's Department....

What I'm Reading At The Moment

The Duchess Of Malfi - John Webster
I started reading this at some horrendous hour of the morning, and got through Acts I and II before I fell asleep (the two were not connected). I'm enjoying it thus far, and finding it relatively easy to follow (for some reason, I keep thinking of "The Changeling" as I read it; perhaps I'll reread that next) although I forsee disaster on an Epic Scale...

The Gum Thief - Douglas Coupland
I've read about a third of this, and I'm not really enjoying it much; to be honest, I'm considering abandoning it. It's a big disappointment; I really love Coupland when he's writing about people, like "Eleanor Rigby", "Hey Nostradamus!" and "Generation X", my three favourites of his novels, but I confess that I found "Microserfs" interminably dull, and "The Gum Thief" feels similar. It just feels wacky for the sake of being wacky, it's poorly plotted, difficult to follow, and nothing is happening.

Then We Came To The End - Joshua Ferris
I don't know what it is with me and office-fic, but I seem to be on some kind of kick at the moment. Whatever, I'm really enjoying this novel (although I've only read a couple of chapters - I started it in my lunchbreak on Saturday), it's funny in a dry way, but the characters, unlike Coupland's, are somehow very likeable. Good stuff....even if it is on the Richard and Judy book list!