Author: Jackie

Categories
Uncategorized

One Morning Like a Bird – Andrew Miller

Ingenious Pain is one of my favourite books, so when I spotted that Andrew Miller had written a book set in Japan, a country I love reading about, I was very excited.

The book is set in Tokyo during WWII and focuses on Yuri, a young man who is unable to fight due to ill-health. He becomes friends with a French trader and his family, but as the war progresses this friendship causes him to have to make some difficult decisions.

As with all books written by Andrew Miller the writing is very good – it is simple, but effective. The book is well researched and explains the lives of the Japanese during the war well. My only criticism would be that it lacks the Japanese atmosphere that I love to read about – I can’t picture the sights, sounds and smells of 1940s Japan – this is a minor problem though. The characters are all well developed and believable, and the plot, although not having a fast pace, is engaging.

The lives of Japanese civilians during WWII isn’t something I’ve read about before, so seeing things through their eyes gives a whole new layer to the European war stories we are so used to reading.

I admire Andrew Miller for branching out into a new area and being able to create such a diverse range of books. I will continue to keep an eye out for his new releases and this book will ensure he keeps his place on my list of favourite authors.

Recommended. 

stars4

Have you read any books written by Andrew Miller?

Have you read books set in Japan during WWII?

Categories
Other

I’m going to Edinburgh….

edinburgh

Tomorrow morning I’m travelling up to Edinburgh for the festival. I’ve got a few comedy nights booked and will hopefully manage to catch a few book events too.

I’m taking a laptop, so hopefully will be able to keep blogging as usual, but just in case the Wi-Fi doesn’t work I thought I’d let you know where I’ve gone!

Have you ever been to the Edinburgh festival?

Do you like seeing live comedy?

Who would you rather see – your favourite author or your favourite comedian?

Categories
2009 Booker Prize Recommended books

How to Paint a Dead Man – Sarah Hall

Long listed for the Booker Prize 2009

The great thing about reading the Booker long list is that I read books I would never normally pick up and am occasionally rewarded by finding a gem like this. I shouldn’t have liked this book – it has virtually no plot and has whole chapters about a person who paints bottles. It sounds like the sort of book I’d run a mile from, but for some reason I loved it!

I was transfixed from the first page. The heart-breaking emotions of a woman who has lost her twin brother affected me straight away. I think I had the tissues out within a few pages and it is so rare for me to be moved by a book that I knew this was going to be something special.

The second chapter introduces the life of an Italian painter, and while I found this section the weakest of the three, it was an important lull in the heightened emotions of the surrounding sections.

The final scene describes the father of the twins and his battle for survival after he becomes trapped in the hills. The book weaves together these three separate scenes, and that is all they are really, exceptionally well. There is no plot – just glimpses into the lives of these three characters.

I don’t know how this book managed to grip me from beginning to end when so many seemingly similar books have failed. I can only assume that Sarah Hall has an outstanding talent, or is perfectly in tune with my fears and emotions.

Sarah Hall is from Cumbria, so the occasional snippets of dialect may prove difficult for some to understand, but as I spent my teenage years in the Lake District this wasn’t a problem for me.

Overall, I highly recommend this book. It deserves it’s place on the Booker long list and I plan to seek out all her previous books.

stars4h

Have you read any books written by Sarah Hall?

Which one was your favourite?

Categories
2000 - 2007 Books in Translation Nobel Prize

The Double – José Saramago

José Saramago won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1998.

Translated from the Portugese by Margaret Jull Costa

Blindness is one of my favourite books and so I have been keeping an eye out for Saramago’s other books ever since I finished reading it. Unfortunately I haven’t been very successful – they never seem to turn up!  Then,  last week I finally spotted one in the library.

The Double is the story of a history teacher who sits down to watch a rented video one evening and is shocked to discover that one of the actors is identical to him in every physical detail. He tracks down his look-alike and confirms that they are exact copies of each other – so alike that even their wives cannot tell them apart.

As with Blindness, Saramago’s writing style takes a bit of time to get used to. There are very few paragraphs and the words just seem to flow together at times, each page just packed with a sea of words:

Although he does not really believe in Fate, distinguished from any lesser destiny by that respectful initial capital letter, Tertuliano Máximo Afonso cannot shake off the idea that so many chance events and coincidences coming all together could very well correspond to a plan, as yet unrevealed, but whose development and denouncement are doubtless already to be found on the tablets on which that same Destiny, always assuming it does exist and does govern our lives, set down, at the very beginning of time, the date on which the first hair would fall from our head and the last smile die on our lips.

It doesn’t take long to adapt to his style though, and I quickly became caught up in this imaginative plot. It doesn’t have the pace or fearful adrenaline rush I experienced with Blindness, but it is just as thought-provoking. If it were possible, would you want to swap lives with someone? Would you feel threatened by someone who was identical to you in every way? What would you do to protect your identity?

I loved the ending – it was cleverly written and left me with lots to think about.

The Double isn’t in the same league as Blindness, but it  is a very good book.

Recommended.

stars4

Is Blindness one of your favourite books?

Have you read any of Saramago’s other books?

Categories
Blogging Other

The importance of honest book reviews

If you weren’t on Twitter yesterday you may have missed the debate which is currently occurring on my Wolf Hall post. I have been accused of not:

…being honest (or rather fair) about the book at all.

 My critic goes on to say that:

…to go and write a review about a work after getting only a fifth of the way through is not only ridiculous, but degrading to the responsibility of the critic.

Several other people were subjected to more abusive comments on their negative reviews yesterday – all by different people. I’m not sure what was happening yesterday, but there was a lot of bad feeling flying around.

I stand by my decision to write negative reviews for books.  The quotes I pulled from the book may not be representative of the text overall, but do explain exactly why I did not enjoy reading it.

I should perhaps make it clearer that my ratings are no indication of the quality of the book, but are purely based on how much I enjoyed reading it. There are lots of people who love reading Wolf Hall, and they in turn probably don’t enjoy reading the same books as me. There are millions of books out there, so it is great that we all enjoy reading different ones.

The blogging community has emerged so that like minded people can join together and discuss the books we’ve read. I think it is a shame that more people don’t write negative reviews, as I find it much easier to determine whether my taste in books matches someone elses if the complete range of books they’ve read is on display. As long as the review is not abusive or an attack on the author, then it can only help people to discover books they enjoy, therefore encourage more reading. I know that since I have found people whose recommendations I trust, the quality and therefore quantity of books I’ve read had increased massively.

I really hope that the abusive comments that were flying around yesterday do not prevent people from giving honest opinions on the books they’ve read.

How do you feel about negative reviews?

Do you think there is anything important to mention when writing negative reviews?

Were you put off writing negative reviews after reading the abusive comments others received yesterday?

Categories
2008 Audio Book

Testimony – Anita Shreve (Audio Book)

I sometimes struggle to find good audio books, so when Sandy recommended Testimony I bought a copy straight away. Sandy is right – this book is perfect for listening to.

The book begins with the headmaster of a school discovering a tape of three 18-year-old boys having sex with a 14-year-old girl. The story then unfolds via the ‘testimonies’ of  various people affected by the incident. Each person reveals how they experienced the events in the first person, something which I don’t like when reading a book, but this worked really well when listening to the story. I felt like each character was just explaining things to me, so I connected really well with them and it seemed very realistic.

There are a large number of characters, but the different voices helped me to identify with each one, so I didn’t get confused at any point. Had I been reading the book I think I would have become confused by the number of characters, irritated by the first person voice and possibly given up on it.

The book raises many thought-provoking questions, including who is to blame when teenagers mis-behave? Is it possible for a 14-year-old to seduce an 18-year-old, or is it always rape? Should a single action be held against someone for the rest of their lives?

The narrator held my attention throughout, encouraging me to continue listening to the extent that I listened to this faster than any other audio book in the past.

I highly recommend the audio book version of Testimony, and think it would make an interesting book club choice.

stars4

What is the most gripping audio book you have ever listened to?

This is the first Anita Shreve book I have tried. Are any of her others really good?