What I'm reading ...

I have started How The Dead Live by Will Self.

I have to confess: I am not a fan of Will Self. Whenever I come across him on TV or radio, I have the impression that he's egocentric and pretentious. So, I wouldn't normally choose to read any of his scribblings.

But this is the October Bookclub selection. So, I'll give it a go ...

Temptation - by Dermot Bolger

This book has three features, that I'm always pleased to find: a beginning, a middle and an ending. It's not simplistic, but has a straightforward, comprehensible structure and a great build up of tension.

The story is about Alison, who, with her family, has gone away for a week at a seaside hotel, like they do every year. But, this time, two things have changed: her husband is called away on a business matter and she runs into an "old flame" who is also staying there.

The story is told from her viewpoint. Although I like reading a story told from a woman's viewpoint, I can't help wondering how accurate that can be, given that the book was written by a man.

The character Mark is very credible. I guess that I could empathize with him in many ways. He was shy when he was younger. Now, having lost his wife and two daughters in a road accident, he feels lost.

I like to learn things from reading a book. I also like to gain insights. I think the following passage is very moving:

"Do you often forget she's dead?"

"I did last Tuesday," he replied. "For a whole ten seconds. The time it took to start the van, then remember that I'd nothing to go home to. You don't forget people are dead, it's just that sometimes you forget that death is forever."

What I'm reading ...

I have started Temptation by Dermot Bolger.

For some years, I have enjoyed reading books by a number of contemporary Irish writers. Dermot Bolger started me on this. I stumbled across a book that he edited, called Finbar's Hotel. It was actually written by bunch of writers, each of whom did one chapter, picking up where the last had finished. I enjoyed it so much I set out to read more work by each of the authors.

I have also read a couple of Bolger's other books - Father's Music and The Journey Home. I know I liked them and they were not an "easy" read [Bolger looks at some of the hard issues in life], but I confess to not recalling details [which is one reason why I'm doing this blog!].

Pompeii - by Robert Harris

For me, this is an almost ideal book. It has a good, page-turning story, which kept me going right until the last page. The characters a well drawn. And I feel I learned something about the events at that time and about Roman culture and lifestyle.

The basis for the story is the fact that there has been an interruption in the water supply to one of the towns near to Pompeii. The main character is the newly-appointed "Aquarius", who is in charge of maintaining the aqueducts. He investigates the problem and gets wrapped up in local politics and the odd disappearance of his predecessor.

The approach of telling the story almost exclusively from the viewpoint of one character gives it a very personal quality. I am left wondering whether this guy actually existed and whether there really was an interruption in the water supply, which was a portent that they did not understand.

My confidence in the author's integrity means that I know I learned a lot. I am also very interested in the Romans - maybe it's because I have spent quite a lot of my life living in places that they founded. I love some of the details, like the way being Greek was almost a term of derogation. Why exactly was that? The relationship with slaves is very unfamiliar to us today and I felt it was summed up in one short passage:

... a slave carried over a small silver bowl. He dunked his hands and dried them on the slave's tunic.

I also liked the factual snippets at the beginning of each chapter - I must do some research to put the power dissipation of the eruption into an everyday context. It was interesting to note that the Romans did not know the height of clouds; a minority thought 5 miles [about right], but the majority thought that they were 111 miles up.

I would recommend this book to anyone. A great read.