I have started More Fool Me by Stephen Fry. After reading a longish novel, I needed something different and biography is a good option. I have read the previous two volumes, so when this was published (at a good price on Kindle), I had to get it. Here's the blurb:
In his early thirties, Stephen Fry - writer, comedian, star of stage and screen - had, as they say, 'made it'. Much loved in A Bit of Fry and Laurie, Blackadder and Jeeves and Wooster, author of a critically acclaimed and bestselling first novel, The Liar, with a glamorous and glittering cast of friends, he had more work than was perhaps good for him.
What could possibly go wrong?
Then, as the 80s drew to a close, he discovered a most enjoyable way to burn the candle at both ends, and took to excess like a duck to breadcrumbs. Writing and recording by day, and haunting a never ending series of celebrity parties, drinking dens, and poker games by night, in a ludicrous and impressive act of bravado, he fooled all those except the very closest to him, some of whom were most enjoyably engaged in the same dance.
He was - to all intents and purposes - a high functioning addict. Blazing brightly and partying wildly as the 80s turned to the 90s, AIDS became an epidemic and politics turned really nasty, he was so busy, so distracted by the high life, that he could hardly see the inevitable, headlong tumble that must surely follow . . .
Containing raw, electric extracts from his diaries of the time, More Fool Me is a brilliant, eloquent account by a man driven to create and to entertain - revealing a side to him he has long kept hidden.
19 Nov 2014
The Cuckoo's Calling - by Robert Galbraith
This was just what a detective novel should be like - a complex story, with lots of threads (but not so many that you get lost) and details. The characters are well drawn and, although there are quite a few, again I was never lost. I was quickly engaged with the story quite quickly and keen to get to know Strike. It was soon unputdownable. The pace through the story was just right and the ending was not rushed. I look forward to reading further books in this series (we have the next one - I hope there'll be more).
13 Nov 2014
What I'm reading ...
I have started The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith. I fancied something different that I could bury myself in and this came recommended. Here's the blurb:
The Cuckoo's Calling is a 2013 crime fiction novel by J. K. Rowling, published under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith.
When a troubled model falls to her death from a snow-covered Mayfair balcony, it is assumed that she has committed suicide. However, her brother has his doubts, and calls in private investigator Cormoran Strike to look into the case.
A war veteran, wounded both physically and psychologically, Strike's life is in disarray. The case gives him a financial lifeline, but it comes at a personal cost: the more he delves into the young model's complex world, the darker things get - and the closer he gets to terrible danger . . .
The Cuckoo's Calling is a 2013 crime fiction novel by J. K. Rowling, published under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith.
When a troubled model falls to her death from a snow-covered Mayfair balcony, it is assumed that she has committed suicide. However, her brother has his doubts, and calls in private investigator Cormoran Strike to look into the case.
A war veteran, wounded both physically and psychologically, Strike's life is in disarray. The case gives him a financial lifeline, but it comes at a personal cost: the more he delves into the young model's complex world, the darker things get - and the closer he gets to terrible danger . . .
Twelve Years a Slave - by Solomon Northup
When I first started this book, I thought that I would find the language style troublesome, as it is written in US Victorian English. However, after a few dozen pages, I became attuned to it and no longer noticed.
It is quite a short book and, to be honest, has quite a simple story. But that misses the point of the book, which is really to document the plight of slaves in the American South, the attitude of their owners (and the white people in general) and the unfortunate circumstances under which the likes of the author could find themselves thus subjugated.
The author paints a very vivid picture of his experiences and of the people and places around him. Having seen the movie, this was quite familiar to me. Some of the scenes of severe cruelty - like Patsy's beating - are very harrowing to read. However, what I found more shocking was the attitudes of the owners, who regarded the slaves as, literally, livestock. They seemingly could not empathise with them as human beings at all. This seems so ironic in a country that prided itself (still does) on its citizens' inalienable right to life liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
It is quite a short book and, to be honest, has quite a simple story. But that misses the point of the book, which is really to document the plight of slaves in the American South, the attitude of their owners (and the white people in general) and the unfortunate circumstances under which the likes of the author could find themselves thus subjugated.
The author paints a very vivid picture of his experiences and of the people and places around him. Having seen the movie, this was quite familiar to me. Some of the scenes of severe cruelty - like Patsy's beating - are very harrowing to read. However, what I found more shocking was the attitudes of the owners, who regarded the slaves as, literally, livestock. They seemingly could not empathise with them as human beings at all. This seems so ironic in a country that prided itself (still does) on its citizens' inalienable right to life liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
5 Nov 2014
What I'm reading ...
I have started Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup - my next book club book. Having seen the movie a while back, it will be interesting to see how they compare. Here is the blurb:
12 Years a Slave is a riveting true account of a free man captured and sold into slavery in the pre–Civil War South. Solomon Northup’s narrative explores one of the darkest times in American history and captures in vivid detail the unimaginable realities of slavery.
In 1841, the educated musician Solomon Northup, a free man living in New York who is cruelly deceived by the promise of a job in Washington, is drugged, kidnapped, and sold into slavery. Once Solomon arrives in New Orleans, he is given a slave name and soon realizes that any mention of his rights as a free man is sure to bring cruel punishment or death. Denied his freedom and ripped away from his family, he spends twelve emotionally and physically gruelling years on a Louisiana cotton plantation enduring the hardships and brutalities of life as a slave. When Solomon eventually finds a sympathizing friend, a daring rescue is attempted that could either end in Solomon’s death or restore his freedom and reunite him with his family.
When Solomon Northup published this harrowing account of slavery in 1853, it immediately stirred up controversy in the national debate over slavery, helping to sway public opinion in favour of abolition. His book 12 Years a Slave remains one of the most insightful, detailed, and eloquent depictions of slavery in America. It demonstrates the extraordinary resilience of one man’s spirit in the face of extreme suffering and his incredible will to survive.
12 Years a Slave is a riveting true account of a free man captured and sold into slavery in the pre–Civil War South. Solomon Northup’s narrative explores one of the darkest times in American history and captures in vivid detail the unimaginable realities of slavery.
In 1841, the educated musician Solomon Northup, a free man living in New York who is cruelly deceived by the promise of a job in Washington, is drugged, kidnapped, and sold into slavery. Once Solomon arrives in New Orleans, he is given a slave name and soon realizes that any mention of his rights as a free man is sure to bring cruel punishment or death. Denied his freedom and ripped away from his family, he spends twelve emotionally and physically gruelling years on a Louisiana cotton plantation enduring the hardships and brutalities of life as a slave. When Solomon eventually finds a sympathizing friend, a daring rescue is attempted that could either end in Solomon’s death or restore his freedom and reunite him with his family.
When Solomon Northup published this harrowing account of slavery in 1853, it immediately stirred up controversy in the national debate over slavery, helping to sway public opinion in favour of abolition. His book 12 Years a Slave remains one of the most insightful, detailed, and eloquent depictions of slavery in America. It demonstrates the extraordinary resilience of one man’s spirit in the face of extreme suffering and his incredible will to survive.
The Spa Decameron - by Fay Weldon
I was warned, when I started this book, that it would be rather feminist. Be that as it may, it was a good read. I thought that it was an interesting ploy - using the spa stay over Christmas as a framework into which a set of short stories could be packaged. This also gave the author the opportunity to write in a number of voices, which was interesting. Some of the stories were more credible than others, but they all kept me turning the pages. Normally, I find short stories rather unsatisfying.
A particular aspect of the writer's style appealed to me: she seems to go into intricate detail in places, but leave holes for the reader to fill in others. So the text never becomes clumsily verbose or annoyingly sparse. I will certainly come back to Fay Weldon in the future.
A particular aspect of the writer's style appealed to me: she seems to go into intricate detail in places, but leave holes for the reader to fill in others. So the text never becomes clumsily verbose or annoyingly sparse. I will certainly come back to Fay Weldon in the future.
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