Kate's Reading Challenge 2010: Book Twelve

No.12. 'Brighton Rock' by Graham Greene (Penguin: Viking, 2004)

After a brief affair with new Ian McEwan, 'Solar' (I'll come back to this one at a later date I think!) I've turned my attentions to something a little more classic yet again (oops!) - my first Graham Greene.

This took me an embarrassingly long time to read but it was fabulous! Set in seedy 30's Brighton Fred Hale is the vulnerable centrepiece of a newspaper competition, in which he must distribute cards across the seaside hotspots, awaiting recognition from a member of the public. However, Fred's mission is thwarted by the threatening presence of a teenage gang member 'Pinkie' - the novel's antihero, who is after Hale's blood.

Two women become embroiled in this tangled plot of gang rivalry, Ida Arnold a kind-hearted woman who turns detective in a bid for justice and Rose an impressionable waitress who harbours the power but not the will to see Pinkie's gang meet their maker.

I loved the characters in this novel, particularly Pinkie and his manner of predicting and then trying to control the actions of the others. This is a real classic, thrilling and thoughtful.

Started: April 9th Finished: April 24th

Kate's Reading Challenge 2010: Book Eleven

No.11: 'The Terrible Privacy of Maxwell Sim' by Jonathan Coe (Penguin:Viking, 2010)

Due out at the end of May this year, Jonathan Coe's latest novel is a book to look forward to;

funny and refreshing ' The Terrible Privacy of Maxwell Sim' is very much a novel of our era. We meet Maxwell Sim - a recently-divorced, slightly dippy salesman - in a very reflective mood, as he observes a beautiful Chinese woman and her daughter in a restaurant. And so begins an adventure through Maxwell's past as he ponders his ropey relationships with his family.
At the centre of the story is Maxwell's mission to drive to the most Northern point of the UK (Shetland) to promote an eco-friendly toothbrush design, with only his trusty sat-nav (affectionately named Emma) for company. Along the way Maxwell stops off to reacquaint himself with a number of old faces including the ex-neighbour of his father, the parents and sister of an old friend, his ex-wife and his daughter, in a bid to make a crucial life decision.

Within the story Coe imbeds a series of short stories written by other characters from the book, which shift the narrative perspective and offer a series of subplots. These diversions are so convincingly imbedded within the main story and move along the action of Maxwell's adventure in an effortless fashion. For me though, the most successful aspect of 'The Terrible Privacy' is the painful honesty with which Maxwell himself is portrayed as a man who is gradually becoming more aware of his shortcomings.

I can't wait to hear Jonathan talk about this novel when he speaks at Mr B's on June 15th...

Started: 18th March Finished: 23rd March

Kate's Reading Challenge 2010: Book Ten

No.10: 'The Unnamed' by Joshua Ferris (Penguin - Viking, 2010)

Fans of Joshua Ferris's wonderful ' Then we Came to the End' will be surprised by 'The Unnamed.' Ferris's new novel is also split between the office life (this time a law office) and the home life of it's characters, but here is where the similarities between the two books end.

'The Unnamed' is the very surreal story of Tim Farnsworth, a handsome, wealthy, happily-married lawyer, who finds his comfortable life intermittently interrupted by an unnamed disorder, which forces him to start walking, and to keep walking until at the point of exhaustion he falls asleep, wherever he might be. We meet Tim after a period of remission, when the disorder suddenly takes hold of him again.

In beginning the story at this point Ferris avoids lengthy description of the disagnostic process, of the many tests that Tim undergoes and the various methods he uses to try and control his disorder. Instead 'The Unnamed' cuts right to the chase, this being the implications of such a strange sydrome upon Tim as a father, a husband and a lawyer. The result is a tender, yet amusing narrative, which mixes the wacky unpredicability of the unnamed disorder with the bitter realism of everyday life admirably.

Started: March 10th Finished: March 14th

Mr B's Reading Year 2010 - Book 3 - Withering Lows by Emily Bronte

Now if a few lovers of Oscar Wilde might disapprove of me feeling underwhelmed by "The Picture of Dorian Gray", then I'm sure a few more will disapprove of me being unable (for the time being) to finish "Wuthering Heights".

Disclaimer first - this was the book I was reading during and just before the Bath Lit Fest which meant the only time I really had to read it was very late at night for about 90 seconds before falling asleep. Not ideal conditions I admit. But once the festival was over I perservered and still found myself unable to connect with the infamous Cathy, Heathcliff and co.

Although I had somehow never got round to reading Wuthering Heights until now I did have various preconceptions. I was expecting atmospheric windswept moors and an incorrigible and dastardly hero and received both. However I wasn't expecting the peculiar narration of the story which for me had some really clumsy moments - particuarly the letter sent by Isabella Linton to Nelly Dean and then retained by the latter for years, which seemed to me a rather too convenient and unconvincing way of telling the reader what had gone on between the unhappily eloped Isabella and Heathcliff.

Wuthering Heights lost me my reading mojo for a couple of weeks and so I've sidelined it for the moment. To help me potentially pick up where I left off in a few months time, here's my brief (and slightly glib) synopsis of what happens in the first 176 pages. So if you're one of the 3 other people who've never read it, look away now:

A newcomer, Lockwood, rocks up at Wuthering Heights in the snow and gets trapped in for the night with his viciously unwelcoming new landlord, Heathcliff. Various confusing references to people called Catherine ensue. In the morning Lockwood staggers back to his new home at Thrushcross Grange. His new housekeeper Nelly Dean then begins telling him the history of the inhabitants of Thrushcross Grange and Wuthering Heights (is that enough incidental narrator characters for you?)

It turns out that Heathcliff was a scouse orphan acquired by Wuthering Heights owner Mr Earnshaw. Heathcliff grows up alongside Mr Earnshaw's children, the resentful Hindley and the gradually besotted Catherine. Once Hindley takes over the estate upon his father's death he begins to make the still-young Heathcliff's life a misery. Catherine befriends Edgar and Isabella Linton at Thruschross Grange and eventually marries Edgar which she more or less instantly regrets. Although not as much as Isabella later regrets marrying Heathcliff. In between those two marriages Heathcliff has disappeared for a while in a huge huff. When he reappears and gets involved in a fracas with Edgar and then runs off with Isabella, Catherine embarks on a lengthy illness (which I have to say I found completely lacking in drama even by the tediously high standards of C19 novel heroine illnesses). And that's about as much as I could take.

Would love to hear from people who (a) love Wuthering Heights and can explain why the odd and confusing narrative structure is actually the stamp of Bronte's literary genius; (b) think I should carry on reading because it's about to get much better; (c) think I don't like it because really it's just a girl's book (although perhaps you could say the same for Madame Bovary and I loved that); or (d) agree that it's really slightly muddled and not a very thrilling read.

Mr B's Reading Year 2010 - Book 2 - The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

So my own slackness at blogging my year of reading the "books that you'd expect a bookshop owner to have already read" has been pitiful. I plead only two things (a) the behemoth of a time-swallower that is the Bath Literature Festival and (b) the ploddiness of my third book of the year, about which more shortly.

Before I get onto moaning about Book 3, I should quickly comment on Dorian Gray which was my second book of the year back in early February when my Literature Festival spreadsheet was but a twinkle in my laptop's eye.

To be honest I didn't really enjoy Dorian Gray. By choosing it I'd already broken one of my intended rules which was to concentrate on classics by authors that I had never read. I actually read and, as far as I can remember, thoroughly enjoyed "The Importance of Being Earnest" at school, and so I was pretty hopeful for Dorian Gray. But I found that once I'd chuckled along to a few dozen pages of ascerbic social comedy I started to dread having to wade through another 200 pages of it.

Towards the end I did warm to the plot itself and began to actually enjoy reading it rather than just looking out for clever bits of Wilde's wordsmithery that have since become standard put-downs. But by then I was pretty much as listless as the characters.

Kate's Reading Challenge 2010: Books 6-9

I've been rather tardy with my blog updating with all of the madness of the Bath Literature Festival 2010 so here's a brief update of my four most recent reads....

No.6: 'Foreign Affairs' by Alison Lurie (Random House, 2006)

Alison Lurie is the author of one of my favourite books 'The Nowhere City', (which is horribly out of print - but of course Mr B's can track down a second hand copy for anyone interested!) so I started 'Foreign Affairs' with high expectations and was unfortunately disappointed!

The book follows two American academics, who have come to London to study: Vinnie is a 54-year-old consistently unloved woman and Fred is a young, handsome and (until now) self-assured academic. As they settle into their new lives in London and struggle to focus on their individual projects both Vinnie and Fred find themselves distracted by members of the opposite sex (reluctantly so in Vinnie's case).

What Lurie does very well here is show how identity can get tied up with our sense of place, for example Vinnie is delighted when Chuck mistakes her for an English woman, and is generally unimpressed by American attitudes and mannerisms, but when she falls for him despite his all-American ways she is forced to question her views. In 'The Nowhere City' this relationship between geography and identity is explored in a much less obvious fashion, as a group of L.A. residents struggle to define themselves in a city where there is no unified sense of identity.

Nevertheless, I still think that this book is worth a read, Lurie has a wonderfully understated style, which illuminates the dynamics of the everyday in a very funny way.

Started: 13th February Finished: 21st February

No.7: 'The Missing' by Tim Gautreaux (Hodder and Stoughton, 2010)

OK so back to the strictly contemporary (briefly) - this is the book of the moment amongst the B Team, Caroline, Ed and myself have all just finished reading it.

It follows Sam, an ex-soldier, who is enjoying his job in a glamorous department store in Louisiana when a three-year-old girl is kidnapped, and he is fired. Racked with guilt and desperate to get his job back, Sam boards a pleasure steamer and turns detective in a bid to help the folorn parents find their missing daughter.

Periods of manic activity are interwoven with long atmospheric passages which beautifully depict the dusty jazz atmosphere on the boat, but create a very odd jolty pace, which I suppose echoes the movement of the boat.

Beautifully written, in parts totally implausible, but poignant and surprising moving.

Started: February 23rd Finished: March 5th

No.8: 'The Catcher in the Rye' by J.D. Salinger (Penguin, 1994)

Sorry to tred on Nic's territory, but I decided to sneak in a quick classic! I am so glad I finally read this book! It was recommended to me when I was at school and I think I read a few pages and decided it wasn't for me, the narrator's voice got on my nerves! And of course it's that voice, which I now find so fantastic about the book.

For those of you who haven't read it - 'The Catcher in the Rye' is the story of school drop-out Holden Caufield, as he makes his journey back to his parents, dreading their reaction at the news he has been kicked out of another school. On his way Holden kills some time by smoking far too much, meeting up with a series of random acquaintances and contemplating his long list of dislikes. Plot wise, little happens but Holden's casual slang-ridden mode of expression is so consistently portrayed, and in very funny in places, this is a book that will stay with me for a long time.

Started: March 5th Finished: March 8th

No.9: 'Hector and the Search for Happiness' by Francois Lelord (Gallic, 2010)

This is so new, the pages are still steaming from the printing press! Hector is a successful but dissatified psychiatrist, frustrated that whilst he is able to offer pills, psychotherapy and sympathy to his patients he is unable to make them happy. So he heads off around the world on a mission to discover what makes people happy, and sets out a list of foolproof rules to ensure happiness.

Written in a childlike, matter-of-fact style, this is a fresh, entertaining, light read.

Started: March 9th Finished: March 9th

OK - not so brief then!

Kate's Reading Challenge 2010: Book Five

No.5. 'The Man Who Loved Books Too Much' by Allison Hoover Bartlett
(Riverhead Books, 2009)

My first non-fiction read of the year was this biography of shameless book thief John Gilkey, who drove many a rare book dealer to distraction with his love for books that he couldn't afford. As such Gilkey saw it as his right to take the titles he so dearly wanted from book fairs, and dealers across America.

Hot on Gilkey's trail was Ken Sanders, a rare book dealer, turned 'Bibliodick', outraged by the continual thieving enchroaching upon his trade and in good old fashioned cat and mouse style American journalist Allison Hoover Bartlett follows both men and documents their stories.

It has to be said Hoover Bartlett gets in a bit too deep, and remains a little too impartial for my liking. Despite having clear opinons about Gilkey and his actions she never voices these or contends his actions.

Yet this is a really fascinating story and in particular the exploration of what leads people to collect books (be it legally or illegally) is thoughtfully explored.

Started: February 9th Finished: February 12th

Kate's Reading Challenge 2010: Book Four

No. 4. 'Trespass' by Rose Tremain
(Chatto & Windus, 2010)

One of the many perks of working at Mr B's is the abundance of shiny proofs that we receive before books officially hit the shelves. As the brilliant 'Restoration' is one of my favourite books, I was particularly excited to spot the new Rose Tremain amongst the latest arrivals.

Tremain's latest is set amongst the mysterious winding landscapes of the Cevennes in Southern France where Aramon - an alcoholic haunted by a violent past - is trying to sell his beautiful but neglected farmhouse the Mas Lunel. The family home for generations, the Mas Lunel boasts a wealth of family history, brilliant views and the luxury of complete peace and isolation...apart from a small modern bungalow on the edges of the farmland owned by Aramon's siter Audrun.

When Antony Verey a flailing antiques dealer from London comes to France to visit his adoring sister Veronica he decides a fresh start in the Cevennes may be the key to his revival and lets his imagination run wild as he dreams of pool houses, guest rooms and acres and acres of precious space. As the lives of the two pairs of siblings collide a tragic story unfolds.

A really disconcerting and (as we've come to expect of Tremain) wonderfully executed novel. I can't say that 'Trespass' surpassed the lofty heights of 'Restoration' but I can't wait to hear her talk about this novel at the Bath Literature Festival, and it's most definitely worth reading!

Started: 3rd February Finished: 8th February

Kate's Reading Challenge 2010: Books 1-3

So far I've managed to read a measly three books this year...

No.1. 'All the Names' by Jose Saramago

(Harvill Press,1999)

Not the most contemporary start, but I've had my eye on this one on the shelves at Mr B's for some time now, and it was worth the wait.

'All the Names' is the wonderfully quirky story of a clerk at the central registry who delights in checking the mundane details of minor local celebrities after registry hours, which is, of course, strictly forbidden. One night Senhor Jose accidentally picks up the registry card of an unknown woman, and so embarks upon a crazy detective/stalker mission to discover anything he can about her.

I absolutely loved Saramago's style, although I have a feeling this may be exactly what puts some people off his books. His sentences are epic, and punctuation is pretty sparse; but such a style lent itself perfectly to the story of an anxious amateur detective.

Wonderfully quirky and absorbing.

Started: January 1st Finished: January 9th

No.2. 'Man of my Dreams' by Curtis Sittenfeld

(Random House, 2006)

Don't be put off by the chic-lit title, or by the frog on the front. Curtis Sittenfeld first came to my attention last year when I read her mock autobiography of W. Bush's long-suffering spouse 'American Wife'. Later in the year I read 'Prep', also by Sittenfeld, which is definitely one of my top reads from 2009.

'Man of My Dreams' follows Hannah from a stubborn, socially inept fourteen-year-old to a stubborn, socially inept-adult. As Hannah observes her family and friends and their choices, her honesty is brutal and hilarious. But the real glory of Sittenfeld's writing is her (yes - she's a woman) descriptions of the most horribly cringe-worthy situations and her ability to intensify these with characters that make everything worse.

This is no 'Prep' but Curtis Sittenfeld remains one of my favourite contemporary novelists.

Started: January 10th Finished: January 14th

No.3. 'Shades of Grey' by Jasper Fforde
(Hodder & Stoughton, 2010)

Jasper Fforde's latest (long-awaited) novel enthralled three of the B Team. Caroline, Lydia and Myself all read the proof of 'Shades of Grey' and I thought it was absolutely fantastic.

Set in a world where colour is a commodity and the colours that you can see define your place in a strict hierarchy, this is typical wacky Fforde! The protagonist is Eddie, a highly perceptive red, whose impending engagement to a haughty Oxblood looks sure to secure his place in chromatic society. But then he is banished to the outer fringes, where the inhabitants flout the rules and the wily ways of an aggressive grey tempt Eddie away from his secure life plan.

Each chapter begins with a hilarious rule and the books is littered with misunderstandings of our more conventional world, such as 'Over there was Catch 22, which was a hugely popular fishing book and one of series I believe'.

I've only ever read one other Fforde before 'The Eyre Affair', which I loved, but I do think this latest one is better, its not as light and the intricacies of the world created are really clever and entertaining.

Started:January 20th Finished: January 25th

Kate's Reading Challenge 2010: The Grand Plan

Last year I set myself the fairly meaty task of reading 40 new books in twelve months. The books ranged from the so-amazing-I'd-rather-read-than-sleep variety (e.g. 'Prep' by Curtis Sittenfeld and Colm Toibin's 'Brooklyn') to utterly terrible ('Dreams from the Endz' by Fazia Guene). Somehow I succeeded on my mission... but only by the skin of my teeth. So this year I've decided to up the ante with a target of 50.

I'll mostly be reading books that loosely fit into the cateogory of contemporary fiction (In order to counterbalance Nic's venture through the classics). Although I'm sure my reading path will meander around enough to include the odd golden oldie and the occassional piece of particularly intriguing non-fiction. Aside from this fairly broad framework I haven't set any rules on exactly which books I will or won't read, so suggestions are always welcome. My only aim is to discover lots of fantastic new books, and to do so within the time limit I've set.

It's February and I'm already lagging a little behind...wish me luck!