Reading Patterns

This sums up exactly how I feel.

Sometimes I make a silent list of what I’m going to read in the next few months but I’m so easily sidetracked, especially when I read a good book on an interesting subject. I want to know more about it so I start hunting down the books in the bibiliography or look up associated titles on the web and before you know it, I have built up another tbr pile from scratch. My thirst for knowledge seems insatiable, but I need to reprimand myself occasionally and tell myself that if I don’t actually read those books, it will remain just that: a thirst, unsatiated.

There’s something satisfying about having a reading plan, but I’ve only realised since joining all the challenges that I am beginning to feel a tad stifled (even though I chose the books myself and it’s from a list of books that I actually want to read and hence is in my tbr pile). I wonder what it is about being hemmed in on the straight and narrow that makes you want to kick aside the rails. I always envy the people who can stick to it until the end.

Maybe it’s just that up until now, I’ve always chosen what to read on a whim, on a feeling. Don’t get me wrong, I am excited about the books I’ll be reading and even within my lists, I’ve enough freedom to pick and choose what I like. Maybe I’m just a little ovewhelmed at all the books I feel I ought to read. We’ll see how it goes. What about you?

Mosquito by Roma Tearne

This is my first offering for the TBR 2010 Challenge and the South Asian Author Challenge and I’m happy I read it because 1) it was an extremely well written and evocative book and 2) it’s been on my TBR pile for about 3 years. Every time I go back to Sri Lanka I return with a pile of books by Sri Lankan authors and every good intention to read them as soon as I can, but I am so easily distracted…

Mosquito by Roma Tearne does not read like a first novel. Tearne’s prose is clear and simple and she has written a tragic but beautiful tale about returning to your roots and finding a paradise turned into hell. Tearne herself is Sri Lankan of mixed Tamil/Sinhalese parentage and left Sri Lanka at the age of 10 with her family. All the Sri Lankan authors I have attempted to read who write about Sri Lanka touch upon the internal conflict which afflicted the land for over 30 years, and it’s heartbreaking and sometimes difficult to read. But if you want to learn something about the country, you have to know about it’s history which permeates everything and everyone, whether they are in Sri Lanka or abroad.

In Mosquito, we meet Theo Samarajeeva, an acclaimed international writer whose book is being made into a major film who returns to Sri Lanka after 30 years. He comes back nursing a broken heart after the death of his Italian wife Anna to find his country unrecognisable. He rents a beach house and is looked after by his manservant Sugi who becomes a trusted friend and settles down to write, but finds that his attention is caught by his neighbour’s daughter Nulani Mendis, a young girl scarred by the violent death of her father who has stopped speaking and only draws. A friendship blossoms between the two, slowly chipping away at their sadness and loneliness and Theo slowly returns to writing as Nulani discovers her talent as a painter. Their brief friendship is torn apart when the island’s violence closes in on them and their lives as well as those of their friends are splintered in the chaos of war.

This was a sad book, but to me it was a story of love more than a story of war. The alienationation Theo feels on his return after such a long absence, the disjunction between life in Europe compared with Sri Lanka, the bittersweet blanket of time which soothes away sorrow but still allows for the heart to burn with love for someone lost to them. Tearne’s fiction is vivid, and although I shed a few tears at the end, there was some sort of redemption for the characters in her tale. She doesn’t judge the people or their actions but drops you into a world where the majority of people are struggling to understand the breakdown of their society. It also brought home to me that there are always two sides to a war and both are capable of startling acts of kindness as well as terrible atrocities.

I’m looking forward to reading her next book Bone China.

Interviews with Tearne can be found here and here.

Honest Scrap Meme: 10 things you don’t know about me

One of my favourite blogs Su[shu] has tagged me for the Honest Scrap Meme: 10 things you don’t know about me.

OK, here we go:

1) I no longer spend hours reading books but tend to watch more TV and DVDs (I blame you, Supernatural and Battlestar Galactica!) The shame of it. This is one of the things I’m going to change this year!
2) I’m allergic to self-help books.
3) I once interviewed Sir Arthur C. Clarke for my dissertation research. I couldn’t use it, but I got to spend an interesting hour with the great man and his pet chihuahua.
4) I improved my Japanese considerably through reading manga and Japanese magazines and watching Japanese TV.
5) I read everything I could find about the Templars, the Holy Grail and Mary Magdalene 10 years before The Da Vinci Code was published so it didn’t surprise me at all. I preferred Foucault’s Pendulum by Umberto Eco and The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail by Richard Leigh, Michael Baigent, and Henry Lincoln.
6) The only film I thought was better or comparable to the book is The English Patient.
7) I’m too scared to read horror except for vampire and werewolf books (which I don’t really class as horror).
8 ) I like reading Asterix comics in the bathroom.
9) I sometimes choose books because of their cover.
10) I prefer going to bookshops and libraries alone.

I’m adding a bonus as I feel a bit of a party pooper but
♥) I don’t do chain e-mails and am pretty crap at tagging people, but for any of you who like this meme and want to try it, please consider yourselves tagged! I would love to read 10 secrets about you!

I’m happy that Su[shu] has tagged me with this meme as I was having a bit of a reader’s block throughout the holidays and spent most evenings when I should have been reading curled up in front of the telly watching Poirot and Marple. But I started off the year with Terry Pratchett’s Unseen Academicals and what better way to kick off 2010? And I’ve also finished my first non-fiction book this year, We Danced All Night: A Social History of Britain Between the Wars by Martin Pugh, so I’m happy.

Currently I’m in the middle of Mosquito by Roma Tearne in preparation for my impending trip to Sri Lanka and the Galle Literary Festival. It’s making me ponder upon the troubled history of the country, especially with the forthcoming elections this month. But it’s a sublime read and I’m quietly impressed with Tearne’s way with words.

Library Loot

I went to the library to return a book and came back with two more:

The Likeness by Tana French – I was seriously impressed with French’s debut In the Woods which was sophisticated and creepy at the same time, and have heard even better things about her sort-of sequel. Can’t wait to read it when I get back.

Bryant and May on the Loose by Christopher Fowler – I’ve been a big fan of Fowler’s since I read his first Bryant and May caper Full Dark House. It’s comic, nostalgic and great fun. And just by reading his books you absorb his vast knowledge and love of London. His last book, The Victoria Vanishes was a great mystery as well as a scintillating history of London pubs. And the names Bryant and May just crack me up (need a light, anyone?)

Never mind that I’m off on holiday today for two and a half weeks in the sun, but I just couldn’t resist. Could you?

And on top of it, I also got my Georgette Heyer crime stash, of which I’m taking Footsteps in the Dark to read on the plane. I think I may have read some of her romantic novels when I was at school (I forget which) but have never read any of her mysteries, so it’s an exciting first for me.

I’m also taking Silent on the Moor by Deanna Raybourn and Of Bees and Mist by Erick Setiawan both of which were kindly lent to me by a school friend (she knows what I like). That’s in addition to my big holiday read A Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin and Shyam Selvadurai’s Cinnamon Gardens which will be a re-read. And I’m taking my Sony e-reader too. I’m just going to chill out with all my books and endless glasses of lime juice. Yummy.

Classic Crime Fiction Curriculum Challenge

Rob Kitchen of The View From the Blue House has set a challenge to name 10 crime classics (pre-1970) that all crime afficianados ought to read in his Classic Crime Fiction Curriculum Challenge on his blog.

Crime fiction is my favourite genre so I could hardly ignore this challenge, could I?

I like making lists, but I also tend to get all panicky thinking I’ve missed out something incredibly important (since I read most of these titles many years ago.)

So I would recommend, in no particular order:

1) Malice Aforethought by Francis Isles
2) The Tattoo Murder Mystery by Akimitsu Takagi
3) Busman’s Holiday by Dorothy L. Sayers
4) Sweet Danger by Margery Allingham
5) Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey
6) Waking the Moon by Gladys Mitchell
7) And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
8 ) The Bride Wore Black by Cornell Woolrich
9) Arsenne Lupin, Gentleman-Thief by Maurice Leblanc
10) Raffles: The Amateur Cracksman by E.W. Hornung

Of course there’s also Georgette Heyer, Edmund Crispin and E.C. Bentley. I haven’t read them yet but plan to remedy the situation as soon as I’m back from holiday.

Hello Japan – January: Music to My Ears

Recently , I’ve been listening to quite a bit of J-pop thanks to youtube and all the other free internet sites. Japanese pop music always reminds me of the summer holidays when I used to visit Japan. Most of the music I liked were tied in with the J-dramas I was obsessively watching, and when I listen to the songs now, they bring back vivid memories of the lazy summer days, all hot and languid watching tv and eating shaved ice or kakigori with strawberry syrup.

The January mini-challenge for Hello Japan! is Music to My Ears and it’s great because I can talk about all of my favourite J-pop!

I lived in Japan in the mid-80s, and I hear now that 80s J-pop is all the rage again among the Ara-4 (around 40) crowd – there seems to be a nostalgic boom going on in Japan.

I remember the first Japanese tape (!) I bought was that of Kawai Naoko in which I fell in love with one particularly melancholic song. I think ever since I’ve always loved songs in the minor key. But I’ve since lost the tape, never remembered the name of the song and only recently stumbled across it on youtube after endlessly searching for it. The song is called Gimonfu and is beautiful.

Of course like everyone in the 80s I used to watch the weekly music show The Best Ten hosted by Kuroyanagi Tetsuko (who wrote Totto-chan) and was a big fan of the legendary Yamaguchi Momoe (who famously retired at 21) Matsuda Seiko, Nakamori Akina, Oginome Yoko and The Chequers amongst other mainstream idols.

I also used to watch a lot of anime such as Touch by Adachi Mitsuru whose theme songs by Iwasaki Yoshimi were also my favourites.

Utada Hikaru, Misia and Ayaka are three artists I love listening to and who are all million sellers in Japan. And more recently I’ve been listening to Arashi’s Ashita no Kioku – yup, I’m still obsessed with them – not so much for their singing but because their variety programmes are just hiliarious. They really work well together as a team and the banter between all five of them are just spot on and hysterical.

Kind of like SMAP who were the first idols/boy band who became famous not just for their singing skills (which, let’s admit, aren’t really that great) but for their tv shows, comedic flair, J-dramas and their cooking skills (check out Bistro Smap in their variety show SmapxSmap which has been on air since 1996). They are good at everything and have taken over the Japanese entertainment industry!

We Danced All Night: A Social History of Britain between the Wars by Martin Pugh

Last year I read Singled Out by Virginia Nicholson about the so-called surplus women (all 1.9 million of them) who were left to fend for themselves after WWI once marriage was ruled out for them following the deaths of so many young men in the trenches. They carved out new lives, found jobs and settled for a life without love or children, something none of them expected when they were growing up, having been drummed into them at school and home that a woman’s duty was to find a husband and provide children. With this option taken away from them, they were setting forth into uncharted territory, fighting prejudice and having to proved themselves in what was a man’s world. This was a non-fiction social history which I enjoyed tremendously and found enlightening as there were many aspects to the women’s struggles which I could understand and empathise. Of course things have moved on since then, but there were several examples which made me feel that a lot of what women go through now stem from that era and are still ongoing.

I enjoy reading popular history, something that’s not too academic and dry, and which provides an introduction to more serious work if your interest is piqued and you want to rifle through the references to find out more about the subject. And it’s been a pet project of mine to research and read about life during the interwar years, not just in Britain but world wide. I’ve been concentrating on Britain because of the wealth of research that’s been done and the books that are available here.

So I jumped at We Danced All Night by Martin Pugh when I caught sight of it at the library. This was more a general history rather than a focus on women, but there were a couple of very interesting chapters regarding feminism and the struggle faced by countless women in being taken seriously and ultimately getting the right to vote. But it’s not just about that and the book discusses all aspects from colonialism and empire through to politics, culture, sports, food and leisure in an engaging and highly enjoyable manner. There were also liberal references to Vera Britten and E.M. Delafield’s Diary of a Provincial Lady (both of which are on my TBR pile and am looking forward to reading this year).

I particularly enjoyed the chapter about the bright young things and flappers (notorious because they were care-free) as much as the chapters on food, marriage and education as well as class conflict and the monarchy. We Danced All Night is a general book that goes into enough detail that you will learn something new in each chapter. At around 450 pages, it took me a while to read this book partly because I was in a bit of a reading slump post-Christmas, but every time I dipped into this book while commuting or before bed, I found it a gripping read.

Georgette Heyer crime bundle offer

can be found at The Book People courtesy of Euro Crime. And it’s not just one book but ten for £9.99! I’ve been meaning to get my hands on some Georgette Heyer, especially her crime novels which I have never read, so I’ve already placed my order. How nimble-fingered am I? Sweet!

Unseen Academicals by Terry Pratchett

Last year I read The Folklore of Discworld by Terry Pratchett and Jacqueline Simpson and felt I had reconnected with my favourite series and revisited old friends. But this wasn’t just a book about the Discworld but also about our world and I learnt a lot about the folklore of many different nations. But that meant I hadn’t actually read any fiction by Terry Pratchett. The shame of it. So this year I found myself a cosy little Terry Pratchett 2010 Challenge and am submitting Unseen Academicals as my first completed read.

Unseen Academicals features one of my favourite Discworld groups, the wizards of Unseen University, the premier university of the Discworld, who have discovered that unless they put on a game of football as requested in a benefactor’s will, their endless heaving tables of sustenance (that’s food and drink) will shrink to a feeble display that will not sustain a grown wizard in his daily intellectual exercises. At the same time, Lord Vetinari, the ruler of Ankh Morpork has decreed that a football game was desirable, and so begins a mad dash and scramble to form teams and formulate rules for this exciting game, foot the ball.

I must say I’m not ravingly fanatical about the beautiful game, but I watch it occasionally (well, the World Cup, and only for the men – it’s totally understandable right, girls?) and am au fait with the rules (oh yes, I do know the offside rule). In fact, I wasn’t totally keen about the premise of the book and the only thing propelling me towards reading it was that 1) it featured the Unseen University and it’s wizards and 2) one of my friends said it was brilliant. And it’s Terry Pratchett after all, so it was just a matter of time before I got my mitts on it.

And you know what? Pratchett doesn’t disappoint. Well, he rarely disappoints now. I love him and I love his work. And with each book, his stories and his Discworld get better and better. I don’t know how much more it can improve because it’s perfect. I find that as the books progress, his stories are less fantastical and stereotypical pastiches and more human drama. He takes something from our world, and like alchemy transforms it into something funny, warm, profound and cuddly with a tap of his keyboard.

With Unseen Academicals, Pratchett introduces several new characters working below stairs in the Unseen University, the magical entanglement of fashion and football and the triumph of learning and worth over prejudice and violence. I particularly liked Mister Nutt, every little tortured bit of his tortured soul. And of course there is Mustrum Ridcully, blustery Archchancellor of Unseen University and the Librarian who loves bananas as much as books.

If you haven’t read this, do so. It’s brilliant. And if you’ve never read any Pratchett, then you may want to start with Guards! Guards! (where you get to meet the Night Watch), Wyrd Sisters (where you get to meet some lovely ladies of the wicked kind) or Mort (where you get to meet Death). Or if you like to start from the beginning, The Colour of Magic. And don’t give up after one book. It gets better and better. Trust me.

The Devil in Amber by Mark Gatiss

I had very good intentions of finishing three books before the New Year but have only managed to finish one before Christmas and spent the rest of the time eating, drinking and playing with my delightful nephews. Oh, and reading lots of gossip mags (what is it with gossip mags that you just can’t keep your eyes from devouring all that rubbish?)

I’ve been meaning to pick up The Devil in Amber for quite a while since I finished the first in the trilogy by Mark Gatiss, The Vesuvius Club, featuring Lucifer Box. What a name for a spy! I was already drawn by the title and the protagonist, but what really interested me was that Mark Gatiss is one of The League of Gentleman, the dark and disturbing comedy quatro who spawned the myriad monstrous characters inhabiting Royston Vasey.

Sometimes when you like something so much, you’re a little frightened to try the second in the series. But I found The Devil in Amber in the library and snatched it up pronto. And it was a truly enjoyable read. It’s not a very big book, it reads fast and the plot was exciting. Although the mystery wasn’t difficult, Gatiss’ prose is tight, energetic and irreverent and he really had Lucifer Box nailed down.

The Devil in Amber is set twenty years after The Vesuvius Club, and Lucifer Box, one of the best spies in Britain is beginning to feel his age. Constantly having to look behind him for rivals happy to see him fall, we find Lucifer in New York messing up an investigation and being overtaken by the shining new star of British Intelligence, Percy Flarge. However, all is not as it seems as Lucifer manages to retrieve one small piece of forgotten evidence. Mix in some double dealings, a rising egomaniacal fascist star intent on releasing the ultimate evil, a racy Atlantic crossing and Lucifer’s estranged sister Pandora, and you get an explosive mix of mystery, adventure and comedy all set in the late 1930s.

I really enjoyed this book, especially the small comic touches such as the Royal Academy in Piccadilly doubling up as the secret headquarters of British Intelligence. Gatiss has a way with words and an ingrained sense of comedy that would rival anyone’s. It’s a light, clever and well-written mystery, and I can’t wait to start his last book in the trilogy, Black Butterfly (which is sitting right there in my TBR pile).