Kings and queens and feminism

I finished the first book of Game of Thrones eeh. It's been a while (well maybe a few months) since there's been a series that everyone around me is reading and I needed to hop on the bandwagon. I liked the first book, a bit complicated, but in that it-isnt-a-proper-fantasy-novel-without-at-least-ten-main-characters kind of way. Looking forward to the rest! And the TV show I can now watch in peace. One criticism with multi-character books which I have probably already mentioned, is that you always have favourites. You always have chapters you can't wait to read, and others you wish would just disappear for a while. Not everyone can have the best plotlines all the time and some characters you just connect with more than others, so its an unavoidable problem, but sadly one which only gets worse the longer the book is.

However, I did finish the book a little early, leaving a whole bookless train ride looming, and only Birdsong for company. Not very happy with that idea I decided to be spontaneous and actually buy a book! It's How to be a Woman by Caitlin Moran, I'd heard a few good things and various reviews with 'You must read this now' kind of thing. It was good. Interesting and brutally honest and laugh-out-loud-on-public-transport funny. She has some very strong opinions, and while I obviously don't agree with them all, it's very refreshing to read/see/hear of a woman with such public opinions on a range of important issues. It kind of made me want to take to the streets and join a protest, so I think it's achieved its aim as well. It also made me think that I could, and really should, write more. When I read some of the things she writes, it just reminds me that I have so many thoughts like this. I have all these eloquent sentences trapped in my head that I want to write down. It's an internal narration of my life.

Reading by chapter

Obviously a lot of people. Maybe the majority of people? Either way, I just don't understand how they can do it. I normally fail to even see the chapter pages that seperate the awesomeness of a book. When I was away I had to read the Handmaid's Tale in frustratingly short bursts and my mum wouldn't let me be antisocial enough to finish it, even though it was amazing and I NEEDED to know what was happening.

I liked the book, but thought it didn't describe enough about how the society evolved and why, and all the rules and hierarchies. I suppose it does make it more realistic (its meant to be a diary) that the author didn't see fit to put in all this extra information I wanted and only commented on part of the really interesting stuff.

In other exciting news, I finally have my hands on a Song of Fire and Ice! Now I can watch the programme and stop being out of the loop whenever anyone talks to me.

I also started reading a thriller about OCD, but had to give it back because it wasn't mine (or the person I borrowed it from). Anyway, I need to stop buying/ acquiring books because I'm moving soon and they seem to have multiplied over the past year.

Hay Festival 2012

I've just got back from my first trip to Hay Fest, and it was fantastic. Everything about it was perfect - apart from the rain of course! The town is beautiful and so green, with a ridiculous number of bookshops. Really nice indy bookshops as well, with great finds to be discovered. There was a shop that only sold penguins: I'm not sure I've ever seen a more beautiful sight. I didn't have tickets for any authors events, but of course the people I did see had written multiple great books.

Books I did buy (I hadn't gone intending to buy books, but how could I resist?) were the Arabian Nights (see Recommended) and The Day of the Triffids, one of the last few Wyndham books I haven't read. I really enjoy his writing and of course the theme of worlds ending is right up my street, especially the way the books follow normal people in such extraordinary circumstances and looking at the human aspect such catastrophes would trigger.

Other non-literary purchases included a basket to keep my wool together in, and this travel purse;

I have to admit I've never read it, or even know what its about, it just looks so pretty, and since I'm going away tomorrow, seemed apt.

Too many plots

After all the hype (created solely by me and my expectations) I finished Embassytown. While it was a good book, it was different from what I predicted. It was also quite difficult to understand; everything was so alien that I had to read it really slowly to try and comprehend what the author was trying to portray. Taking the strange to a whole new level.

Also, while the original reason I wanted to read this book was a central theme, there was so much else going on, it reduced the amazing and unique impact that idea could have had. It was as if, on top of this great storyline, Mieville decided to add more and more layers and plots (not even sub-plots), with so much else going on. I found it a case of overkill which worked to the detriment of what was such a good starting point. If you have that many ideas, write more books! Don't try and stuff it all into one novel, as the book will only become complicated, diluted and just damn strange.

On diminishing books

Just a note to acknowledge my dwindling list of books read this year; it hasn't escaped my attention, but I have been mainly doing other things. Okay just thing really, I've been knitting and that takes up my hands. But I've got as many train journeys as ever, so I'm heading to the library on Monday to sort it out. I think I might finally finally get back on Wheel of Time, because even though I must have been saying this for ages, it really can't be that long before the final one comes out. Oh I'm also stealing borrowing the first book of Game of Thrones, so that should be good.

Perfect timing

So I didn't manage to re-read Before I Go To Sleep at a reasonable pace. It is an unreasonably good book. Even when I knew what happened, I still had to read it as quickly as possible. In fact, I finished it with perfect timing, just as my train pulled into Piccadilly. Unfortunately, reading those kind of scenes under that kind of time pressure (I couldn't stop reading to get off the train and on with my life before finishing it! Unthinkable) meant I felt incredibly stressed when I was finished. The action is so real and the character's anxiety and confusion so relateable that I felt as if I had literally gone through the conclusion.

Losing memory is a pretty terrifying thing, because it would leave you so vulnerable. For most of the things in our lives we hold to be real, this can only be verified due to past experiences that we remember and check for truth. If that was gone, you couldn't trust yourself, let alone anyone else.

Having said that, even when our memories work they are nowhere near as accurate as we believe them to be. The brain can and does make many things up. Things we could swear had happened, or happened in a certain way. Our perceptions of our own perceptions are set in quicksand, not stone.


On a completely unrelated side note, I finally bought Embassytown! And its good, but its really confusing/difficult to understand. I realise the central premise is, that's what drew me to it, but the whole setting, so many little details which are almost incomrehensible. Very alien.

April showers and long train journeys

After many a long train journey, I finished the Magus! And was promptly disappointed. Despite my initial struggle getting into the book, I was actually enjoying the mystery and drama as the story got more and more complicated. Unfortunately, the ending did nothing to dispel this mystery and I was left with ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA why anything that happened, happened. While this is acceptable, even inevitable with spy novels, I did not expect to be permanently left in the dark with respect to this book. So if that could be re-written, it would be worth the effort.

What else have I been reading? Apart from knitting patterns and magazines, not much. I've started Birdsong (sent to me by a friend and recommended by another who's opinion I trust), but again that's proving a bit difficult. I'd just got intrigued in the story and now its switched to some other characters who I will have to get to know all over again. Back at square one.

So to mitigate all this effort, I'm re-reading Before I go to Sleep, which I got for christmas and read so quickly I was almost sick. You know the kind I mean, where you literally can't do anything else but read and finish as quickly as possible? I really really enjoyed it; a thriller about a woman with amnesia, making it more difficult for her to know who to trust, and what her real life is. So I'm trying to read responsibly this time, and actually take the time to appreciate the amazing structure and writing style instead of simply bingeing. Debut novel as well! Well worth a read.