Now Reading

Doing my Top Five Books from my Childhood post reminded me how long it’s been since I read Little Women and also the fact that I have an ebook version of it that I’ve never read and I have been sadly neglecting my eReader recently. So I started reading it and so far its every bit as good as I remember! Review will follow as soon as I finish, which hopefully won’t be long. One thing to note if you want to read with me, my ebook version has Little Women and Good Wives packaged together as one book so I will be reading them both.

Lionel Shriver – We Need to Talk About Kevin

Eva never really wanted to be a Mother; certainly not of the boy who murdered seven of his fellow high school students, a cafeteria worker and a teacher who tried to befriend him. Now, two years later, it is time for her to come to terms with Kevin’s horrific rampage in a series of startlingly direct correspondences with her estranged husband. Uneasy with the sacrifices of motherhood, Eva fears that her dislike of her own son may be responsible for driving him so drastically off the rails.

I’d heard a lot of good things about this book and also heard it was being made into a film so thought I would take the opportunity to read it before the film comes out. The book is laid out as a series of letters from Kevin’s Mother, Eva, to his Father, Franklin. In these letters she describes a little of what her life is like still living in the same area and now being known as the Mother of a boy who murdered 9 people in his school gym. She also describes what life was like when Kevin was a child and the difficulties she experienced as a Mother who clearly never bonded with her child. Eva’s obvious dislike for Kevin was clearly a source of tension within the marriage as time went on and although at first it may seem as though Kevin’s actions in the present could have tainted Eva’s memories of events from the past as the story goes on it becomes more clear that maybe she is telling the truth, maybe Kevin has always been evil.

This book makes you question whether it is possible for a child to be born evil or whether experiences make them so, the age old “Nature vs Nurture” argument. I am firmly on the side of nature, I think some people are just born with the capacity to commit horrendous acts of evil with no thought for anyone other than themselves, completely lacking the ability to empathise. I suppose the fact that I already held that conviction makes me more susceptible to Eva’s assertion that Kevin has always been evil and that’s why she’s never bonded with him but at times there are clear doubts within her that maybe the fact that she didn’t love him enough as a child turned him into the adolescent he became.

I love books that make you think. I mean, I’m not going to lie I also love a trashy romance novel on the beach, but in the main I like my literature to give me something to think about and “We Need to Talk About Kevin” definitely does that. Held my attention to the very end, I couldn’t put it down as all the hints about what happened on Thursday , as it’s always written in the book, made me desperate to find out the facts, as it were. I also wanted to know if we would find out why Eva’s correspondence never seems to receive a reply. I liked the style, with the main parts of the story told as Eva’s memories, but unfortunately this did mean you only got one person’s point of view and emotions, you never really knew how Franklin or Kevin felt at any moment because it was all told by Eva. It got me to think about a lot of things and was definitely worthy of the Orange Prize. I’ll look forward to the film coming out now to see how they portray it on screen.

Now Reading

I have just started reading the Orange Prize winning book, “We Need to Talk About Kevin” by Lionel Shriver. Review coming soon.

Jim Dwyer and Kevin Flynn – 102 Minutes – The Definitive Account of the Fight to Survive Inside the Twin Towers

At 8.46am on September 11, 2001, more than 14,000 people were inside the Twin Towers in New York. To them it was just the start of another routine day at work. Over the next 102 minutes each would become part of a drama that changed the world for ever.

Of the millions of words written about that unforgettable day, most have been by outsiders. But “New York Times” reporters Jim Dwyer and Kevin Flynn report solely from the perspective of those struggling to survive inside the towers; “102 Minutes” is the epic account of ordinary men and women finding the bravery and courage to overcome unbelievable odds.

Fateful split-second decisions, chance encounters in smoke-filled stairwells, the heroism of the emergency services who climbed up as everyone else was coming down – this is the authoritative account of the men and women in the World Trade Center – the 12,000 who escaped and the 2,749 who perished.

In the lead up to the tenth anniversary of this tragedy I bought this book hoping to learn more about the events of that day and discover more about the people who were lucky enough to survive. I’m not going to lie, it’s not an easy book to read. I don’t mean it’s written in a complicated manner, far from it, but it’s obviously a very emotive subject to read about. The book begins at 8.30am with people in the North Tower starting to arrive for work or enjoying breakfast in Windows on the World and you get some background on the people that are being described, which is so hard as you know what’s coming. It’s extremely well written with the entire 102 minutes set out and time stamped with full descriptions of what is going on in which tower. You read stories of lucky escapes and tragic deaths and really get a good feel for each person who’s story is being told. There was so much about this event that I didn’t know. Such as the animosity between FDNY and NYPD and also that another agency, Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, had jurisdiction as well. Hindsight is a wonderful thing and reading about people in the South Tower being told not to evacuate when you know a plane is about to hit is awful but at the time nobody knew the full scale of the situation. Nothing is glamourised or exaggerated, the facts are painstakingly laid out based on recordings of communications and interviews with survivors. It’s very emotionally draining to read as there is a lot of detail about people’s lives and as it gets nearer to the time of the towers collapsing I became more and more invested in people’s escape. I wanted them all to get out but obviously that was not to be.

I would recommend this book to anyone with an interest in the 9/11 attacks or anyone who wants to read a factual, unbiased account of events inside the Twin Towers.

Top Five Books from my Childhood

My love of books goes right back to when I was a child and loved nothing more than curling up with a good book. Books have always been my way to escape from the world and I often remember being given money to spend at school fairs or car boot sales and hunting out copies of books from the Famous Five series that I didn’t already have. For me certain books can trigger memories in the same way pictures or smells can for other people. I had so much fun creating the list below and again, once I started to think about it there were so many more books I could have chosen but I did try to keep to five. Again they are in no particular order.

5) Little Women by Louisa M Alcott
This was probably the first slightly more grown up book I was allowed to read when I was still quite young. I remember being given a hardback version of this book (I’ve still got that copy today) and reading it over and over, never tiring of the adventures of Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy. Eventually I did read the other books in the series but “Little Women” remains my favourite. I always wanted to be Jo, like her I had dreams of becoming a writer when I grew up, and I cried along with her when Amy burned her manuscript. This book was definitely of a much simpler time, before computer games and iPods, and the lives of the March family seemed so much better for it.

4) Matilda by Roald Dahl
I’m sensing a theme here with these books, Matilda is my all time favourite Roald Dahl book as I always felt I was quite like Matilda. Here was this character who used to read books all the time, just like I did, but who also had these magical powers. Although I must admit, try as I might, I never did manage to move objects without touching them! I loved the way she used her powers to help Miss Honey and I’m sure we’ve all had teachers who resemble Miss Trunchbull!

3) The Famous Five by Enid Blyton
I know it’s cheating to put a whole series in but it’s too difficult to pick just one. I loved reading about Julian, Dick, Anne, George and Timmy and the adventures they had. They seemed to be just normal kids like me but who got involved in extraordinary adventures whenever they got together. I always wanted to be like George, the tomboy who refused to be called Georgina, but actually was probably more like Anne, the homemaker of the group. Again this series was from a very different time than when I was growing up and I remember asking my Mum what ginger beer was because they used to drink it all the time and to me beer was what adults drank!

2) The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C S Lewis
This was the first book of the Narnia collection that I read and I fell in love with Narnia straight away, even looking in the back of my wardrobe to see if there was anything there! I eventually collected and read the whole series but this is still my favourite. I loved Mr Tumnus and Aslan and was as scared of the White Witch as everyone in Narnia was! I loved the way 4 ordinary children like Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy could enter this magical world and become Kings and Queens, yet when they returned to our world barely a minute had passed.

1) The Faraway Tree series by Enid Blyton
Again this is another series but they are all so good I refuse to narrow it down to one book! I remember being given a hardback copy of the Faraway Tree collection for my 7th birthday and being so excited. Unfortunately, I then took it in to school for my teacher to read to our class and she bent the cover back so far the spine is completely broken! I’ve never quite forgiven her and I think that experience had led to my now quite OCD like protection of my books. I’ve still got that copy of the Faraway Tree collection though, I can’t bear to part with it. I loved the magical quality of these stories, in comparison to the slightly more realistic Famous Five stories, and I remember wishing there was a tree like that near my house so I could visit some of the wonderful lands that were described in the books. It’s hard to pick a favourite character, I loved Moonface and Silky and I remember once attempting to dress myself up as the Saucepan Man, needless to say my Mum wasn’t impressed to see me prancing about with her best saucepans! I did recently hear that changes had been made to make them more politically correct and the thought of people messing with my favourite stories makes me sad so I will be keeping my copy of these books to read to my kids rather than the new politically correct versions.

So, that’s my favourite books from my childhood, again there were so many more that could have been included. What were your favourite books as a child? Do you still read them now? What memories do they evoke?

Currently Reading

In the wake of the 10th anniversary of the September 11th terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centre in New York I am reading “102 Minutes – The Definitive Account of the Fight to Survive Inside the Twin Towers” by Jim Dwyer and Kevin Flynn. My thoughts and prayers obviously go out to everyone touched by this disaster, 10 years on, we will never forget.

Simon Pegg – Nerd Do Well

Zombies in North London, alien encounters in America, the engineering deck of the Enterprise: actor, comedian, writer and self-proclaimed supergeek Simon Pegg has been ploughing some bizarre furrows in recent times. Having blasted on to the small screen in the gut-busting and now legendary sitcom “Spaced”, his enduring appeal and rise to nation’s-favourite-son status has been mercurial, meteoric, megatronic, but mostly just plain great.

Dotted with a cast of memorable characters who have helped shape the life and career of a complex, dynamic and unstoppable man, “Nerd Do Well” is the joyous tale of a home-grown superstar and a local boy made good.

So, sit back, relax, and let Simon Pegg and his faithful robotic butler Canterbury take you on a spectacular journey of self-discovery. (Or, take this book to school and swap it for something cooler…)

I got this book on a bit of a whim really, it was on offer in Asda and I loved Simon Pegg in “Hot Fuzz” and “Run, Fatboy, Run” so thought I would give it a try. I’m definitely glad I did! Pegg starts by admitting that he didn’t really want to write an autobiography as he feels too many people do them already and his life isn’t interesting enough. This is a refreshing change from some celebrities who feel their lives are so interesting they need to publish another autobiography every year, ahem Katie Price.

Pegg’s story held my interest from beginning to end, he really is living his dream, having gone from geeky child to geeky adult working in the industry he worshipped as a child. He doesn’t feel the need to name and shame people along the way and changes the identity of some people from his childhood to protect them. I also liked the way he mixed in what he describes as the book he really wanted to write, a story of an international superhero with a robotic butler called Canterbury. I also liked the way he didn’t feel the need to describe every year of his life in great detail, it’s almost like the highlights of his life really. He also concentrates more on his professional life and doesn’t dwell too much on his private life, which I greatly respected him for. It was really interesting to read of how he met his partner in crime, Nick Frost, and you can feel his genuine joy at being fortunate enough to meet people who were his idols as a child.

Pegg comes across as a genuinely nice guy, the book held my attention right to the end and in places was laugh out loud funny. Would definitely recommend this book to anyone who is a fan of Simon Pegg’s work.

Now Reading

I am just starting Simon Pegg’s autobiography, Nerd Do Well, if anyone wants to read along with me. Review will be posted as soon as I’ve finished reading.

Hunter S. Thompson – Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

Hunter S. Thompson is driving to Las Vegas with his attorney, the Samoan, to find the dark side of the American dream. Roaring down the desert highway from Los Angeles, they realise there’s only one way to go about such a perilous task, getting very, very twisted. Armed with a drug arsenal of stupendous proportions, the duo engage in a manic, surreal tour of the sleaze capital of the world. Their perilous, chemically-enhanced confrontations with casino operators, police officers and assorted Middle Americans have a hallucinatory humour and nightmare terror. Riotously funny, daringly original and dead serious at it’s core “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas” is a classic statement on the collapsed dream of the American sixties.

This was a book I’d been meaning to read for years, it had been recommended numerous times as a modern classic and as my fascination with anything and everything about Las Vegas grew I knew I needed to read it and I can’t believe it has taken me so long to give it a try! I must admit I am sometimes sceptical about books that are described as “modern classics” as I think that term is sometimes bandied about a little too freely, however if there is one book that deserved that title it’s “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas”. With it’s mixture of reality and fiction and Thompson’s eccentric reputation it’s difficult to tell which parts are true and which are embellishments. I think the best thing to do is to stop trying and just go along for the ride. The edition I read had illustrations by Ralph Steadman and I found these really added to the hallucinatory feel of the book.

I would say this book isn’t for everyone, if you like books with a very simple plot then this is definitely not the book for you. If you’re open to anything and happy to just go along for the ride then I cannot recommend it enough. For those unfamiliar with the story it’s told from the point of view of Raoul Duke, which is an alias Thompson used for the trip, who has been sent to Vegas firstly to write a story on the Mint 400 race and then also to attend the National District Attorney’s Conference on Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs. He is accompanied by his attorney, the Samoan, and during the trip they take as many drugs as possible and have a great many mind bending, hallucinatory experiences. The fact that much of this is based on fact is completely mind blowing. All in all I couldn’t recommend it enough and nothing I write could possibly do this book justice, if you haven’t already, go and read it now! If you have already read “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas” or even seen the film starring Johnny Depp as Raoul Duke, what did you think?

Next Review

I am currently reading Hunter S. Thompson’s semi-autobiographical, “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas”. I have chosen this partly because it’s been recommended so many times as a modern classic and partly because I am a little obsessed with Vegas so will happily read anything about it. Feel free to join in and read with me, I’ll be posting a review as soon as I’ve finished and welcome open discussion in the comments section.