Sagacious

Gautrek’s saga, translated by Hermann Palsson and Paul Edwards

Splendid stuff as you would expect (or perhaps not). Outstanding passage in which Gautrek is born into a large but isolated family (as a result of an unexpected visit from King Gauti) the members of which respond to the most minor setback by throwing themselves, fatally, over the ‘family cliff’.

After that it wanders round the houses (across Scandinavia) a bit before an entertaining conclusion. Brief but good.

(Picture above shows one of the more unfortunate characters, Starkad, who, despite his talents, ends up despised by all.)

Rebel Rebel

Renegade: The lives and Tales of Mark E Smith

Not that he would care about what anyone thought about this, but large parts of this book read like a transcript of a monologue of some old pissed bloke in the corner of a dodgy pub. Really don’t care too much about his childhood, early working life or what his Grandad was like but the details about the Fall are what this is meant to be about. His views on the unreasonable demands for credit from former band members are quite entertaining as are his comments on other bands:

When you’re mired in the shit of the times with bland bastards like Elvis Costello and Spandau Ballet, you start to question not only people’s tastes but their existences.

It’s all a bit of a mess though – despite his protestations about the importance of a strong work ethic, it does seem to have escaped Smith and his ghost writer during large chunks of this book.

And then (not before time) we came to the end

And then we came to the end by Joshua Ferris

I think I was slightly seduced by the hype for this one – it did sound like something a bit different as the blurb suggests:

They spend their days – and too many of their nights – at work. Away from friends and family, they share a stretch of stained carpet with a group of strangers they call colleagues. There’s Chris Yop, clinging to his ergonomic chair; Lynn Mason, the boss, whose breast cancer everyone pretends not to talk about; Carl Garbedian, secretly taking someone else’s medication; Marcia Dwyer, whose hair is stuck in the eighties; and Benny, who’s just – well, just Benny. Amidst the boredom, redundancies, water cooler moments, meetings, flirtations and pure rage, life is happening, to their great surprise, all around them. Then We Came to the End is about sitting all morning next to someone you cross the road to avoid at lunch. It’s the story of your life and mine.

Hmm, perhaps I wasn’t concentrating. But then look at all these fab reviews from the quality press:

Observer: ‘Brilliant, funny, stomach-turningly accurate . . . an attention-grabbing display of virtuosity . . . Descriptions of the ordinary are so good they need no elaboration’

Sunday Times: `[A] formidable first novel which the whole of America is talking about’

Saturday Telegraph: `Darkly funny and often tragic – a Catch-22 of the cubicles – [it] unravels the chaotic reality behind the unified corporate identity’

Daily Mail:`Slick, sophisticated and very funny, Ferris’s cracking debut has modern Everyman fighting for his identity in an increasingly impersonal world’

Does rather make it sound like a work of pure genius, doesn’t it? Unfortunately it really is quite dreadful. There are a few redeeming comedy moments which are observationally acute but, on the whole, the book is a just a self-indulgent litany of dull happenings with a slightly uncomfortable, extensive and jarring passage detailing one character’s breast cancer.

And about two thirds of it is written in first person plural. At first this seems like quite a clever conceit but before long it began to annoy intensely. You really wouldn’t want this to be the story of your life.

I was so glad when we came to the end (and can’t believe I actually did make it that far).

Around Ambridge: Approximation of a playlist §38

Songs or artists with references to characters in everyone’s favourite long-running agriculturally leaning radio soap opera:

Oh, Pretty Woman – Roy Orbison
Fever – Peggy Lee
Fly Me To The Moon – Matt Monro
Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On – Jerry Lee Lewis
Love Is A Battlefield – Pat Benatar
Making plans for Nigel – XTC
Breaking Up Is Hard To Do – Neil Sedaka
Moonlight Shadow – Mike Oldfield
Looking for Linda – Hue And Cry
Days - Kirsty MacColl
Kathy’s Song – Simon & Garfunkel
Army Dreamers – Kate Bush
Steppin’ out Joe Jackson
Jolene – Strawberry Switchblade
Jennifer juniper – Donovan
Run to You – Bryan Adams
Jumpin’ Jack Flash – The Rolling Stones
Walkin’ Back To Happiness – Helen Shapiro
Searchin’ - Hazell Dean
Outside – George Michael
You Were Made For Me – Freddie & The Dreamers
What I Am – Tin Tin Out Feat. Emma Bunton
I Want That Man – Debbie Harry
Dayyyvvviiiid Watts – The Jam
Daniel – Elton John
Christine – Siouxsie & the Banshees
Caroline, yes – Kaiser Chiefs
This Is the Life - Amy MacDonald
Goody Two Shoes - Adam & the Ants
Willyerm, It Was Really Nothing – The Smiths
Stripper Vicar – Mansun
Me and the farmer – The Housemartins
More Than A Dream - The Farmers Boys
Sleeping Satellite – Tasmin Archer

Case Histories

Case Histories by Kate Atkinson

From the blurb:

Cambridge is sweltering, during an unusually hot summer. To Jackson Brodie, former police inspector turned private investigator, the world consists of one accounting sheet – Lost on the left, Found on the right – and the two never seem to balance. Jackson has never felt at home in Cambridge, and has a failed marriage to prove it. Surrounded by death, intrigue and misfortune, his own life haunted by a family tragedy, he attempts to unravel three disparate case histories and begins to realise that in spite of apparent diversity, everything is connected…

And according to the Guardian this is:

‘AN ASTONISHINGLY COMPLEX AND MOVING LITERARY DETECTIVE STORY…THE SORT OF NOVEL YOU HAVE TO START RE-READING THE MINUTE YOU’VE FINISHED IT’

It is pretty good and Kate Atkinson does write extremely lucidly. The interweaving of the various plot lines is handled really well and makes for a pacy and entertaining tale. More than just a detective story but the case for immediate re-reading is perhaps over-stated…

Far from choleric

Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Outstanding novel this. Slow paced, melancholy, lyrical and measured it covers half a century of largely unrequited love as Florentino Ariza waits for most of his life to be with his first love, Fermina, after her husband dies. Brilliantly written and just wonderful to read. Wish I hadn’t waited so long to get round to it.

Officer Training: approximation of a playlist §37

Officers and other ranks

Private Investigation - Dire Straits
I Left My Heart In Papworth General - Half Man Half Biscuit
The ordinary boys – Morrissey
Inner flight [lieutenant] – Primal Scream
I Won’t Back Down Tom Petty [Officer] & The Heartbreakers
Nightshift - Commodores
Dancing in the city – [Field] Marshall Hain
From No Strings Attached – Captain Scarlet Theme – Barry Gray
Generals and Majors – XTC
Dance commander – Electric Six
Do That To Me One More Time - Captain & Tennille
Private Eyes – Hall & Oates
Me And The Major – Belle & Sebastian
January – Pilot
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band – Beatles
Where’s Captain Kirk – Spizz Energi

Gilead – dull beyond belief

Gilead by Marilynne Robinson

I really didn’t enjoy this. I struggled along until around the half way mark and simply couldn’t abide any more and gave up. Oh dear.

More Wallander action

Firewall, One Step Behind by Henning Mankell

I’m growing to like these books more and more. There is a depth and richness to the characterisation, particularly of Wallander himself, which make for an entertaining ride.

The contrast between the complex, challenging and frequently gruesome cases Wallander has to deal with and the routine difficulties of everyday life from doing the washing to sorting out car trouble (as well as more metaphysical problems) is particularly compelling.

Have only seen one of the BBC TV adaptations so far but intend to catch up in due course.

Fanatical doings

The Fanatic by James Robertson

It is Spring 1997 and Hugh Hardie needs a ghost for his Tours of Old Edinburgh. Andrew Carlin is the perfect candidate. So, with cape, stick and a plastic rat, Carlin is paid to pretend to be the spirit of Colonel Weir and to scare the tourists. But who is Colonel Weir, executed for witchcraft in 1670. In his research, Carlin is drawn into the past, in particular to James Mitchel, the fanatic and co-congregationist of Weir’s, who was tried in 1676 for the attempted assassination of the Archbishop of St Andrews, James Sharp. Through the story of two moments in history, The Fanatic is an extraordinary history of Scotland. It is also the story of betrayals, witch hunts, Puritan exiles, stolen meetings, lost memories, smuggled journeys and talking mirrors which will confirm James Robertson as a distinctive and original Scottish writer.

A really terrific book this which convincingly portrays 17th Century Scotland in all its madness. Particularly enjoyed references to the Bass Rock (see picture at top of blog above). Some of the older Scots (and a little of the more contemporary) is a bit of a challenge in places but well worth sticking with.

Strongly recommended.