The Wind Up Bird Chronicle

I finally started listening to a book that has been on my list for quite some time – The Wind Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami.  Isn’t that a great title?  And the reason for the title is revealed only a short way into the novel which is pleasing as I get really annoyed with some novels when you are almost finished and you still don’t ‘get it’, or you even finish it and it’s not apparent at all (one prime example is Antic Hay by Aldous Huxley, though my mind was put to rest after a search on Google).  The Wind Up Bird is a name given to a bird that sounds like it is winding up a spring that Toru, our protagonist, hears each morning, though he has never actually seen it.  It is also a nickname that he has chosen for himself when being questioned what nicknames he has had over his life-time; not having had any he decides on this one.

At the moment the story is centering around Toru and Kumiko Okada’s missing cat, who is named after Kumiko’s brother.  There’s no love lost between Toru and his brother in law Noboru and after a meeting with a strange woman about the missing cat she claims that Noboru had raped her sister.  Toru’s life is mundane but in between there are unusual phone calls from people Toru doesn’t know who claim to know him, and know much about him.  The situations he finds himself in are normal yet bizarre, and the conversations are unnatural.  The people he meets are seemingly not quite normal, and even his own wife is behaving irrationally getting upset over the colour of the toilet paper which he had purchased on special….. And it all started with the missing cat!

At the moment I love it; it absolutely reeks of Franz Kafka and David Lynch, though at over 600 pages long I’m not sure how long this style can be sustained whilst keeping my interest.  However, at the moment I am finding it very hypnotic.

Middlemarch is now in mourning – well Dorothea is anyway.  Mr Casaubon has passed away and been buried.  It has been revealed that he had added a codicil to his will that should Dorothea re-marry she loses all property willed to her.  But this is only effective if she marries a certain person - it was put in there to stop Will Ladislaw from making any advances towards her due to Casaubon’s intense jealously of him.  But her family are concerned that its outward appearance to Middlemarchers would be that Dorothea had invited Will’s attentions whilst she was still a married woman.

Dorothea is staying with her sister Celia, her husband Sir James Chettam and their young son.  Celia is coming across as very shallow and hurtful towards Dorothea, seeming to believe that Mr Casaubon’s death could not have come too soon and asking how wonderful is her son’s upper lip (all in the same sentence) with absolutely no thought to Dorothea’s feelings. Sir James is determined to do something about Will Ladislaw by sending him away somewhere, and poor Dorothea is feeling a bit lost at the moment.  Sir James felt that something should have been done to prevent her marriage to Mr Casaubon and he’s going to make damn sure she doesn’t fall into any future mistakes.  I like this character actually, he had once proposed to Dorothea but she turned him down and was at times very rude to him, but he holds no grudges against her whatsoever and just wants what’s best for her.  But what’s best in someone’s eyes is not always what is best all round……. We’ll have to wait and see on that score.

Whilst reading up a little bit about this novel (which apparently started out as a short story about Dorothea Brooke and another short story about a country doctor) it was mentioned that Middlemarch was the superior novel of it’s type compared with Thackeray’s Vanity Fair (one of my favourites), Dickens’ Bleak House (I was disappointed with that one), a couple of others which I can’t remember and I can’t be bothered to dig out the info (!) and Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell.  I love Elizabeth Gaskell so will be putting that on my list for this year.

I’ve almost finished Violent Exposure, with not much more to relate really just waiting to see if the ending is satisfying.  For a light read away from the classics it’s been pretty good.  I might find time to read an earlier book Frantic before our Book Club talk.  I’ve also taken a break from Melmoth for a couple of nights; only because I’m trying to get through the Katherine Howell’s before our meeting, but will get back to it soon.

Note: Only two days until my birthday J

Dreaming of Middlemarch

G

I really feel like I'm a part of Middlemarch Eliot has written this novel so well.  I’ve even been dreaming ‘in period’ which is a first for me!  The way that she has clearly defined each character is just a joy; their personalities are so individual that they feel like real people. I love Mr Brooke, even though he is a dodgy landlord, he’s so laid back and says ‘you know’ with every phrase and always repeats his last few words.  It’s so endearing.

Dorothea, so young and miserable – she feels that her ‘every energy is arrested by dread’. All she wanted was to be of use and had such high hopes being married to the learned Mr Casaubon.  But, Eliot has made us feel sorry for Mr Casaubon in his marriage too.  Here is a man who has been a bachelor and in his later years felt the need for a wife; he thought a young wife would be malleable but not so with Dorothea.  She is a young woman who has opinions (though lately inclined to keep them to herself) and is critical of him.  He knows that he is not a loveable man, but was hoping that he could pull the wool over the eyes of a younger woman.  His intense jealousy of Will Ladislaw may become his undoing.  Will has been banned from visiting the Casaubon’s mainly because he has been visiting Dorothea alone (his visits were the only light in her grey world).

Mary Garth is another lovely character, thinking of others over herself.  Prepared to go to teach in a school to earn enough money to pay for her brother to study Engineering, she is given a last minute reprieve when her father is asked to manage some Middlemarch estates.  Mary’s mother had saved enough money but Mr Garth had signed his name to a promissory note to help young Fred Vincy out with a debt.  But Fred’s schemes had come unstuck and he was unable to pay.  A lot can be said for Fred though, he is absolutely filled with remorse and knows that he has ‘robbed’ those that could least afford to pay.

Fred’s hopes of obtaining land through the death of Mr Featherstone collapsed when it was found there was a more recent will and Fred was left nothing.  Mr Featherstone had asked Mary to burn the new will just before he died, as she sat with him through the night, but she declined feeling that anything to do with wills and money should be done in front of a solicitor.  She feels guilty that she has done Fred out of 10, 000 pounds which would have been left to him in the original will.  Her parents deny her guilt stating that she did what was exactly right however they wish this event to be kept secret from Fred who is now thinking of finishing his degree to prepare him for entry into the clergy.

There are political elements to this novel too with regards to the reform bill, but as I’m not to fully versed with that period it’s gong over my head a bit.  I want to read the intro to the book which will explain it more but as there’s usually plot spoilers in introductions I can’t inform myself until after I’ve finished. 

Katherine Howell

I’m also really enjoying Violent Exposure by Katherine Howell.  It’s easy to read, fairly realistic and is filling me with anxiety for some of the characters!  One of the sub-stories has Mick, a paramedic, stealing some money from a deceased drug dealer that he attended to.  He was alone at the time, but he is convinced that trainee paramedic Aidan (who has been known to snoop through private bags) has found out.   Howell is a trained paramedic so the call-out scenes really do have a very realistic feel to them.  The unrealistic part of the novel stems to the suspect of a supposed domestic abuse case.  His story is being released in parts throughout the narrative but it does just feel like that ‘a story’.  The mystery however is a good one as it’s becoming obvious that this isn’t just a domestic abuse situation, which we as the reader are becoming aware of but the cops aren’t, and their investigation is taking some unexpected turns. 

We have a couple of new successful Australian novelists writing in this genre – the other being Kathryn Fox.  I read a couple of Fox’s novels after meeting her at a library event but, based on this novel, I feel that Howell is the more superior – she does write like a professional writer – the dialogue is good for a start which is promising as I find that a lot of new novelists fall down with their dialogue.  Watch this space as Katherine will be talking to Caffeine and Chapters Social Book Club on the 24^th February, and it will be interesting to hear about the inspirations for this novel!

Charles Maturin
Author of
Melmoth the Wanderer

I’m still on the Spaniards story in Melmoth the Wanderer! The Spaniard is relating a time when he was living in a convent and had taken vows to become a monk.  He was in the convent against his will (it was the will of his parents to offer him to God in penance as he was the product of their initial illegitimate relationship) and he wanted to break his vows and leave.  The Superior of the convent would not allow this to happen, and the Spaniard was treated very brutally indeed.  He could not believe that men of God, supposedly men of peace and love, could behave towards another human being in such a fashion.  He had been given forewarning of this though with their treatment of other young men within the convent walls.  What all this will have to do with the actual main story I’m not sure, but he is being tempted in his nightly delirium (he thinks) by the devil.  It’s a very strange story indeed.

Oh, What Could Have Been!

I feel for poor Dorothea, even though she pretty much asked for her situation as she is young and inexperienced and wouldn’t listen; all her dreams and plans for the future with Mr Casaubon have come crashing down.  It was all very well enjoying his company when he came to dinner at their family home as a guest of her uncle, then the brief courtship thereafter.  She’s finding it a different story spending day in and day out with him! Her future is panning out before her now and it is looking very empty indeed.  She should have listened to her sister Celia, for she can see him for the dried up bore that he is (along with other Middlemarchers).

Honeymooning on the continent Dorothea is currently in Italy, not an appreciator of art she finds herself looking at the fresco’s and sculptures but not really taking them in.  Her new husband is spending most of the daylight hours in the Vatican’s library studying and taking notes, leaving Dorothea to amuse herself.  After just five weeks of marriage they have already quarrelled.  How she much be feeling!  I can remember being young, the excitement of being asked out on a date, only to find that when you do meet again they’re not quite as tall as you remember or even as good looking.  That horrible feeling in the pit of your stomach when you realise that they are not what you want………..

I often think of the paper boy that I used to ‘fancy’ when I did a paper round.  He wore a silver bomber jacket – which were all the rage back then.  I was shy but I still managed to flirt around him, to the point he one day plucked up the courage and followed me on my round and asked me out.  Up close he was quite spotty, I got scared and said ‘er, no it’s alright’ and walked off! I never saw him again, and even now it amazes me that I could have been so blunt and rude and I often wonder what could have been (mind you, looking at my track record since, he unknowingly made a lucky escape!!).

Mr Casaubon’s second cousin, an artist, is also in Italy.  He and Dorothea met briefly before their marriage and the meeting didn’t go so well.  Dorothea was bluntly honest stating that she could not see the beauty in art, Will took it as an insult to his talent.  However, the second meeting in Italy has gone a little better – and he’s not too happy about his boorish cousin’s treatment of this young and attractive woman….. hmmmm what’s going to happen here I wonder ….. a muse perhaps?

PS only eight days until my birthday (and Tanya, I STILL haven't opened my present though the suspense is driving me mad!)

Portentous Sci-Fi?

The Day the Earth Stood Still

From floods to cyclones in Queensland and massive storms in America, the news has been like watching a disaster movie.  You know the ones, where they have the screens in the streets and the local inhabitants crowd around in horror as they watch major calamities unfold such as earthquakes, snow storms, asteroids etc  I think back to some of those early sci fi movies and some were very portentous.  Look at A Clockwork Orange – aren’t we living is such violent times?  Look at The Running Man by Stephen King – now that story showed enormous foresight (as well as The Long Walk) as there weren’t too many reality shows back then when that was written. 

One of my favourite Sci Fi’s is actually Starship Troopers!  The Robert Heinlein novel doesn’t bare much resemblance and I really struggled with it but the movie is a delight.  It does ‘corny’ so well, and the ‘bugs’ are brilliant.  Another Sci Fi I really love is Silent Running but I usually end up in tears over that one because of the ‘droids – I’m too sensitive. Alien and Aliens are a must on any DVD shelf, along with Predator and more recently Avatar.  But, it’s those movies that are set on Earth that are probably worth seeing again to see how we are living today – and maybe take in some of the warnings – The Day The Earth Stood Still would be a good place to start and maybe Soylent Green?!

However, all of the above has absolutely nothing to do with my current reading!  I’ve just started Violent Exposure by Katherine Howell as she will be talking to my book club this month.  I have not read anything by her before, and generally I don’t read much in the crime genre so I wasn’t sure what I would think of this.  I’m about 70 pages in and can honestly say it has hooked me.  I like the short snappy sentences; the descriptions are to the point with no messing around, and it feels like real life. We get the hook right away, and now the intrigue is to slowly unravel.

My audio read is now Middlemarch by George Eliot.  I had started reading this as a physical book last year, read about 200 pages and then couldn’t renew it at the library.  I bought a copy but I keep slipping it under the next book on the pile next to my bed.  The only way to do it justice and read it was to download.  At the moment we are getting to know the inhabitants of Middlemarch.  Dorothea and Celia Brooke are two young ladies who live with their amiable uncle.  Dorothea has been proposed to by the much older dried up Mr Casaubon who may one day become a bishop.  Dorothea is old fashioned in her ways, rather condescending to her sister and those she dislikes, but she does want to do good for those less fortunate than herself. She feels that she can be a good wife for Casaubon, not wanting a man of her own age.  The Vincy’s are a manufacturing family and their son Fred is a likeable young man but idle and prone to build up debts with promises to pay based on his hoped for inheritance from his Uncle Featherstone.  He is in love with his childhood friend the plain Mary Garth but she does not respect him because of his ways and has refused his offer of marriage.  Lydgate, the medical man, is new to Middlemarch and will obviously provide a love interest, maybe to Fred’s sister the beautiful Rosamond.  Virginia Woolfe called this novel ‘one of the few English novels written for grown-up people’. I love these long novels, where the characters unfold and you get involved in their lives. 

I’m still ploughing through Melmoth the Wanderer.  The Spaniard’s story is a little convoluted and I guess it will come to the point but it has been interesting. However, I won’t bore you with it here J

I’m taking a rest from Jules Verne, but only briefly.  I enjoyed Around The World in 80 Days and Journey to the Centre of the Earth so much I absolutely must read some more soon.

It's a Bit Rummy, What?

Designated Holiday Reading

So, that’s that.  I’m now on the penultimate day of my holiday.  At least the sun peeked out for a couple of days so that I could wash my windows and pot up some tomatoes and corn.  After an absolute scorcher this morning, the clouds are rolling in backed up by thunder (it was just too good to be true).

I feel ready to go back to work, and the upside is that I should get more reading done when I do.  Now that sounds odd I know, but  so far my days have been so unstructured that I just can't get any decent reading done. Mind you I have been busy sewing too (Tanya, the curtains and the Raphael  mask will be posted to you tomorrow J).  I haven't touch the pile of books next to my bed which was my designated holiday reading and books to be finished off so I'll have to think of some good themes for my book club to suit them.

I did listen to a couple of Jeeves and Woosters by PG Wodehouse - The Code of the Woosters and The Inimitable Jeeves.  They were nice and light for a bit of fun, and it WAS fun, I really love the humour.  The dialogue is so catchy that I find my own internal dialogue is saying things like - "It's a bit rummy, what?" or "What-ho" and "Great Scott!"  It's just delightful.

Adam Bede has been a bit of a tester for me, I really struggled with it for the first half as I just couldn't see where it was going and the dialogue is a bit hard going, being written in the local accent.  Again, I am finding that the title of the novel is a little misleading.  I'm 3/4 of the way through it now and Adam hasn't featured in it a great deal, the focus has been on Dinah the Methodist, Hetty the dairy maid and Arthur Donnithorne.  Arthur has seduced Hetty unaware that Adam is in love with her and has plans to marry her.  Dinah was the main focus at the beginning of the novel but after the death of Adam's father she has been placed into the background.  Adam is a great character though, he's strong, hard working, caring and loving; though the object of his love is not deserving of him.  He must see much in Hetty as we are only shown her selfishness.  Tragedy is about to strike, however, as Hetty has run away in search of Arthur who is with the Militia.  Unfortunately she finds out that he has left Windsor so now she is planning on killing herself.

Another novel I am struggling with is Opposing Energies by J W Collier.  I don't mind some teen literature - I quite like Scott Westerfield etc but I just can't place this one.  It's reading a little like a male teen fantasy, which is okay but I guess as I'm not a male teen I just can't relate to it.  I am of the Magnus Magnussun ilk however ("I've started so I'll finish") and will continue with it once I get my work-life balance back on track.  It may improve as I go along but one thing that is really annoying me are the printing errors in this.  Misspellings, grammatical errors and even an 'a' was missing on the last page I read.  I know that there will always be the odd mistake in printing but I've only read a few pages and they really should have been picked up when proofed.  

My next audio is On Beauty by Zadie Smith, this is a 1001 read.  I did a bit of it last night and the narrator is American or Canadian and a bit over the top with the dialogue so I'm not enjoying it terribly.  I'm a bit funny with my narrators as they can make or break the book.  I like them to be English if possible, though the narrator for The End of Mr Y was too English and I found the bad language more shocking because of this!!  I loved the narrator for Shalimar The Clown, he was Indian and was excellent and the female narrators for Rebecca and Memoirs of a Geisha were fantastic.

It's 3.00pm and so dark I need to put on the lights to finish this so will sign off now and close my windows before the storm hits us good and proper!

A Dismal Start to January's Reading

So much for getting a lot of reading done over the Christmas break.  I feel like I have spent most of this week in an aimless haze! I just can't seem to settle down with a book, and today when I thought I would spend an hour with Adam Bede, the heat is making me so lethargic I can barely keep my eyes open. We've gone from cool wet weather to sweltering heat - I'm seriously missing the aircon at work.

So have I read anything at all?  I've managed a few short stories from Mary Danby's 65 Great Tales of Horror and a few pages of Opposing Energies by J W Collier and a little bit of Adam Bede by George Eliot.  Which is putting the stack of 'Christmas Reading' next to my bed to shame!!

Wilkie Collins had a nice little story in the Mary Danby collection called A Terribly Strange Bed, in which he relates the events of a night in a gambling house and his protagonist's near brush with death after he broke the bank.  It was really nicely written and felt sinister from start to finish.  Collins is a wierd sort of writer, he's either great or he's awful.  This one I really liked.

Not sure how I'm going to go with Opposing Energies.  The writing style needs a bit of polishing but I have only read a few pages so it's hard to comment at the moment.  At the beginning it reminded me of House of Leaves - ie the structure of the mansion with corridors being longer than should be possible and the strong love between Trevor and Stephanie.  There are some spelling and punctuations errors in the typeset which is a pet annoyance of mine.  I'm not feeling the urge to pick it up though I will try and read a few more chapters tonight.

Adam Bede.............Adam, Adam, Adam....... I just don't know with this novel.  I'm 37% of the way through it according to my Kindle and really nothing is happening.  Adam has buried his father and Hetty is upset that Captain Donithorne wasn't at the funeral.  He had gone away fishing or something to keep away from Hetty, but Adam thinks that she was upset for him and his loss.  I really want to get this read to see where the story will be heading, but again it's just not grabbing me.  My Stephen King has made it's way back to the top of the pile next to my bed (I still have two stories to finish from Full Dark, No Stars) and it's looking mighty attractive I must say.  

Broken Hearts Lie Ahead

I'm making headway into Adam Bede after a little rocky start.  The way the dialogue is written isn't annoying me as much as it did.  Eliot has introduced me to the main characters - Adam and Seth Bede, and their  mother Lisbeth; and has taken  me by the hand and led me over to the Hall Farm, the home of the Poysers, their children and their two nieces Hetty and Dinah. Hetty and Dinah are like chalk and cheese, Hetty is very self absorbed and full of pretensions whilst Dinah lives by, and preaches from, The Bible.

Adam loves Hetty but Hetty has set her heart higher looking towards the dashing young squire Captain Arthur Donnithorne, whilst Seth loves Dinah whose heart unfortunately belongs to her Methodist religion.

So far I have peeked into their lives briefly and taken a look at the neighbouring countryside, but for a third of the way into the novel not much has really happened.  The Bede's lost their father in a tragic accident, and  Captain Donnithorne has inadvertently given Hetty cause to believe her future lies beyond her station.  He is a likeable young man who is deeply attracted to Hetty but he is also very much aware that he has standards to maintain when it comes to a future wife.  His recent actions are going to have severe consequences.

This has been a slow read for me, but for all that I do want to know how the story is going to develop and what broken hearts lie ahead.

I'm also currently listening to Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell on my iPod, another read from the 1001 list.  The narrator is a well to do young woman who has spent time in Cranford and relates her experiences with the women of the village.  There are not many men there (for those who live above a certain rent), but the women  manage their lives admirably.  They are no nonsense respectable types who live within an 'elegant economy'.

Again, nothing much has happened really, except one of the few male characters being tragically killed, and a spate of burglaries that have been blamed on the unseen French, which causes irrational panic amongst the village inhabitants.  I think I have probably read too much horror as I'm expecting something awful to happen around the corner at any moment! Apparently this is Gaskell's best loved novel, but for me I prefer North & South.

I've been concentrating on Adam Bede and so haven't read much more of Big Driver by Stephen King, just when the victim is about to claim her revenge too.  I'll have to aim for an early night tonight so that I can finish it in bed.

Waiting for Dinner

Book Club went well on Thursday, we were treated to a wonderful light show as the storms continued to pass over whilst we had dinner.  We exchanged Christmas presents and in the spirit of things we all ordered very unhealthy desserts after our mains :)

Well, the rain continues to pour.  I've watched the whole of series one of The Walking Dead since last night (it was a bit like Days of Our Lives set in Zombieland but rather compulsive viewing), so I might just curl up with my Kindle and a cup of coffee for an hour or so, I'm sure my ironing can wait..... and the dishes...... and the cats don't really need feeding JUST yet.........