Theatrical Interlude 1

Hairspray (Theatre Royal, Norwich) February 2011

In addition to my reading challenges for the year I am also making more of an effort to see more films and theatre this year.

I live in a city that was a close runner up for the 2013 City of Culture, and only 2 hours from London, and so this year I plan on deciding what to see at the cinema and theatre and then booking the tickets and going, rather than humming and then missing out on everything.

To this end I've seen, and loved, The King's Speech at the cinema already, plus a local am-dram performance.

Last night I went to see the touring production of Hairspray. It was fabulous. I only knew two of the songs in advance, and didn't have a clue about the plot. I'm probably one of the few people who hasn't seen either film version.

None of that mattered from the moment the curtain went up to the very end I found it brilliant, the story was easy to follow, the songs toe tappingly good and the acting and dancing outstanding.
I have 2 left feet (occasionally it feels like 3 left feet I am so clumsy and accident prone) but after seeing this I want to learn to dance.

All I can say is a big thank you to a colleague who came at the last minute when Mr Norfolkbookworm decided that it wasn't his thing at all, seeing a play/musical/show with someone who is enjoying it is so much more fun!

I walked to work listening to the soundtrack this morning and it was so bouncy and cheerful that it took me 5 minutes less than normal to get there!
Next up is Wicked! with another friend/colleague - I can't wait.

World Book Night Challenge 12/25

The Reluctant Fundamentalist - Mohsin Hamid

This is a book that I've picked up, looked at and then put down again on many occasions but I wish I had read it a long time ago. It blew me away.

The story telling style is so intimate, two men sitting in a restaurant in Lahore as one tells his life story to the other. One is a native Pakistani who has lived, studied and worked in America. The other is a nervous American who is uneasy in the other's company and country.

The story unfolds beautifully, it is wonderfully understated and totally enthralling. The protagonist doesn't hide his less savoury activities but they aren't extraneous to the tale, they are just what makes him the character that he is.

I'm being deliberately vague here because it is the gentle unfolding of this tale that spoke to me the most and I want everyone to have the chance to discover it for themselves. I realise that calling about a book about a religious fundamentalist 'gentle' sounds odd but it really is the best way I can think of to describe the book.

I've not been chosen as a Book Giver on World Book Night but if I had to apply again now this would be one of the books I want to share with everyone.

World Book Night Challenge 11/25

Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell

I feel that my challenge reading may now slow down as the books left are either ones that I've avoided for years or ones that I've started in the past and not enjoyed. I know for certain that without this one being a World Book Night title there is no chance that I would have persevered with it.

I'm not sure if I found the book clever or pretentious. It is comprised of six short stories that are all interlinked. Story one is a diary that stops mid sentence but is then 'found' in story two. One of the characters from story two reappears in three and so on. All of strand 6 is told in one go and then we count down again and end up finding out the end of story one at the very end.

I read this in eBook form on the Kindle (the first modern novel I'd read on the device) and I do wonder that if I'd had this in paper form I would have read it in a different way.

That is would I have read all of story one, then two etc rather than in the way it was written? I quite like short stories and so I would have just read the strands that appealed to me rather than slogging through some tales which really didn't appeal just to make sure I didn't miss a connecting strand.

Another book I'm pleased I've read but I'm not in a hurry to look out for any more novels by Mitchell.

World Book Night Challenge 10/25

All Quiet on the Western Front - Erich Maria Remarque.

This was another re-read for me but it has been a very long time since I last picked a copy of this up and apart from the bare bones of the story I had forgotten what an incredible piece of literature that it is.

I have read many novels set in the First World War, some for adults and some for children but it is this one that really emphasises for me just how bloody and pointless the conflict was.

Written by a German and focusing on the German experience of the trenches the book really brings home that the PBI really were the same on both sides, that neither side wanted to be there and that very few fighting in the trenches really knew exactly what the war was about and why they were there.

All Quiet follows one class of students who have been encouraged to join up by their class teacher. We learn about their training and the battles they have fought as slowly, one by one, they fall.

Remarque pulls no punches when he is describing both the day to day and combat experience, and it may not be for the faint hearted because of this. For me if I could only keep one novel about the First World War it would have to be this one. There is no glamourising of the conflict, it is brutal, stark and uncompromising. So honest in fact that it was banned in the 1930s in Nazi Germany for being defeatist and anti-German.

Of the 25 on the World Book Night list it was this one that I knew I had to apply for to be my give away. Even now having stretched myself and having tried lots of new styles and authors I don't regret this choice. It is a book that I feel everyone should read as a teenager, and then again as an adult.

World Book Night Challenge 9/25

Rachel's Holiday - Marian Keyes

This is pure chick-lit indulgence and for me was another re-read. I haven't read any Marian Keyes for a while as I found her books started to become very samey but it was a pleasure to go back to this one.


Rachel is Irish but living in New York when she accidentally takes a drug overdose. Concerned friends and family think that she has an addiction problem and she comes home to Ireland and is checked into a rehab clinic. Rachel denies that she has a problem and the rest of the book is her coming to terms with her life, her family and her future.

It all sounds a little bleak but there is a lot of humour in the novel and it becomes more poignant when you read more of Keyes' non-fiction and realise that many of the things Rachel experiences Keyes' went through too as she is a recovering alcoholic.

I think that this is quite a brave book to put on the World Book Night list, it is unashamedly aimed at women, is quite dark and is hugely long at 640 pages.
However the story is good and while all the characters have problems you really do want them to win through, even if you don't always like them. I'm glad I reread the book and I might look out for more books by Keyes next time I am going on a beach holiday, I had forgotten how good she was.

World Book Night Challenge 8/25

The Spy Who Came in from the Cold - John le Carre

This is one from the list that I had been looking forward to reading. Thrillers and spies are not usually my subject matter of choice but since reading Operation Mincemeat by Ben Macintyre last year the whole concept of espionage has been intriguing me. The Cold War setting was also an added bonus.

I don't think that I've read any le Carre (sorry I really can't work out how to get the accents) before, although Mr Bookworm and I did watch the Alec Guinness version of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy a couple of years ago.

I thoroughly enjoyed this novel, the twists and turns kept me hooked from page one and I while I hoped that Leamas was a 'good' guy (and lets face it in the world of spies that is very much a relative term!) I was never 100% sure.

I found this is a perfectly formed novel, it had good pace and story and the wasn't so convoluted or full of so many characters that I got muddled reading it.

I was 13 when the Berlin Wall fell and while I realise that the Cold War was pretty 'cold' in my life time I found it easy to imagine the world created in the novel.
There is one problem with the book - I've discovered that there is a sort of prequel and also as Smiley is a peripheral character in this one I now want to read more about him. I might also have to bump Agent ZigZag towards the top of the challenge pile.

My to be read pile just grew again!

Oops

I've been quite open and honest about my enthusiasm for the whole eReader phenomenon and the experience of reading on either an iPhone or a dedicated device.

However the BeBook and the iPhone haven't been without their problems. To upload books to the BeBook you have to plug everything together in a very specific order otherwise Adobe doesn't recognise it and several times it appears that books have downloaded correctly but simply won't open. The screen is also a little small and unresponsive when you try to change the orientation.

On my iPhone I have three different programmes for reading eBooks - Stanza, Kindle and iBooks. All are great in their way but the problem here is the small size of the device, the screen is so small and I read so fast that I am constantly turning the page. This, and holding such a small object was actually starting to cause me some pain in my wrists.

So last week, when tired after a hectic work schedule and lots of events, I succumbed and treated myself to a Kindle. I got the Wifi and 3g compatible model and already, less than a week into owning it, I love it more than the other 2 devices.

It is light, easy to use, I can create book shelves easily and downloading reasonably priced books from Amazon is so easy I am going to have to be very restrained so as not to build up a huge credit card bill.

It isn't perfect - Kindles are not compatible with the library eBook catalogue, and Amazon have no plans at all to make this happen. Also although it advertises web browsing this is clumsy and clunky when compared to a iPhone say.

However the eInk technology has improved a huge amount since we got the BeBook, the page turns are smooth and flicker free, images are much clearer and better still there are so many options for type style, font, line spacing and orientation.

I'm sure the love will wear off soon, but right now with another holiday planned and a limited luggage allowance I can't wait to fill it with books I've been meaning to read.
People keep asking me why I went for this and not an iPad and the simple answer is cost, if someone gave me an iPad I'd be really happy but they are still so expensive I wouldn't feel comfortable travelling with one for fear I'd damage it. Also it is still quite large whereas my Kindle, even in a case, is about the size of a normal paperback.

As for the BeBook I think my sister and Mr Bookworm are fighting over that and I know who my money's on!

World Book Night Challenge 7/25

The World's Wife - Carol Ann Duffy

I approached this second poetry volume on the list with not quite as much trepidation as the first and I'm not sure if this paid off or if more of the poems appealed to me.

I'd not read any Duffy before this and apart from being aware that she is the current poet laureate I knew nothing about her works at all. Like I said a few posts ago I really do tend to avoid poetry.

I liked about half of the poems in this collection. I think it is that the subject matter was so much clearer. They are all poems either about or supposedly by the 'wives' of famous male historical characters. There is a lot of humour in many of the poems and I defy anyone not to snigger at Mrs Darwin's very short poem.

Since reading the book I have read a little more about Duffy and I think that I might even try a few more of her poems. These poems at least seem to have a very strong feminist ideal coming through and I liked both enjoying the poems and seeing the meaning behind them.

So there we are - World Book Night has made me read books I really would normally have avoided like the plague and enjoy them.

Who knows maybe this year I *will* like Doctor Who!

World Book Night Challenge 6/25

Toast - Nigel Slater

Thanks to the adaptation of this book being shown on UK television over the Christmas period there was a huge waiting list on this book at the library so I decided to read the Kindle version of this, making it one of the first contemporary books I've read solely on my iPhone.

I'd read this book before, shortly after it first came out and I remembered it being an enjoyable read but nothing really stuck in my mind apart from that.

Re-reading was a pleasure, Slater is quite a brave celebrity in many way as he holds nothing back in this book - even if it doesn't paint him in a very favourable or savoury light.

The book is split in to many short chapters most taking food stuffs from the 1960s and 1970s for chapter headers and this format really seemed to work when reading on a mobile device and also had me craving delights such as arctic roll, walnut whips and angel delight. So much for the diet in 2011!

This was a pleasant diversion, it isn't going to be a book for everyone. I was never a teenage boy so I don't know how accurate bits of the memoir are but it is going to be too 'dirty' for some and Slater's treatment of his step-mother are callous to say the least.
I enjoyed the book partly because I am nosy and like autobiographies and partly because I like a lot of Nigel Slater's recipes, however without it being on the World Book Night list I probably wouldn't have reread it.

The one thing I did get from the re-read is that reading whole books on my phone is possible, that it wasn't awkward and that it didn't give me a headache. The one downside was how much quicker it drained the battery!

A Monster

Another confession here. This was a book of which I barely even knew the plot before I started it. Oh and I only thought I should read it because I am going to see it at the theatre. All I knew was that Frankenstein wasn't the monster...

Even once I'd got a copy of this, and had it recommended it to me by several people I avoided reading it. All part of my mental block about classic novels - I'm always convinced that they will be too hard for me.

I am glad that I listened to friends and read the book, I found it so hard to put down once I'd started and swallowed it up in a weekend, and I've made Mr Bookworm read it!

However my main thought after reading it was that although human Frankenstein is the monster in this tale. I found nothing in his character to like (something of a theme to my reading so far this year!) and all of my sympathy went to the monster and Victor's family, Victor himself deserved a far worse outcome than he got.

I'm not going to look out for any film versions of this but I am very intrigued about the stage production - is the play going to be changed so much that I find myself in sympathy with Victor despite my feelings after reading the original? I guess I'll just have to be patient but I am so pleased that I read the book and broke my duck on classic novels.

World Book Night Challenge 5/25

New Selected Poems 1966-1987 - Seamus Heaney

This is one of the books I was dreading reading for the challenge. I never read poetry through choice and I think that I can count the number of poems I like on my fingers. It is a running joke in the family that the BBC radio programme Poetry Please is known as Poetry No Thanks!

I can't say that I liked many of the poems, and there were dozens that I really didn't understand - I am sure that there was a meaning in there somewhere but it eluded me. However the two of three that I like made reading the book worthwhile, and I now don't dread the other poetry book on the list half as much.

Another book that I'm pleased I read but it didn't convert me to liking poetry and I won't be searching out more works by Heaney. I might however be a little slower in switching the radio off though.

World Book Night challenge 4/25

The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie - Muriel Spark

It has been a week since I finished reading this and I am still not sure what I thought of it. I suppose that as I am still thinking about it then there was something special about it but I really can’t put my finger on exactly what it is.

Once more I found this a book where I didn’t care for any of the characters and a book where very little happens. A group of school children are influenced by their teacher, form a clique, become precocious and ultimately grow up. One of them betrays their mentor.

This simultaneously sums up the book entirely and gives nothing at all away. Like I said an odd book.

I quite liked the writing style, the plot flicks back and forth in time in a way that is easy to read but makes you concentrate hard on the book at the same time.

I also liked the Homeric way that every time a character is mentioned the same description is attached to them, for me this created a lovely rhythm to the reading.

So like the morals of the characters I remain ambiguous about this book. I’m glad I read it but I won’t be seeking out more by this author, nor rushing to watch the film adaptation.

World Book Night challenge 3/25

Stuart a life backwards - Alexander Masters

This is a book that I've been aware of for a very long time, but probably would never have read had it not appeared on the World Book Night list. I always seemed so close to being one of the 'misery memoir' books that I'd have avoided it on principle.

It just goes to show that you really shouldn't hold these preconceived ideas for this book is another that blew me away. It is not an easy read, and the things it contains are so far from my own life that I found it hard to believe that it really did happen only 60 miles from where I live and only a decade ago.

I am finding nearly as impossible to recount this book as Masters found it to write at first. To compress the book into a review does it no justice, there is so much happening that I'd end up rewriting it.
All I can say is that you have to read it. You won't find it easy, comforting or really even enjoyable but all the same you have to read it.

The style works perfectly and as this is a story of friendship as well as a biography it is only right that you find a lot of Alexander in the book too. This adds to the story, it never detracts from it and the book never becomes about Alexander it is always Stuart's story, a feat which makes Masters, in my eyes, a very talented writer.

This possibly wasn't the best choice of book to read over Christmas, but I don't for an instant regret reading it. I can understand if it is 'too much' for many people, but I urge you to give it a try - reading out of your comfort zone is good for you, and this book deserves to find an extra 48000 readers in 2011.

There is a BBC adaptation if you prefer, it sticks closely to the book and is just as hard hitting. For once I am just as pleased I watched it as I am that I read the book.

Being Sidetracked

My self set challenge to read all of the 25 books chosen for World Book Night before March 5th is going well, and even if the books aren't the best I've read I'm mostly enjoying them so far.

However there is a problem. Because a lot of these authors are new to me I'm finding that I want to read more by these authors. I know that I read fast but the rate by to be read pile is growing is terrifying even by my standards!

Then there are the books I hear about on other blogs, my library reservations and the proofs I'm receiving. I'm not sure if I need more hours in the day or more days in the week!

World Book Night challenge 2/25

One Day - David Nicholls

A lot of people I know are either reading this, or have just finished it and that did influence my choice to read it next as they all seemed so positive about it. I've also been wanting to read it since hearing snippets on book at bedtime a few months ago.

I loved the idea, two people finally get together on their graduation night at uni, realise that their lives are about to diverge and so keep in touch rather than swearing to be together for all eternity at that point. As a reader we get to eavesdrop on their lives on the same date as their graduation every year for the next 20 or so years.

Being so episodic works well in many ways as it is fast paced and the plot never has time to drag but for me it felt like I couldn't get to know the characters at all. I found that I liked neither of the main characters nor any of the supporting cast, and the ending struck me as pretty predictable and obviously the only way that the book could end.

I think that I might have read this book at the wrong time. With hindsight it is obviously a holiday read, a piece of chick lit for both sexes, but as I had had so many personal recommendations and as it has won so many rave reviews I think I was expecting something more.

It has won all manner of accolades and will make a great World Book Night read as it is a book that should appeal to men and women, it just didn't quite do it for me - perhaps I am too hard hearted and don't have any romance in my soul at all...

Belated Books of the Year

I am a couple of days late posting this because I wanted to finish the books that I was reading just in case they became contenders for that coveted place of top book of the year.
They didn't - they were good and I will probably write about them later but they weren't BotY (for me).

I read 194 full length books in 2010, I obviously found the mojo that vanished in 2009! A lot of these books took me out of my comfort zone, particularly when I was reading for the Writer's Centre Norwich Summer Reads and for Banned Books week.

I read less books written for children and teenager last year than I have for years and I really enjoyed the recommendations from friends. I do still miss having to be right up there with my knowledge of what is new in the children's book world but the selfish pleasure of being able to read (or not read) exactly what I like is wonderful.

I am setting myself 2 challenges for 2011. To complete my World Book Night project (I've now read 3 1/2 of the 25 books - thoughts to follow) and also to read one classic novel at least a month. By 'classic novel' I mean things like Austen and Dickens etc., works from pre-1900. I've read shamefully few of these and mean to rectify this before the year is out. As I have read so few suggestions are gratefully received - all I ask is that they were originally aimed at adults, my knowledge of the children's classics is pretty good!

Right on to my books of 2010...


My top adult fiction book was easily The Help by Katherine Stockett:


There were a few other close contenders but this one really did blow me away and although it was at one point reviewed everywhere I found it to be excellent and not over-hyped at all.
The whole time I was reading this book I was mentally pinching myself to remind me that the book was set in the 1960s not the 1860s, it is powerful, scary and a great testament to how single actions can change views.

My top children's / teen book was Matched by Ally Condie



I blogged about it briefly here but in all honesty no other teen book has blown me away as much this year. There has been plenty of good stuff out there but I found this truly innovative and gripping. For once I am hoping there will be a sequel rather than lamenting that it is another series.

Non Fiction choice has to be Storyteller: the biography of Roald Dahl.



Again this is a book I blogged about earlier and even though I have read some tremendous history books and biographies in 2010 none of them come close to the quality of this one. I've recommended it to so many people it is untrue (and most of them have agreed that it is good, if a little daunting in size) it is one that I can see myself returning to and I really must buy myself a copy soon as the library waiting list is still huge!

Let's hope that 2011 is another stellar year for books - and please do always feel free to recommend books to me, I really will try most things once.

Happy New Year!

World Book Night challenge 1/25

Alan Bennett - A Life Like Other People's

This wasn't the first book from the 25 that I intended to read, but when I got to work yesterday I realised that I had forgotten the book that I was actually half way through. No problems as I work in a library but it was serendipitous to find this one on the returns trolley just as my break started.

I've long admired Bennett for his plays and screen plays, and I found his Uncommon Reader a pleasant little story but I'd not read any of his longer or autobiographical works before nor, if I'm honest, had I any inclination to.

This was a real treat. It isn't a happy book by any means but there is such humour amongst the poignancy that it isn't depressing. Bennett comes from a family of genteel eccentrics and his love for them is what shines through this piece of writing. Mental health is not an easy topic to write about either as a witness or sufferer but I found the balance to be struck perfectly in this volume. Bennett neither glamourises it, nor demonises it and appears to be totally honest in writing his reactions to it.

As ever an eloquent review of this book is not forthcoming all I want to do is run around and tell everyone how wonderful it is. Oh and read more of Bennett's autobiography, which won't help my challenge at all as there two volumes of over 600 pages each!

It is a great pick for World Book Night as it is an autobiography by one of our National Treasures TM it isn't overly long and even if you can't relate to the exact issues in Bennett's history his style of writing draws you in regardless.

I hope the next 24 are as good, but this one is going to be hard to beat.

World Book Day

Ever since I started working in the book trade, far too many years ago to count, I have been a fan of World Book Day. I thought it was odd that we in the UK celebrated it on the 1st Thursday in March when the rest of the world did so on April 23rd but never mind - free books for children that's all that mattered.

This year the scheme has changed slightly and grown ups can get involved, and get free books too.

25 titles have been chosen by various people and then during the first week of March 40 000 copies of each book will be given away free. More details can be found on the official website but the 25 books are:

• A Fine Balance by Rohintan Mistry
• A Life Like Other People's - Alan Bennett
• Operation Mincemeat - Ben Macintyre
• All Quiet on the Western Front - Eric Maria Remarque
• Beloved - Toni Morrison
• Case Histories - Kate Atkinson
• Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
• Dissolution - C J Sansom
• Fingersmith - Sarah Waters
• Half of a Yellow Sun - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
• Killing Floor - Lee Child
• Life of Pi - Yann Martel
• Love in the Time of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
• Northern Lights - Philip Pullman
• One Day - David Nicholls
• Rachel's Holiday - Marian Keyes
• New Selected Poems - Seamus Heaney
• Stuart: A Life Backwards - Alexander Masters
• The Blind Assassin - Margaret Atwood
• Curios Incident of the Dog in the Night Time - Mark Haddon
• The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie - Muriel Spark
• The Reluctant Fundamentalist - Mohsin Hamid
• The Spy Who Came in from the Cold - John le Carre
• The World's Wife - Carol Ann Duffy
• Toast - Nigel Slater

Now I've read quite a few of these already but I've set myself the challenge to read or re-read all of these books before March 5th 2011 and to blog about them. AS I work in the library I can read all f these books for free already so that won't hinder progress, but I feel I will have to start with the poetry as those two titles will probably be my biggest challenge

I'm not usually very good when I 'have' to read a book but as this is a task I have set myself I will probably be OK.

I also have to decide which book I am going to apply for to give away...now where did I put my copy of the Northern Lights?

Dear Diary

I love reading books in letter or diary form. I'm far too dull and lazy to keep my own diary but the format is one that I adore in literature.

I'm not fussed if the diaries are fictitious (Adrian Mole), real (Anne Frank) or edited like the Mass Observation projects I am just drawn to the format. I wonder if it is the nosiness coming through again. It feels 'naughty' to be reading a diary and perhaps this heightens my enjoyment.

It is the same with reading books comprised of letters, although here I think that it is often that you only get one view point in this style of book (84 Charing Cross Road) and so you have to use your imagination that appeals.

I have a horrible feeling that the real reason is that is makes the 'chapters' short and the books easy to dip in and out of, and this brings me back to the reason I don't keep a diary - I'm lazy!

Are you sitting comfortably?

I've always loved being read to. I know that my parents read me bedtime stories long after I could read for myself, the books that really stick in my mind are The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Prince Caspian and Voyage of the Dawn Treader. I think we also got half way through The Silver Chair too.

I also remember having a tape player and lots of books on tape as a young child. Even then I was quite discerning and I do remember being fond of books read by Penelope Keith, I'm sure it had a dragon in it as well...

My recent bout of dizziness has rekindled my appreciation of audio books. I've been a fan of spoken word radio for years - I'm not sure that any of our radios tune to stations other than Radio 4 - and listening to comedies such as the Navy Lark still lull me to sleep 6 nights out of 7. However over the past few weeks it has been novels in audio form that have been life savers. Not being able to do much other than remain still could have meant total boredom but thanks to the audio book my remaining sanity has been preserved.*

Getting my hands on good books has been easy as well, not only library loans but iTunes downloads have made the choices easy. Now friends are trying to tempt me into the world of Audible...

However it doesn't matter how good the plot if the book has the wrong reader then it is useless. Stephen Fry is a delight for me to listen to but Tony Robinson leaves me cold. Robert Hardy also has a lovely voice to listen to.
It is also important to have the right voice for the book - Billy Bryson read by a Brit doesn't work, it has to be a slightly bemused, gentle American voice.

Thanks to comments on my last entry I've been using the listen again feature for Radio 7 and catching up on things I've missed over there, but I's love more recommendations please.

I'm much better now but my rediscovered love for being read to hasn't diminished and yesterday when travelling by train I was almost wishing for a delay just so I could hear a bit more of the story (Death in a White Tie by Ngaio Marsh) then I opened my eyes and saw the crowded train, full of professionals shouting into their mobiles and re-thought my position. What I need is a nice early night and to curl up with a good voice!

* I feel that people who know me may doubt this statement!