More About My Book

April 13, 2010 6 Comments

So, it’s been at least 24 hours since I’ve mentioned it, so it’s high time that I wrote about my book again.

It’s quite a weird thing to publish a book (even a self-published one) and face up to the fact that it’s probable that nobody will ever buy a copy, other than you.  This is not intended to be a guilt trip, so don’t worry, it’s just an observation.  As much as I would have liked for the book to magically (and impossibly) become a best seller, I’m not really that bothered.  No, really.  Although in some ways it was an exercise in vanity publishing (and there’s nothing wrong with that), the main reason that I did it was to prove that I could.

I’ve been writing my blogs for a while now and have always wanted to complete a longer project, but they always seemed too daunting.  How do you get the belief that you can write something of any length without actually ever doing it?  Sure, this project was a bit of a cheat because it’s based on posts that already existed, but it’s still 25,000 words that I had to knock into some sort of shape.  To be honest, it was surprising just how much work was actually needed.  I had to amend many of the posts heavily; mainly because of how sloppy I had been when I’d originally written them.  The Fireheart story in particular was significantly extended and I even had to dream up a concluding chapter.  This was more difficult that you might imagine as I had been warned that I would be killed if I used the Bobby Ewing “it was all a dream” ending.  Luckily I came up with a fittingly stupid conclusion.

Anyway, the point that I’m trying to make is that it was an excellent learning experience and that, as a bonus, I got a nice looking book out of it.  What more could you ask for?

For those of you who are interested, you can take a look at the book here.  There’s a pretty nifty ‘preview’ function that allows you to read the first 12 pages of the book, so you can at least have a browse.

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Buy My Book!

April 10, 2010 1 Comment

Yesterday was a very exciting day for me, as I received the first copies of my book – The Best of The World of Sherby57: Volume 1.  Yes, it’s a real life book and I wrote it.  It’s a very strange feeling.

Now, admittedly it isn’t a real book because it’s entirely self-published and the only copies that I’m likely to sell are to myself.  But don’t try and rain on my parade, I’m still excited.  The book is, unsurprisingly, a collection of posts from my other blog, The World of Sherby57, and is made up from stuff from its first two years.  Rest assured that I haven’t just copied and pasted from the blog and then published.  There were a frightening number of mistakes that had to be corrected and many of the posts are heavily revised and expanded.  There’s even an expanded version of Fireheart! – the thrilling\weird adventures of the maverick Johnny Fireheart – and the story finally has the conclusion that’s been missing since Chapter 5 was published in November 2007.  The book is 113 pages of sheer Sherby57 goodness.

The book was published through lulu.com, a service that allows you to publish a book for free.  They even give you an ISBN number so you can feel even more like a real author.  Lulu are based in the US but I received my copies just 7 days after ordering them which is pretty impressive.  It’s amazing how a Word document that I knocked together can end up looking so good when it’s turned into a book.  I highly recommend a bit of vanity publishing to any fellow bloggers out there.

Anyway, this is only the first post about The Best of The World of Sherby57: Volume 1, I’m sure that I’m going to bore you to tears with it over the coming weeks.  In the unlikely event that you’d like to buy a copy then you can do so by clicking here.  It costs a very reasonable £8.27.  I don’t know why it’s such a random price, but it is.

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Reading Habits – March 2010

April 9, 2010 4 Comments

Yes, I’m back with another Reading Habits already.

(The opening sentence of the post will only make sense if you’re reading this from my home page while this and the previous post are both on it.  If you’re reading this directly on the post then you just need to know that I published February’s edition just one minute prior to this one.  You can read it here.  To be honest, I should have probably started the post in a different way.)

Anyway.  You may have gathered from the previous RH that I still haven’t read any books, and this month I also didn’t acquire any.  I’m only really here out of an OCD sense of completeness.  Sorry about that.

Anyway, I’ve got 3 weeks left of April and it is my challenge to read at least one book.  Join me next time to see if I can actually accomplish this Herculean feat.

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Reading Habits – February 2010

April 9, 2010 2 Comments

So.  I’ll be honest, I didn’t read any books in the whole of February, which kind of makes a post about my reading habits kind of hard to write.  Or it makes it very easy to write, depending how you look at it.

Considering that I love reading so much I have no explanation as to why I’ve stopped.  I just don’t have any desire to read whatsoever.  It’s slightly scary as I’ve got so many bloody books to get through.  Since I’ve not read anything, I thought that I could at least fill up this post explaining the reasons why I haven’t.  I had assumed that once I started writing then some reasons would occur to me, but, sadly, that isn’t happening.  Maybe, I’m just suffering from a general reading fatigue.  It’s intriguing that this time last year I spent a few months not updating my blogs.  Maybe there’s only so much that I can cope with in the early months of the year.

It’s the only theory that I’ve got and I’m sticking to it.

Books Acquired

McMafia by Misha Glenny – This was lent to me by Dave from work.  It’s cover looks like it could be the poster for a Danny Dyer film, but I’m assured that it’s misleading and is actually a very good read.  This will be the first book that I read when my drought ends as I’ve already had it for ages.

Talking Cock by Richard Herring – Richard Herring is one of my favourite comedians (see here) and I’ve wanted this out-of-print book for a while.  The problem is that it’s always mega-expensive on Amazon Marketplace, so I’ve waited to see if I could get it anywhere cheaper.  Luckily, Mr Herring himself tweeted a link for a reasonably priced copy and I pounced.  And, yes, the book is about penises.

Result

Books read 0 – Books acquired 2.  A comprehensive defeat.

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Reading Habits – January 2010

March 26, 2010 4 Comments

Well, it’s now the 26th March and I’m only just getting around to writing about what books I read in January.  This probably tells you all you need to know about my current frame of mind when it comes to reading.  Now, people saner than me might think it wise to just give the whole thing a miss and just write about it when I rediscover my love of reading. Sure, that would be the sensible thing to do, but when did that ever come into play with my blogging habits?  Anyway, the final word is this:  I do Reading Habits as much as a reading diary as I do it as a book review, so it’s for my own benefit, even if it’s really annoying.

Books Read

The problem I have with this section is that it’s been so long since I’ve read these books.  Forgive me if my thoughts are ridiculously brief.

The reading year started off with Timequake by Kurt Vonnegut.  This was lent to me by James (from the podcast), and so it superceded what I was reading at the time.  If someone lends you a book then you have to make it your priority or you end up for having it for far longer than is polite.  Anyway, I’ve always wanted to read some of Vonngut’s stuff and so I was more than happy to dive in.  I loved it.  The ‘timequake’ of the title refers to some mysterious event in which the whole human race suddenly finds themselves reliving the previous decade, only they have no free will and everything pans out as before.  They are effectively passengers in their own lives.  This is an intriguing premise, but it is almost irrelevant to the novel.  The whole book is more of an excuse for Vonnegut just to explore things that interest him and in parts it reads like an autobiography.  From my description, it sounds like a complete mess, but it somehow all works.

The book that got interrupted for Timequake was Trick or Treatment? by Simon Singh and Edzard Ernst.  My reasons for buying it were explained in December’s Reading Habits.  They’re too boring to go into again,  but check out the link if you’re curious.  The book takes a look at the efficacy of several leading alternative therapies.  All I’ll say is that if you use any alternative therapies and think that they’re working for you, you probably shouldn’t read this book.   To be fair to the authors, they do look at each of treatments in an impartial manner as possible and it definitely doesn’t come across as a witch-hunt.

My third and final book of the month was Empress Orchid by Anchee Min.  I know that three books in a month is a poor showing, but you’ll be even less impressed when you learn that I gave up on it after just 50 pages.  It’s a novel about the real life last Empress of China.  I’m always a little uneasy about novels based on real events, but it seemed like fascinating material nonetheless.  The subject matter was interesting but I just couldn’t get into the book and it took me a week to read the 50 pages that I managed.  I decided to give up rather than get stuck on it for months.  I felt that the book probably just wasn’t for me.  In hindsight, it may just be indicative of my subsequent complete lack of interest in reading.  But that’s a story for next time.

Books Acquired

Timequake by Kurt Vonnegut – see above.

Boiling A Frog by Christopher Brookmyre – British Heart Foundation – part of my quest to get all of Brookmyre’s novels through charity shops\Bookmooch.  It’s very slow going.

Result

Books read 3 – Books acquired 2.  Technically it’s a victory, but it certainly doesn’t feel like it.

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Reading Habits – December 2009

February 13, 2010 5 Comments

It’s time for an extremely belated edition of Reading Habits, in fact it’s so belated that it’s in entirely the wrong month.  This kind of reflects my current apathy toward reading, which I hope it very temporary.  Anyway, I just hope I can remember something about the bloody books from back in December.  As always, my ‘to be read’ pile of books are kept in chronological order, and I alternately read the book I’ve had longest (marked B.H.L.), followed by a free choice (F.C.).  For a full description of my insane book selection rules, please click here.

Books Read

I was off work for the first two weeks of the month, so I expected to get really stuck into my reading.  Sadly, this didn’t materialise.  Part of the reason for this was me being stuck for so long on The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins (B.H.L.).  I’ve read some other of Dawkins’ books, so I was looking forward to it, but, despite being interested in the subject matter (evolution), I found it really hard going.  I almost gave up on it, and I skipped through most of the last chapter.  This makes me feel incredibly ignorant.

My next choice was That’s Me in the Corner (F.C.) by Andrew Collins.  I’m a listener to the Collings and Herrin podcast, so this is the third of his autobiographical books that I’ve read.  I even bought it from a proper bookshop, because I thought it was only fair with all the free entertainment that I get from the podcast.  The book documents Collins’ life in journalism and the media, but avoids becoming a bragathon by focusing on his work-life.  It’s an entertaining read.

I don’t even know why I bought Chronicles Vol. 1 (B.H.L) by Bob Dylan, but I’m glad that I did.  I’m not into his music and didn’t know what to expect.  I really didn’t expect it to be such a great read, despite all the glowing recommendations on the cover.  It’s certainly not your average ‘celebrity’ autobiography and it reads more like a novel than a memoir.  He eschews the traditional ‘and then I did this’ format and concentrates on bits of his life that he found interesting, rather than on this historic moments.  As a result, it’s far more revealing than it could have been.  A recommended and surprising read.

After a visit to a closing down Borders, I bought the second volume of Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely’s All Star Superman, and so had to read both volumes immediately.  Yes, I know that it’s breaking my own book-choosing rules, but it’s the exceptions that made life worth living.  Anyway, long-running comic book characters (and Superman is certainly the longest) tend to get bogged down in years of convoluted continuity and impenetrable back story.  With All Star Superman, Morrison is allowed to ditch all the baggage and simply tell the story that he wants to tell.  And boy, does he ever tell a story.  Anyone even vaguely familiar with Morrison’s writing will know that he has a hell of an imagination and he unleashes it here.  He’s ably assisted by Quitely’s magnificent artwork – I’ll say no more, my words wouldn’t be able to do it justice.  This is only Superman story that you’d ever actually need to read.

And so we come to my final book of the month with Ben Goldacre’s Bad Science.  I bought this after seeing Dr Ben perform at the Darwin Birthday Spectacular, in December, and so it was another exception to my insane rules.  The book takes a look at the medical industry and is equally scathing of the mistakes of alternative medicine, pharmaceutical companies and the media.  It’s a funny, entertaining read and you’ll come away much better informed than before you read it.

Books Acquired

All Star Superman Vol. 1 by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely – I already owned it but it wasn’t on my TBR pile.

All Star Superman Vol. 2 by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely – See above.

Bad Science by Ben Goldacre – Also see above.

Trick or Treatment by Simon Singh & Edzard Ernst – Bought for the same reason as Bad Science.

Liverpool FC – The Official Guide 2009 by Various – Christmas present.

The Life of Brian by Tim Crane – Christmas present.

Result

Books Read 6 – Books Acquired 6, result – another draw.  Ho-hum.

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Reading Habits – November 2009

December 8, 2009 4 Comments

If I may be so bold as to paraphrase the mighty Salt-N-Pepa: ‘Lets’s talk about books, baby.’   At least I think that’s what they said.  Anyway, as always, my ‘to be read’ pile of books are kept in chronological order, and I alternately read the book I’ve had longest (marked B.H.L.), followed by a free choice (F.C.).  For a full description of my insane book selection rules, please click here.

Books Read

Sometimes you have to meet your fears head on and I’m definitely scared of 1000-page books.  That’s why I chose to read Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell (F.C.) by Susanna Clarke.  It’s an alternate history novel that’s set in a nineteenth century England where there has been no magic for a few hundred years until two magicians arise (the titular characters) who will bring the art back to its former glory.  It’s a fantasy novel, so I definitely mean ‘magic’ and not ‘illusion’.

It was going to have to be pretty special to keep my interest over such a length, but, fortunately, it was.  It’s written as if it were a novel of the period and it was a delight to read.  The fantastical elements were done so cleverly that they didn’t seem at all out of place.  It was more like reading a 19th century novel from a world in which magic exists than a 21st century novel from a world which it doesn’t.

If you’re going to write a book this long then you’re going to need to make it sufficiently complex and Clarke weaves a rich tapestry.  As the story progresses, the two main characters come in to conflict, but neither is clumsily drawn as the villain.  You’ll probably side with one over the other, but they both clearly have their strengths and both definitely have their weaknesses.  After originally filling me with dread, I really enjoyed it and look forward to the proposed sequel.

The next book of the month was Kidnapped (B.H.L.) by Robert Louis Stevenson.  It was quite a short novel and I imagined it would be a ripping yarn, so it seemed like the best way to refresh my palate.  Sadly, it was like eating a musty kipper (I don’t really know where I’m going with this).  Let’s just say that I gave up after 40 pages as I found it arduous and unfulfilling.  Someone should have taught him how to write in English.

Luckily, I chose a very slim book for my next choice, Batman: Digital Justice (F.C.) by Pepe Moreno.   This is a 1990 graphic novel which was one of the first comics to be produced entirely on computer.  I was fascinated at the time, as it seemed so futuristic, but I never got around to buying it.  It was on my wishlist because it was part of Grant Morrison’s recommended reading list for The Invisibles and I bought it because it was only about £2.50 for a nice hardback edition on Amazon Marketplace.  Anyway, as you would imagine, it has dated quite badly – there is a boast of a computer having a whole 2Gb of storage – but, despite it’s relative clunkiness, there is still something about it.  It’s set in a dystopian Gotham at the end of this century and, for all its flaws, it manages to create a vivid world, that somehow just about stands up.  I wouldn’t recommend that anybody rushes out and buys it, but it’s certainly an interesting curiousity.

I didn’t really have a clue about the next book, The Speckled People (B.H.L) by Hugo Hamilton, as I got it free with a newspaper a few years ago.  It turned out to be a memoir of growing up in 1950s\60s Ireland, with a German mother and a fiercely patriotic father (they weren’t allowed to speak English).  As you might imagine, it wasn’t the jolliest read imaginable.  Despite being well-written, I thought I was going to struggle for the first third of the book.  I did eventually become engrossed in their lives and it was very moving.

I decided to finish the month with a bang and read Fight Club (F.C.) by Chuck Palahniuk.  The film is a modern classic but I only added this to my wishlist when it kept cropping up on my Amazon recommendations.   It was an excellent read and was as taut and brutal as you’d imagine.  My only regret is that I didn’t read it before I saw the film.  I kept asking myself whether I would have guessed what the twist was if I didn’t already know.  Some passages seemed to be blatantly telling you, but if you you didn’t know, then the clues might be easy to miss.  Sadly, I’ll never know.

Books Acquired

Things Snowball by Rich Hall – British Heart Foundation shop – This wasn’t on my wishlist, but I’d seen Hall live only a few days before when I saw the book, so I had to have it.  My review of his gig is here.

Eric by Terry Pratchett – Amazon Marketplace.  I managed to track down Moving Pictures, last month, and so needed this one to complete a run of about 5 books.

A Long Way Down by Nick Hornby – Bookmooch – So, you’re reading a 1000-page novel and you know, as a result, you’re likely to read less books this month than usual.  What’s your best course of action?  To randomly look through available books on Bookmooch and see if there’s any that you like?  Yeah, it wasn’t the brightest thing that I’ve ever done.

Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha by Roddy Doyle – Bookmooch – See above.

Atonement by Ian McEwan – Bookmooch – See above

The Ode Less Travelled by Stephen Fry – British Heart Foundation shop – I really don’t understand poetry.  I don’t see that as a good thing as all those intellectual types seem to love it.  This is a book that attempts to teach you how to write poetry and so I thought it might give me a bit of an insight.

Books Given Away on Bookmooch

Billy by Pamela Stephenson – You’d imagine that a biography of Billy Connolly written by his wife would be pretty entertaining.  It wasn’t.  I was more than happy to give it away.

Result

Books Read 5 (yes, I’m counting Kidnapped) – Books Acquired 6, result – a loss.

So, it’s my first loss in the history of Reading Habits.  Annoyingly, it was completely self-inflicted

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Reading Habits – October 2009

November 14, 2009 8 Comments

It’s already half way through November and I’m only just getting around to writing about October’s books – let’s hope I can spin a full post from my half-arsed notes.  As always, all my books are kept in chronological order, I then alternately read the book I’ve had longest (marked B.H.L.), followed by a free choice (F.C.).  For a full description of my insane book selection rules, please click here.

Books Read

I started the month by reading Street Magic (B.H.L.) by Paul Zenon.  I bought it a few years ago, probably from Borders, because I suddenly got it in to my head that it would be a good thing to be able to do a few magic tricks.  Please don’t ask me where this spurious thought came from as I don’t have a clue.  Anyway, I did read some of it at the time but it all seemed a bit like hard work, and, not being afraid to give up when something proves tricky, it found its way to my To Be Read pile.

As I started my second reading of the book I soon remembered my original sticking point: palming.   Not wanting to divulge too many magician’s secrets, this is the skill of concealing a coin in your hand.  And I just couldn’t do it.  I did practice, but, although I could have practised more,  I didn’t feel myself getting any better at it, and so I wondered if I was missing something fundamental.  Anyway, this time I decided just to read it through and see what happened.

There is actually a variety of impressive tricks within the book and it soon became apparent to me that it’s not enough to know the secrets of a magic trick; in order to pull it off you need equal measures of expertise and performance.  Far from spoiling my enjoyment of the art of illusion, reading this book actually increased my respect for its practitioners.

Next up came Archangel (F.C.) by Robert Harris.  This was a random purchase from the British Heart Foundation shop because I’d read, and enjoyed, Fatherland, Harris’ first novel.  This book has the distinction of being the first ever F.C. that has also been the B.H.L., for whatever that’s worth.  It’s an end-of-the-cold-war thriller that charts an academic’s quest to locate an old notebook of Stalin’s.  It’s one of those strange stories in which nothing really seems to happen and yet it is still somehow quite gripping.  It was a fun read but I don’t really have much more to say on it.

It’s another random British Heart Foundation buy next with The Man in the High Castle (B.H.L.) by Philp K. Dick, which I bought because I was interested to read a Philip K. Dick novel.  It was a great choice and I was hooked from the minute I started readig; it was the kind of book that makes you remember why you love reading so much.

It’s an alternate history novel set in an America following a Second World War which was won by Germany and Japan.  The Axis powers have carved the globe up between them, and this includes North America – the east coast belongs to Japan and the west to Germany.  This kind of premise could have carried out very heavy handedly, but Dick shows an incredibly subtle touch.  We see this unfamiliar world through the eyes of ordinary people and so the horrors perpetrated by the Nazis are only ever discussed third hand.  This makes them seem only more sinister.

In addition to this is a whole subtext about the nature of reality.  Many of the characters are reading a novel-within-a-novel called The Grasshopper Lies Heavy, which is in itself an alternative history in which the Allies won the war – which is a reality subtly but significantly different to our own.  There are moments in the story when one reality appears to blend in to another, but it is done in a way that you are unsure as to whether it happened or not.  What is true and what is false? There are no answers here but the questions are certainly interesting.

I first heard of The End of Faith (F.C.) by Sam Harris a few years ago, primarily because he is a pal of Richard Dawkins, and that is always a good recommendation.  It’s a devastating attack not only on religion but on the nature of faith itself.  To be fair, and pardon the pun, he is already preaching to the converted, so luckily there was even more food for thought.  For example, he poses the question as to whether torture be ethical, and asks if pacifism is immoral.  It’s a very well written, intelligent book, but towards the end he lost me a bit with his thoughts on spirituality as they, superficially at least, seem to conflict with his otherwise rational arguments.  It’s pretty brave of him to go down that road though.  A further, petty criticism is the amount of end notes – I didn’t know whether to skip them or not.

My final book of the month was the rather unusual choice of Buying and Running a Florist Shop (B.H.L.) by Alan Peck.  You’d be forgiven for thinking that it was a wacky women’s novel, but it is actually a manual on buying and running a florists shop.  In case you’re wondering, I didn’t buy the book and I won’t bore you with the details on how I came to own such a book.  Strangely, I actually found it to be an enjoyable read. It’s a slim, straightforward volume that gives an insight in to what it must be like to run a small business.  The main thing I took from it is that when you consider the low pay, long hours and undue pressure, being a florist is a thankless task.  I suggest you go out and buy a florist some flowers today.

Books Acquired

The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark – Bookmooch – This had been on my ‘wish list’ for years.  I think I remember seeing a programme about it as part of the BBC’s Big Read, but I cannot remember anything about why this made me want to read it.

Moving Pictures by Terry Pratchett – Salvation Army shop – I decided a while ago to start reading the Discworld novels and then, fortuitously, someone at work gave me a load of them.  Sadly, there were omissions and so any books that are not contiguous in the serial are not on my official TBR pile.  This was one of the missing and so I was very glad to see it.  It was 50p.

Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad – Salvation Army shop - It was slim, I’d heard of it and it was 50p.  Why wouldn’t I buy it?

Books Given Away on Bookmooch

How the Mind Works by Steven Pinker – I bought this from the British Heart Foundation even though I knew that there was a good chance that I already had it.  It’s the kind of book that you don’t see all that often in a charity shop, so I bought it anyway.  Of course, I already had it at home sat in my TBR pile.  It’s a weird feeling to give away a book that I haven’t read yet.

Result

Books Read 5 – Books Acquired 3, result – A WIN!!!!!

I never thought I’d see the day that I’d record a win in Reading Habits, so it’s champagne all around (if you happen to be in my house as I type this).  Everything is looking rosy – except that we’re already half-way through the current month and I know it’s going to take a miracle for it not to be a big loss.  Fingers crossed.

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Reading Habits – August 2009

September 9, 2009 6 Comments

Welcome to the first of my new monthly Reading Habits columns.  As the name suggests, I’m going to take you through all the books that I’ve read, and acquired over the previous month.  All books that I read are kept in chronological order, I then alternately read the book I’ve had longest (marked B.H.L.), followed by a free choice (F.C.).  For a full description of my insane book selection rules, please click here.

Books Read

There couldn’t be a more appropriate first book for Reading Habits, as The Complete Polysyllabic Spree (F.C.) by Nick Hornby was what inspired it in the first place.  OK, it didn’t so much inspire the idea as much as I completely stole it.  The book is a collection of Hornby’s columns for Believer magazine, in which he discusses the books he has read and bought during that month (sound familiar?).  I got the book through Bookmooch, primarily because I’ve read, and enjoyed, some of Hornby’s novels, and because I liked the idea of reading about reading.  It was a nice easy read, and very funny too.  As someone who doesn’t have that much contact with other readers, it was nice to feel like I was in a very exclusive book club, if only for the duration of the volume.  Weirdly, I didn’t add any of the books discussed in it to my wishlist; I wonder if I came to some kind of subconscious decision beforehand in order to save my sanity and not double the length of my wishlist.  That said, I assume that one or two of the books will stick in my mind enough to prompt a random charity shop buy.

The thing that really struck me about Polysyllabic Spree is that it focused on what it was like to read the books, rather than being a book of out-and-out reviews.  I’ve got something of a phobia about writing reviews myself, particularly when it comes to books.  I even wrote a whole blog post in which I explained how bad I am at them, so if I ever did a bad review, and was picked up on it, I could always say, ‘I told you so!’ – check out Previewing My Reviews for details.  As a book lover, I’d always wanted to write about them, but didn’t know what format it should take, and so Polysyllabic Spree came along at the right time.  By a stroke of luck, I finished reading Hornby’s book on the 1st August, which gave me a perfect starting point, and so I got my notebook and started filling it.  Nick, if by some miracle you ever read this, thank you and I’m sorry for stealing.

Full of enthusiasm for my new project, I went on to my next book, which was one I knew nothing about.  Hunting Unicorns (B.H.L.) by Bella Pollen may be unique amongst my ‘to read pile’ in that I have no inkling of how I acquired it or why.  I’d not heard of the author before, and the title didn’t mean anything to me, so I was going in completely blind.  It certainly had the vibe of being a ‘girl’s book’, although not gregariously so.  The front cover featured a washed out\scratched photo style picture of two young boys, one with the arm around the other, and a halo drawn above one of their heads.  I prayed it wasn’t going to be some kind of abuse memoir.  The back cover had some good reviews (but then, don’t they all?), and one of them compared the writing to that of P.G. Wodehouse.  This just left me more confused, and so I stopped guessing and started reading.

The novel could be best described as a romantic comedy, or as a chick-lit novel written by someone who has been asked to write a chick-lit novel without having ever read a chick-lit novel, but has had someone explain to them what a chick-lit novel is like over lunch.  I have bizarrely read a number of chick-lit novels as a result of my policy to attempt to read any book I come in possession of, and I have no immunity to them left whatsoever.  It perhaps speaks volumes then, for Hunting Unicorns, that I was able to finish it.

The story revolves around Rory, a down-to-earth English aristocrat and his inevitable romance with American TV journalist Maggie.  The chapters’ narrators alternate between Maggie and Rory’s dead brother, Daniel. Yes, his dead brother, and presumable owner of the halo.  All in all, it could have been worse, which sounds like I’m damning it with faint praise, but, since I’m guessing I’m not exactly the target audience, it’s not bad.  I’m not sure about the weird Nazi sub-plot though.

The next book was On Chesil Beach (F.C.) by Ian McEwan, a splendid purchase from the British Heart Foundation shop.  I bought it simply because I’d heard McEwan was really good, and I’d never read any of his work.  The reason I chose to read it is that it was nice and slim, and also because I knew what book was coming next and I wanted a bit of culture first.  On Chesil Beach was another book where I had no inkling of the plot beforehand, and I didn’t know what to expect.  It tells the story of two newlyweds in 1962, which might on the surface not sound thrilling stuff, but McEwan’s masterly use of the English language painted a fascinating portrait of their relationship.  At 166 pages, it is a lesson in brevity, and, in that short number of pages, he says everything that needs to be said; every word feels like it is there for a reason.  A serious book, with a sharp sense of humour, this is highly recommended.  It’s also a good job that I read this after Hunting Unicorns, rather than before it.

If I was a betting man, I would have staked my house on not finishing Dr Ali’s Nutrition Bible (B.H.L.) by Dr Mosaraf Ali, but I still went in with the intention of giving it a good go.  This is the second of two health food books that my mum lent to me a few years ago; the clear intent being that they might make me eat healthier.  I attempted the first one a few months ago, The Food Doctor by Ian Marber & Vicki Edgson, which resulted in failure.  It started OK, listing the top 100 foods for health, a fairly interesting feature that listed the benefits of each individual food.  It did seem like something of a con as it was basically just a list of every fruit, vegetable, seed, nut and grain that you could think of, but I could definitely see the use of it.  The next chapter was ‘Weight Management’, with a suggested breakfast menu of:

Glass of juice, plus one of:

Tofu Smoothie

Millet Porridge

Organic Bio Yoghurt with choice of seeds

Sugar Free Cornflakes with Rice Milk

Scrambled eggs with tomatoes and mushrooms.

Well,  after reading that, I promptly gave up the book in disgust.  With the notable exception of the eggs option, who in their right mind would have the others for breakfast?? That’s being slightly unfair, and if you do have the others, then I applaud your healthiness.  I just get extremely irritated by healthy eating guides that immediately assume you have to give up living like a normal human being.  The phrase ‘with choice of seeds’, should never be presented as a viable option in a human diet.  Cornflakes are fine, even sugar free, but they can’t be content with that, why does it have to be ‘rice milk’ as well?  You might be able to tell that it really bugs me, and it’s with this in mind that I approach Dr Ali’s ‘Bible’.  Any lingering hopes of enjoying the book are dashed when I spot that it is dedicated to Chuck ‘People listen to my views on homeopathy because my mother is head of state, in an institution that should have been abolished centuries ago’ Windsor.  I was also put off by the fact that Dr Ali runs an ‘integrated clinic’ in which a whole third of the treatments feature conventional (ie tried, and tested by science) medicine, and this made me question any facts I subsequently read in the book.

I got to about page 30 before I gave up, and to be fair to it, it wasn’t actually that bad.  I think that the main problem was that I just wasn’t interested in reading in, and so every attempt drained a bit more of my will to read.  It seemed more sensible to bail out at this stage, and not risk being stuck with Dr Ali for the next 3 months.  I suspect that the book might be more useful as a reference tool, and so the book still lingers in the house, trying to tempt me in to picking it up.

Having a free choice next, I went for something that I was more than likely going to enjoy, so I chose Black & Blue (F.C.) by Ian Rankin.  This is the eighth of the Rebus novels, and I obtained it via Bookmooch, in my attempt to own all 17 books in the series (a task I have subsequently achieved).  This is the novel where Rankin’s detective gained a wider audience, and it’s easy to see why, it being much more expansive and assured than the previous entries.  It took me a while to get in to it, but I think this had more to with my frame of mind at the time, rather than anything to do to with the writing.  I think it took my writing genes a while to recover from the bashing that Dr Ali gave them.  All in all, an enjoyable book, and I look forward to the next.

From one popular literary detective to maybe the most popular, as I read, The Hound of the Baskervilles (B.H.L.) by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.  Although I obviously knew the basic premise of Sherlock Holmes, it’s not something I’ve ever read before or even seen the films or TV shows.  So, when I saw this on sale for £1 in ASDA, it seemed silly not to give it a try.  It was a bit of a strange reading experience; it was a pleasant enough read, but in places it seemed almost to be a parody of a Sherlock Holmes story, and the ending was disappointingly anti-climatic.  I was fascinating by the nature of the relationship between Holmes and Watson though, and it’s made me curious as to actually what went on in Victorian London.

My final book of the month was Facts and Fancies (F.C.) by Armando Iannucci, a great Bookmooch find.  This showed up on my Amazon recommendations a while ago, but was out of print, so it was a big bonus to get it on Bookmooch.  Iannucci is a TV producer and writer behind such shows as The Day Today, I’m Alan Partridge and The Thick of It.  With a pedigree like that, it was something of a no brainer to want to read his book.  The book itself is a collection of short essays that take a look at the world in an absurd and nonsensical way. Some of the entries fall a little flat, but it’s well worth a read for those with a love of the surreal.

And that was all the reading that I did in August.  Suffice to say, I didn’t go back and read through Dr Ali’s Nutrition Bible. It still lurks on my bedside table.

Books Acquired

Women On Top by Nancy Friday – Bookmooch – I think it’s some kind record of genuine female sexual fantasies.  I must have read about this somewhere or seen it on a TV show, but I can’t place exactly where.  Also, one of my friends once had a book that featured female fantasies and had read me a particularly intriguing Alsatian\Kidnap based one, and I’m hoping this is the same book.  I’m weird, I know.

The Night Watch by Sergei Lukyanenko – Bookmooch – I’ve got both of the films based on this novel on DVD, so I was intrigued to give it a try.

The Holocaust On Trial by D.D. Guttenplan – Bookmooch – The story of a holocaust denier, which took me ages to remember why it ended up on my wishlist.  I eventually remembered that I’d read a review of the book in Christopher Hitchens’ Love, Poverty & War (The Strange Case of David Irving, p255).

The Horse Whisperer by Nicholas Evans – Somebody gave my mum a load of books, and she thought that this wouldn’t be her cup of tea, so she decided to give it to me.  I can never say no to a free book.

Gridlock by Ben Elton – Same reason as The Horse Whisperer.

Belching Out The Devil by Mark Thomas – Barnardo’s Charity Shop –  I’ve been to see Mark live this year, I used to watch his TV shows, I’ve read his previous book, As Used on the Famous Nelson Mandela, and I saw his documentary based on Belching Out The Devil. I think that all of these constitute good enough reasons for a spur of the moment charity shop purchase. Plus, the book attacks Coca-Cola, and I gave up drinking it a few months ago, so I can read it without feeling guilty.

Reasons to be Cheerful by Mark Steel – Bookmooch – Like the previous Mark, I’ve been to see this one live this year (read about it here), and I’ve read one of his previous books, It’s Not a Runner Bean….

Result

Books Read 7 – Books Acquired 7, result – a draw.

I’m a little disappointed to end the month on a draw.  For a long time, the win was well on the cards, and then I got inexplicably stuck on Black & Blue. I was still in control of the match until the 2 books given to me by my mum and a last minute Bookmooch find, with just a couple of days left in the month.  Better luck for September.

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Reading Habits – An Introduction

August 26, 2009 18 Comments

My 'To Read Pile' (more of a bookcase than a pile)

My 'To Read Pile' (more of a bookcase than a pile)

Having your own blog is a wonderful thing; you can waffle on about anything that you want to, and nobody can stop you.  By the same token, as a blog reader, you have every right not to read what I’m going to bore you about.  But give me a try and see what happens.

In the near future (ie next week), I’m planning a new feature in which I’ll give a run down of all the books that I’ve read (and acquired) in the previous month.  Unsurprisingly, it’s going to be called ‘Reading Habits’.  Before I do that though, I thought it might be an idea to give you an idea of my general reading habits, which will probably just end up proving how weird I am.

As you can see from the photo of my “to read pile”, I tend to acquire books much more quickly than I can read them.  This is partly because I’m a really slow reader, and that I don’t allocate as much time to reading as I’d like to.  The other reason is that I can’t stop buying books.  For the last few years my main source of books has been charity shops and Bookmooch.  Both these methods are great for getting books that you want for cheap, but it does mean that you have to get them as soon as you see them, as those particular titles may not make another appearance.  This does lead to something of an excess of books.

My main source for keeping track of what books I’d like to read is my Amazon Wishlist, which currently contains 115 items (although there are a few CDs and DVDs in that total).  I tend to add any books that I’m even vaguely interested in to it (and then to my Bookmooch Wishlist) and then have a regular pruning session to get rid of stuff that was added on too much of a whim.  I tend not to prune anything from my Bookmooch list, just to keep things interesting, and so that currently has a total of 167 books.

The Amazon Wishlist relates to another of my obsessions, Amazon Recommendations.  Way back in January, in my predictions for 2009, I made this forecast:

7. I’ll compulsively update my Amazon recommendations every dinner time while at work, not satisfied until I’ve checked up to at least 500 suggestions. Eventually it will recommend the perfect book. Hopefully.

Well the search for the perfect book continues.  I love searching through the recommendations, it’s somehow therapeutic, and even a little exciting when you get to recommendation number 567 and are able to click on ‘I own it’.  And yes, I know how sad that sounds.  Anyway, my constant scouring and updating of my recommendations also feeds back in to my wishlist.

So, I’ve explained how I’ve come to have so many books to read, which I’m not going to count the number of, but you can see is clearly over 100.  Now I have to explain how I go about reading them.  I’ve maintained a pretty big ‘to read pile’ for a number of years now, and I maintain a policy of at least attempting to read every book that I acquire, no matter how much it doesn’t appeal.  In the past, this lead to a lot of cherry picking, and thus some books were getting left forever.  What I needed was a system.

The system is simple, firstly every book stays in chronological order of acquisition.  This means that the book that I’ve had the longest is on the far left of the top shelf, and the newest book in the collection is on the far right of the bottom shelf (the books that aren’t actually stacked on shelves, I’ll come to later).  Every new book that I get goes to the bottom of the pile.  Now, I’m not going to tell you that I read them all in order, it would get WAY too boring.  What I actually do is read alternately the ‘oldest’ book followed by a free choice.  This means that all the books will definitely get their turn, but gives me enough flexibility to keep it interesting.  I realise that I must sound mental, but I’ll continue.

You’ll spot the aforementioned books that are sat in piles, rather than on the shelves, and these come in two categories.  The three piles on the bottom shelf are just basic overflow; books that won’t fit on the shelves but are still kept in order. These books eventually find a way on to the shelves as all the others shuffle along.  There is an additional rule that I can’t read any of these overflow books until they are properly situated on a shelf.  This stops me cherry picking the most recent additions, which I’ll obviously be most enthusiastic about reading.

The two piles on the middle shelf are books that I’ve acquired that are part of a series of novels, but I have gaps in the run.  These don’t join the ‘official’ pile until I have found the missing links in the chain (now I know that I’m starting to sound like a potential serial killer).  Currently I am waiting for books in Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series, Jasper Fforde’s Thursday Next series, and loads of Christopher Brookmyre novels (which I don’t even think are technically a serial, but I still want to read in order – too many years of reading comics has drummed continuity in to my brain).

A final rule applies: when I get my ‘free choice’ I can only choose a book that I can actually see.  This is born out of the practicality of not wanting to move the piles of books rather than for more anal reasons.

So, those are my reading habits, and I know that I appear to be completely insane.  I assure you that sanity will prevail when I review for you the books I read in August, in the first official Reading Habits post.

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