On the Kindle - Morag Joss

I'm a sucker for a prize winning author, so I thought I'd give Morag Joss a go. If Morag comes to the Cubby House, she can have pick of the china cabinet from me. What a ripper of a book. I really don't want to tell you anything of the story - you can't without spoiling it. I'll just say it's a story within a story with some cryptic letters tossed in. Don't panic if you are initially confused about what's going on - it will fall into place nicely. It is a morality tale told extremely well. The author certainly knows how to put words together to form some terrific sentences. Some loose ends are left loose which usually ticks me off, but in this case it works. Mind you, the Responsible Adult would call this 'a cheery little tale' so don't be looking for laughs and giggles along the way. Here's your quote:

"Hereafter, I would have no story, only a dishonoured past. An what else could I do then but begin to learn what it is to be dead before I actually was?"  

Whats on the Kindle Iain Banks

I rarely go in for Sci-fi in a book, but Iain Banks is an exception. He writes in a literary style with complex characters and plotting. He is not limited to the genre but it is his Sci-fi series on the 'Culture' that has got me in. The 'Culture' - a human species are much advanced having developed artificial intelligence. The humans and mechanicals get along spiffingly well.Droids have the same rights as humans. For example, destroying a droid would be considered murder. As well as droids, the Culture have created minds. These machines are highly intelligent and while piloting huge star ships, communicate with each other to develop strategies for the future well being of the galaxy. While this is a part of a series, the Culture novels are independent and can be read in any order. Each novel introduces new characters in the context of the imaginary Culture. Each novel puts its characters in extreme situations - has numerous twists and turns and develops the characters so, so well. Give it a go - if you don't like it, you can always come to the paddock for a bit of nice relaxing weeding. Here's the quote (I think Banks must have served on a committee or two):
  “I just think people overvalue argument because they like to hear themselves talk.”

On the kindle Setting Free the Bears John Irving

So I came to John Irving late in life, starting with Last Night in Twisted River - a ripping yarn. Moved on to Hotel New Hampshire and the fabulous A Prayer for Owen Meany. Thought I might try his first novel published in 1968. This is one for the true fans. It is a bit rambling which is in the authors style, but without the interest that is strong in his later novels. As usual, there are stories within stories and people come to amusing but rather nasty ends, but the whole thing seems disjointed. Can't recommend, sorry and didn't find a particular quote for this that I liked. But here is a quote from the author that he uses regularly in interviews:

 "For 12 novels the last sentence has come first, and not even the punctuation has changed. From that last sentence I make my way in reverse through the plot, because there always is a plot—I love plot—to where I think the story should begin."

On the Kindle - Ghost Road

So, I've come to the final of the Regeneration trilogy and Booker winning novel 'The Ghost Road'. It ends badly. But it wasn't a surprise - even a comedy like Blackadder finished badly when it portrayed the trenches in WW1. The book continues the exploration of sex/death/class in an era when European humans were ruled by obvious dickheads. Not totally certain things have changed that much - the dickheads continue to rule because stupidity is contagious. So, like its predecessors in the trilogy - not a cheery tale - graphic descriptions of the horrors at war - graphic descriptions of boy/boy sex - a gripping read, but point yourself towards a light comedy afterwards. Here's the quote:

 "Ghosts everywhere. Even the living were only ghosts in the making. You learned to ration your commitment to them."

Whats on the Kindle - Cormac McCarthy

Hmmm, thought I'd have a break before finishing the Regeneration trilogy and turned to one of America's most respected authors. Well ....... it started off as a 3 guys out on a bar-be-que type story for the first third. As the likely lads cross from Texas to Mexico, one of them chats to the locals in Spanish (the book had no subtitles and I was too lazy to type it all into Google translate). It also takes a while to get used to the lack of punctuation, but it's no big deal.

From this ambling start comes the Cormac McCarthy touch of fairly nasty things happening to our heroes as they become victims of events. I found it a bit hard to believe when the main character - who appeared to be sparse in communication and language suddenly had a lengthy and lyrical philosophical epithany. 

I was pretty much over it by the end. Not a happy read - but it is Cormac McCarthy so it should get a quote:   “I can normally tell how intelligent a man is by how stupid he thinks I am.” 

I think there's something in that for all of us .........

What's on the Kindle - More Pat Barker

Whew! Just finished the second of Pat Barker's Regeneration trilogy "The Eye in the Door". This book picks up pretty much where the last one left off. It continues an unsentimental account of Dr Rivers and his WW1 psychiatric patients. The author continues to hold nothing back when describing the horrors of the war. The character, Billy Prior, is extraordinarily complex, but in the hands of this novelist, his story rings true. This novel brings into focus events surrounding pacifists and homosexuals and for me continues to highlight the stupidity of the 'establishment'. 

Your quote: "Soldiers home on leave had to be given an good time; they mustn't be allowed to remember what they were going back to, and this gave everybody else a magnificent excuse for never thinking about it at all" 

What's on the Kindle - Pat Barker

After a hard day in the Paddock, there's nothing like settling down with a glass of read and a good book. At the cubby house, we prefer electronic readers to paper. A few years ago, I decided to read all Booker Prize winning books. A task that has turned out to have expanded greatly. For example, after reading Salman Rushdie's brilliant 'Midnight's Children', I got sidetracked into reading everything he wrote - some more than once. And after hearing the pommy author David Mitchell on Radio National, I decided to expand to all short listed and long listed books. Then proceeded to read all David Mitchell's works. 

T Lobsang Rampa

Wow! Finished stage one of the spring paddock weeding. Time to go and do some other fun projects like digging holes for a break. To keep me company, I decided to catch up on some podcasts. One of my subscriptions is the lovely BBC 'Play of the Week'

Shalimar the Clown

Weeding, weeding, weeding. Such fun - not. On the Ipod at the moment is 'Shalimar the Clown' by Salman Rushdie. I have read this twice and now am on my second listening. You may gather that I quite like it. In fact I think it is fab-o. 

A number of Indian authors base their work around partition and it is obvious from these works that partition was devastating at the time and remains an unresolved problem.