This evening (post run) saw me catch up on Game of Thrones Season 2, I invite you to do the same. I am being encouraged by a few friends to read the books but in all honesty I have been adding to my ‘to read’ list for about 18 months and haven’t read more than 4 books in the past 12 months. I know that on this occasion I won’t read the books, I’ll continue to watch the TV – it’s easier.
And through typing that very sentence,
I know I am not the boy I used to be.
University pushed me down the route of reading solely for academic endeavours. It took the fun out of it. Curse you Leeds, you gave me a lot but it's only just dawned on me what you might have taken away from me. I want the enjoyment back.
It wasn't always love at first line. I will always remember the first book I actually enjoyed reading, It was The Story of Doctor Dolittle. If the only version of Dr Dolittle you know is Eddie Murphy's you don't know Dr Dolittle. Doctor John Dolittle loves animals. He loves them so much that his home and office overflow with animals of every description – imagine that! When Polynesia the parrot teaches him the language of the animals, Doctor Dolittle becomes a world-famous doctor, travelling far and wide to help his friends.
What's even more charming is that I now know that Hugh Lofting wrote these stories as letters home to entertain his family while fighting in WW1.
At my primary school we had to read every night and report back on progress made – usually by just saying what page numbers you reached, or whether you finished the book. In my first night I had read 74 pages, which was a phenomenal achievement amongst my peers and aptly rewarded with silence and scepticism – who is this maverick? I remember I stayed up until about 10.30pm, a privilege only previously warranted for watching Match of the Day at the tender age of 9.
I have since then read lots of books and I will briefly bore you with a snippet of the books I have read which came to mind when thinking about compiling a very short list, a top 5 of sorts if you will:
Digital Fortress – Dan Brown:
I don't care if you like Robert Langdon, I prefer Susan Fletcher. Who wants a symbologist when you can have a cryptographer?!
Basically this Brown novel is a tale deception and betrayal in the America's most secret and powerful government organization, the National Security Agency (NSA). Commander Strathmore believes that a former NSA employee has successfully created an unbreakable algorithm, which threatens the security of the nation and the future of the agency itself. Strathmore recognizes an opportunity to turn the situation around to his own benefit. When Strathmore realizes he needs help, he calls in Susan Fletcher. Ah but the plot thickens, Susan uncovers the truth about the NSA's deputy director as the nation's most classified information is in grave danger of being exposed to the world and the life of the man she loves hangs in the balance. What drama!
Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
This is actually a work that has been translated into English (from Spanish). Hidden in the city of Barcelona is the 'cemetery of lost books', full of obscure and forgotten titles that have long gone out of print. To this library, a man brings his 10-year-old son Daniel. Daniel is allowed to choose one book from the shelves and pulls out LA SOMBRA DEL VIENTO by Julian Carax.
But as he grows up, several people seem inordinately interested in his find. Then, one night, as he is wandering the old streets once more, Daniel is approached by a figure who reminds him of a character from LA SOMBRA DEL VIENTO, a character who turns out to be the devil. This man is tracking down every last copy of Carax's work in order to burn them. What begins as a case of literary curiosity turns into a race to find out the truth behind the life and death of Julian Carax and to save those he left behind.
It was only curiosity which lead me to read this book in the first place, and sadly I didn't pick it up from a book cemetery - I got it from Waterstones.
The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
Using alternating first-person perspectives, the novel tells the stories of Henry, a librarian in Chicago, and his wife, Clare, an artist who makes paper sculptures. The crux is that Henry has a rare genetic disorder, which comes to be known as Chrono-Displacement, that causes him to involuntarily travel through time. So when 20-year-old Clare meets 28-year-old Henry at the Library at the opening of the novel, he has never seen her before, although she has known him most of her life - trippy, no?
An elegy to love and loss, it metaphorically uses time travel to explore miscommunication and distance in relationships, while also investigating deeper existential questions. It is a love story and about a wife who has to cope with his frequent absences and dangerous experiences. It's the only book that has made me cry. Do you need any further aversion?
She has also written a book called Her Fearful Symmetry, which is also well worth a read - particularly if you live near Highgate Cemetery, her presentation of London is something I really enjoyed.
Dracula - Bram Stoker
We actually had to read this at NULS in our AS Level English Literature class but I did enjoy it much more than I had anticipated. Stoker didn't invent vampires, but he's defined their modern form (if you exclude that Twilight rubbish).
It's a much better story than you think, it's epistolary structured for one - and whilst obviously being primarily a gothic/horror novel it touches on the themes of sexual conventions and the role of women in Victorian society, which interested me at least...
It's a much better story than you think, it's epistolary structured for one - and whilst obviously being primarily a gothic/horror novel it touches on the themes of sexual conventions and the role of women in Victorian society, which interested me at least...
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - J. K. Rowling
You'll have all seen the films or some of them so I wont tell you who he is. But I will say this - this book is fantastic. Whilst drawing the saga to a close, as readers we forget how much we've grown up with Harry. I was starting secondary school when Philosopher's Stone was published (and Harry started Hogwarts), we both have scars on our foreheads and we would both like to believe we had an 'elder wand' at some point in our lives!
J.K. Rowling has written an adult book now, and I'm excited. I'd like to see where she will take me having followed her to Platform 9 3/4 and beyond- I’m keen to see what Harry will let her do now that he’s killed Voldemort (sorry if I ruined that for anyone).
You'll have all seen the films or some of them so I wont tell you who he is. But I will say this - this book is fantastic. Whilst drawing the saga to a close, as readers we forget how much we've grown up with Harry. I was starting secondary school when Philosopher's Stone was published (and Harry started Hogwarts), we both have scars on our foreheads and we would both like to believe we had an 'elder wand' at some point in our lives!
J.K. Rowling has written an adult book now, and I'm excited. I'd like to see where she will take me having followed her to Platform 9 3/4 and beyond- I’m keen to see what Harry will let her do now that he’s killed Voldemort (sorry if I ruined that for anyone).
You and I need to get back to basics and into books again.
Next in the pile for me is John Irving’s ‘A Son of the Circus’ as I want to go to India – should be a good read, this post on the other hand...what were you expecting? x
