Reading

Since I was quite a small I have loved reading. And I can shamelessly admit that I am a total slut about what I read. I am not all that fussy and have never limited myself to a particular genre, author etc. If the book is good I will read it. I will also read any magazine: You, Farmer’s Weekly, Time and anything else lying around. I toss a book aside after the first 50 pages if it doesn’t grab me. I will sometimes plod through the most atrociously written book thinking “it really can’t be this bad; it must get better” but it doesn’t. I seldom remember the names of the authors or even the name of the book. I usually remember if I had read it by the cover. My small book case (because I chuck books out) is sorted by the colour of the spine.

I do have my favourites though. I love a rolling, strung out story. I love the type of book that leaves you not wanting to read the last few pages so that you never have to finish it. I just love a good story! I love a good thriller, murder mystery (preferably English); I love biographies about Victorian women. And there are some Indian authors who spin such beautiful stories that I find myself taking on an Indian accent whilst I am reading.

So, I thought I would share a couple of books I have recently read, that grabbed me and kept me up till all hours of the night and early morning.

The Stieg Larsson trilogy: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl who Played with Fire and The Girl who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest. They are wonderful murder/mysteries and kept me on the edge of my seat. Couldn’t put the books down. Best read when you have a free weekend so you can just wallow in these really good stories. The author died just after he finished the 3^rd book…..hmmm

Elizabeth Gilbert’s new book “Committed” – the follow on from Eat, Pray, Love. I think she is an astounding writer. It is quite difficult to write 2 gripping, and thought provoking books about firstly: your lousy divorce and then whether you should get married or not. I don’t mean to sound as if I am trivialising her books – I am not. These books are unputdownable and there are many, many really good lessons in her writing. “Committed” is well researched and she explores marriage; its history and all the emotions and expectations involved in a committed relationship. Her exploration on intimacy is profound and enlightening. She puts across her message in an amusing, totally unselfconscious way and totally without self pity, victim or holier than thou attitude. She is mature and very honest. One little snippet I underlined is: “Sometimes life is messy and botched. We do our best. We don’t always know the right move.”

The third book I thought is very much worth mentioning, and I only finished this one yesterday is “Not Me” by Michael Lavigne. This is his first book… and after about the first 20 pages is also unputdownable. It is a story about an old Jewish man. But the twist is that his son finds out that he was actually a SS officer (not Jewish) in one of the WW11 death camps. And Wow, does this guy explore human emotions which leave you examining any ideas you might have had about forgiveness, retribution and so on. It’s such a good read and well worth burning the midnight oil over.

The last one takes a bit of a while to get through but is immensely interesting nonetheless. It is the history of the Fiennes family, written by none other that Ranulph Fiennes (he of Antarctic fame) and he calls it an expedition round my family. He covers the family history from 715 (yes, that’s not a typo) to present day. It is quite amazing; he had lots of ancestors manipulating kings, queens and affairs of state and lots of them losing their heads and entrails along the way. If you want to know, in a nutshell, something about English history then this is a pretty concise narrative. He skips through the centuries, doesn’t get bogged down with too much information and detail but you get the picture of the times. He spends a bit more time with more recent history and this is really interesting. By the way, the book is called “Mad Dogs and Englishmen”.