Books - The Crow Road

I never seem to have the time to read at the moment, it not like I watch loads of telly or radio, it is just life is too busy and I spend a lot of time travelling, so it was nice to find an unabridged book in MP3 format that I been wanting to read for an age. The book in question is "The Crow Road" by Iain Banks which I first came across as a BBC television drama many years ago. 

It is a book that many argue is the best opening line of modern times "It was the day my grandmother exploded", so simple but instantly grabs your attention and takes you into the story to the point that you don't want to put it down. It is the writing of someone that has a skill and talent that most of us could only aspire to. The writer is the late Iain Banks who died recently and thankfully we are fortunate enough to be left with some of his wonderful writing to take into the mists of time.

The book follows the quest of Prentice McHoan as he tries to find out what happened to his Uncle Rory who disappeared eight years ago after finding some papers concerning a book he was writing called the "The Crow Road". This leads he attempt to solve the mystery the of the disappearance of his uncle. Along the way he must cope with estrangement from his father, unrequited love, sibling rivalry, and failure at his studies. Prentice's efforts to piece together Uncle Rory's fragmentary notes and the minimal clues surrounding his disappearance mirror his efforts to make sense of the world, love, and life in general.

It is a wonderful story and having seen the abridged BBC television drama I am really looking forward to listening to a reading of the work that inspired it, in the full. Personally I hope one day that many more good novels will be presented this way or that some device can be made that can read any book with feeling and understanding. Often peoples lives are to busy to read and there are so many distractions that being able plug yourself into a book and listen to a good story is the only way to enjoy a novel without the effort and time of reading, an art they is dying in the modern world.

The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy

Well it is a typical Bank Holiday Monday and the rain is falling as well as the temperatures. A good time to stick on a video for the kids to watch and put your feet up for a good book, and given the weather you are going to need a funny one. So don't panic, help is at hand. Why not travel the lengths and breath of the Galaxy and laugh along the way with Douglas Adams book "The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy".

The story revolves around Arthur Dent and rather average and boring human who never had anything interesting happen to him, that was until  seconds before the Earth is demolished to make way for a galactic highway he is plucked off the planet by his friend Ford Prefect. Who turns out to be a researcher for the revised edition of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy who, for the last fifteen years, has been posing as an out-of-work actor after getting stuck on Earth. Now you would have thought that things would quieten down for Aurthur, but the ship he and Ford are rescued by is one of the Vogon Constructor Fleet, and the of which captain threatens to throw him and his companion off the ship unless they tell him how good his poetry is. 

And so Arthur and his friends, Ford, Zaphod, Trillian and Marvin start on a journey around the galaxy with a copy of the The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy and a towel, because it is always important to know where your towel is. Ask anyone that could find there towel when getting out the shower and they would agree. Along the way they find out the reason for the destruction of the Earth and start the search to find the ultimate question to life, the universe and everything. After all we know the answer is 42 don't we. It is a story that sees them going to the end of time itself, at the Restaurant at the End of the Universe, and a funny and a good read it is too.

And if you one of these people that can't be bothered to read a good book there are other ways of accessing the story including a computer game based on the book, that you can play on line on the BBC website, a BBC radio version of the book, a TV serial and of course a film. Personally I would recommend the radio version of the story, but then I have always had a soft spot for radio. It just lets you still use your imagination rather than relying on someone else's to paint the pictures to the words. 

So that my recommendation of something to do on a dull wet and cold summer bank holiday Monday, better still rather than sit at home take your book to the pub for a read. Whatever you do have a great day off and don't panic.

Books - David Eddings

A few days ago I was looking through by paperbacks sitting on the shelf in the downstairs toilet which we call the library and I was drawn to the books of David Eddings. a wonderful story teller who is no longer with us whose legacy lives on in his writing.

I first read his books when I was twenty one. For some reason I was in W.H.Smiths and I came across the first of the Belgariad series of books and read the first page. From that moment I was hooked and took the book happily off to the cash desk. A day later I was in the same bookshop buying the rest of the series after spending the whole evening into the early hours of the morning reading the first book in the series. A week later with a smile on my face I put down the last book and wondering where my life had gone for a week.

You might ask what I found so interesting about the books other than the fact they are fantasy novels. Well that is a simple question with a simple answer. It was the writing. The way the story teller conjured up images and his observation of life and people that the narrative conveyed. The books are just so well put together and the pace at which the main story line runs is almost perfect. The whole series of books takes you on a journey and it flows off of the page taking you along with it. Once you start on that journey you just read and read, never wanting to stop for a rest. There are not many stories I have read cover to cover and book to book like this one and if you are a fan fantasy novels this has to be for you.

Having seen those books again just sitting there gathering dust I think after all this time they are worth reading again. I love reading and it something I have been missing out on for a while so maybe this writer and the books I read so long ago will be the perfect start. Escapism is good now again and takes us away from our own drama's into another world.

I want to write a Book

One of the the things I want to do is write a book. I just have so many subjects I could pick from I just don't know where to start. I know what I would like it to be about, but I feel I shouldn't write it or wonder if I know enough about the subject if people would take my work seriously.

I guess my academic background doesn't help. I want to know everything about something before even start which makes writing a factual book so difficult. I know I have one of these types of books I want to write. It is just the thought that although I know more than most about the subject,  I'm not a complete expert in the subject. All I know is I have a lot of insight into the subject matter that might be new and make people think, but would anyone bother to read it and would the subject be to close to home. That might not be a move wise.

As for other academic books they have all been written before and I wonder if I could actually add anything new to the subject because it is all so well covered in existing works. Writing that type of book wouldn't be rewarding  as I feel I wouldn't be bringing anything new to the world. So what would be the point other than money and that wouldn't be my reason for writting it.

When it comes to fiction I can start stories but never finish them. That comes from all the drama training I have done. I learnt to make up narratives from scratch with just a basic idea as the catalyst . For example the person leading an acting session might say "You are are in a car and....." and off you went. The first thing you have to do as a group is work reason you are in the car as you act and then you take it from there. The problem is you never get to the end you just keep going until you are told to stop. 

Basically the more you do it the longer you can keep them going. In the end you can improvise for hours on end. Something which I have done on a couple of occasions without even noticing the time passing. The only thing that stops story being the person leading the session telling you to stop. Now there is the problem. I can do beginnings, they are like painting a picture, and middles, putting the denial on the picture and moving through the painting, but I just don't know how to do a end. I guess one day I will work it out. This doesn't put me off writing fiction because I know once I start maybe that ending will come along. It is just knowing how to see the ending and not keep going on by it. I guess the only thing that does put me off is having the time to start it but I will find it.

So watch this space you never know I just might start that book and if I do I just hope someone bothers to read it and like the blog understand the meaning behind the words and the sentiments they contain.

Putnam Aviation Series

It has been a long time since I have had a post on books I have been reading or just books I pop into now again. One series of books in particular falls into the later category is the Putnam Aviation Series of books that are sadly no longer in print. 

I brought my first Putnam book, "Miles Aircraft since 1925", many many years ago and I really haven't lost my love in the series since then. It was the perfect book to introduce me to the series. It was light hearted and personal account of a company, the writer being a designer at the company and a personal friend of the owner as well as being highly technical at all the right moments. 

Since then I have slowly built up my collection of aviation books in the series. Currently I have ten books and the last one "Gloster Aircraft since 1917" I got was a present.  I'm always on the lookout for more of these books when I go around old books shops. You never know when you might pick up a bargain and I hope one day I might complete my collection of books from this once great publisher of aviation history. They are the idea books to read about what once made this country so great. 

Books - Terry Pratchett

One of the authors I have always enjoyed is Terry Pratchett. I find his works both funny and clever while being a wonderful red. The world he has created is rich, colurful and full of detail. Just the thing you need when going to work on a train in the morning when you want to forget the hustle and bustle of the world around you.

Emily has read "Harry Potter" series of books over and over again and I thought it was about time she moved onto something else in the same sort of vain, but this time funny as well. Years ago she read "Only You can Save Mankind" a childrens book by the same author and she enjoyed it immensely so I'm hoping she can will really love the Discworld series. I have started her off on "Guards Guards" the story of the City Watches fight with a Dragon. Hopefully I can then move her on to the witches series once she is engaged in the world. I'm sure her active imagination will love the books and find the concepts, especially the scientific ones, fascinating.

It is such a shame that a talent as great as Terry Pratchett with and amazing mind has be struck with the awful illness that is Alzheimer's disease which will eventually eat his mind away until he can write no more. Currently he has too dictate his novels to his assistant and has great trouble reading. His wish is to die before the illness reaches the critical phase and is in favor of "assisted suicide", a term he hates. Lets hope the progress of the disease is slow and he is around for a few years yet.

Books - The Foundation Trilogy

When I was at University there was nothing more I like to do on a quite evening and after my work sit down with a good book. At one point I would read a book cover to cover in just a few days and a whole series in just over a week. As the years have gone and I started to needed reading glasses my reading for pleasure has really disappeared as an alternative to television and radio.  

When I was looking through the bookshelves I came across a series of books that I have never got round to reading, the original Foundation trilogy penned by Isaac Asimov. There is no reason I have never read them other than I never got round to it and now the nights are drawing in this is an idea time to put on the glass and a sit down with a good book and given that Asimov is considered one the greatest science fiction writers that has ever lived there are no excuses for not reading them at some point.

The books are  based around predictions of the fall of the Galactic Empire by the mathematician Hari Seldon and a branch of mathermatics called psychohistory and what he does to shorten the period of the dark age that follows. They are based on a planet called Terminus and the work of the people working there on an Encyclopedia who are unaware of the future and their role in it as predicted and manipulated by Seldon. All in all it is a fascinating concept with the mixture of plausible science mixed with a good story. I'm really looking forward to sitting down with a book and just getting lost in the pages and the world they create.