bookmark_borderThe Lovely Bones

The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold

The story of a murdered schoolgirl, this book offers a unique perspective of how her death affects her family, her community and herself. Told through Susie’s eyes, as she watches the people in her life from heaven, this is both a thriller, a love story, and an exploration of life and death all wrapped up into a very readable package.

The scope of the book is at once huge and yet focussed, and the storyline moves along nicely ensuring you are never bored, and always intrigued as to what is going to happen next. The characters are nicely developed and this was a pleasure to read. One of those books that slowly draws you in, and before you realise it you can’t wait to turn the next page, read the next chapter.

Excellent stuff, thanks to whoever recommended it (I really must start writing these things down somewhere). Now, what next?

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bookmark_borderSoul of a Butterfly

The Soul of a Butterfly by Muhammad Ali.

I know I’m not alone in my admiration of this man, and I know that that admiration may be flawed but when you begin to understand what he has been through in his life, Parkinson’s aside, he becomes all the more remarkable. I don’t share his religious/spiritual viewpoint and I do think he still lapses from his self professed humility but the facts remain that he IS one of the most recognisable people in the world – in this book he mentions a dream of travelling across the world with no money or luggage, seeing if he could get by on his fame.

This book is written by the man himself, with help from his daughter Hana Ali and offers an insight into his life, his decisions and his spirituality. The book itself is short and disjointed but roughly follows his life, interspersed with writings on spirituality and anecdotes from his life. It’s undoubtably written from the heart and does offer a few glimpses into the real person behind the “personality” but you soon realise that whilst he is hugely genuine there aren’t too many levels to the man, and that is probably one of his greatest assets. There is no two-faced cowardice, no lying counterpoint, everything you read is from the heart and there to be interpreted in the only way it can be, honestly.

I’d say this is either for the completist or for those wanting a quick read into the life of an extraordinary man. If you own or have read other books on the life of Muhammad Ali you’ll probably know all the facts, there is nothing revelationary in here, and although you’ll glean a few gems the lack of real content is a bit disappointing. However it’s lack of length will benefit the casual reader as it zips through the key moments of Ali’s life giving you a simple yet penetrating overview of the man.

If you are interested in reading more about Muhammad Ali, I can highly recommend King of the World by David Remnick.

bookmark_borderGhostWritten

Ghostwritten by David Mitchell.

A quick search confirms some basic facts about this book, including the oft repeated fact that it is an astonishing debut. Written in the style of a series of short stories that share a common thread the writing style never seems forced and flows from tense set pieces to languid descriptive prose without missing a beat, and somehow manages to keep both the stories and the reader involved.

Continue reading “GhostWritten”

bookmark_borderIntact

Survived. Just. Not sure how well my legs will function in the morning though.

And whilst I’m here I’d like to thank the person that sent me a book from my wishlist (Alasdair Gray – Lanark). I have a few suspicions of WHO sent me it but as you didn’t say who you were when you add a note to the order I can’t thank you by name (hint, hint).

bookmark_borderThis Site

1. OK OK OK !!! I won’t redesign. I’ll content myself with restyling instead. Difference? Re-design includes re-architecturing the layout and underlying HTML code. Re-styling only applies to the elements controlled by CSS which may include changing the position of things but is less invasive.

2. The Site Feed was broken. It was St. Patrick’s Days fault. More accurately it was the fault of “Lá Fhéile Pádraig” which is a known bug.

3. Thanks to everyone who commented on the Introspection post, a lot of great suggestions. Still not sure how I’m going to tackle the Asides but will probably head down the category route. And for those who aren’t the slightest bit interested in this kind of thing, scroll down to the next post (should’ve said that first though, shouldn’t I!).

UPDATE

Forget all those thanks. You lot are useless. Where were you when I needed you? Eh? EH!!!! Nowhere to be found. Abandoned I was, left to the mercies of my materialistic self. No-one shouted “STOP!” or “Remember what you said!”, no-one tried gentle persuasion, nor did they try to physically restraint me. Where were YOU?

I had no-one to try and divert my mind as it wandered easily from:

“Ohh look, Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell, I like his stuff, number9dream was good, and I’m reading GhostWritten at the moment, I’ll just nip in and see what it’s about…”

to:

“Ohhh 3 for 2! Excellent, I wonder if there is anything else worthwhile…”

which easily lead into:

“Look, The Complete Prose by Woody Allen, that should be good!”

and left only a small leap to get to:

“Well I’ve got two so any other one is free.. ohh A Million Little Pieces has a pretty cover, that’ll do!”

Next thing I know, my card is swiped, my account is £20-odd lighter and I have three more books to add to my list.

And where, pray tell, where YOU ohh helpful reader?!!!!

bookmark_borderSnippets

Reading
A quick thanks to everyone who took the time to a/ read my book list b/ suggested what I should read next. After some deliberation I plumped for Ghostwritten (although if I’m honest, it’s mainly because it’s been sitting on my shelf the longest, came recommended by Caterina if I remember correctly). Don’t know why I hadn’t read it having enjoyed number9dream so much.

~

Football
Congratulations to Chelsea. Whilst the millions invested obviously have had a large bearing it was certainly a team effort in the game last night. Great game to watch as a neutral as well.

~

Call centres
I’m guessing the phone systems are computerised, so why don’t they publish the current queue time data to a website somwhere, or at the very least do some analysis and release some info on when is best to call.

Do they already and I’ve missed this vital piece of information?

Granted the initial publicity might not be too complimentary but I think, for the customer anyway, this would be a great step forward for a lot of companies.

~

Weather
It’s another glorious day, he says as he wistfully gazes out of the window. Not a cloud in sight. I think I’ll go for a walk at lunchtime, nip down to the shop or, better still, grab my camera and wander through the local woods.

UPDATE: Blue skies and brass monkeys. brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.