Why doesn't "toastie" bread fit in my toaster?
One of life's great mysteries. That and how does the Venus de Milo hitch-hike, as Robin Williams once asked.
A work in progress this month is reading Ian Thomson's new novel The Northern Elements. While I will be writing a full review in due course, I will take this opportunity to encourage others to read it. It's an engaging and intriguing story about youth, life, death, fun, love, disappointment and pain as well as friendship, loyalty and growing up.
I've known Ian Thomson since not long after he accompanied Gérard de Nerval walking his lobster in the Palais Royale and know that he is a great flaneur. Reading about the two gangs of boys exploring the nooks and crannies of Blackburn points to how his disposition for urban exploration began.
Thomson also reveals his youthful interest in the Roman Catholic Church through some amusing incidents and remarks. I suspect this interest continues, as ritual, mystery, ethical issues and forgiveness (or lack thereof) are themes in many of his books and stories.
Perhaps it is a sign of advancing years, but I find myself visiting old books and writers. For a reader, it is very much like visiting an old friend, but in this case, you don't mind them telling the same story again and again. Like old friends, they are always good to see, and in spite of telling the same story, there is always something new to learn and discover.
I am re-reading Marisha Pessl's disturbing and fascinating book, Night Film. Subsequent readings are always rewarding because one takes more time with them and is not rushing on to discover what happens next. There is time to take in the surroundings, the style and the nuance. On a subliminal level, this going on during the first reading and contributes to the initial satisfaction with the book, but lingering to study the details is highly rewarding.
The quest for the elusive film director Stanislas Cordova through the mystery of his daughter's death is as compelling on the second reading as on the first. Pessl is a master [forgive the non-PC term, but there's none better] of the dark tale, right up there with Arturo Perez Reverte and Carlos Ruiz Zafon.
Pessl experiments the format of the novel, producing photographs, documents and web-links to various bits of "evidence." There are even unsettling clips on YouTube that bolster credibility of Cordova and his reputation. She doesn't over-do this contrivance, nor does she over-use words and phrases, relying - and do all the masters of suspense and mystery - on the reader's own imagination to create the really scary stuff.
My own collection of short stories, Undivulged Crimes, is now available in paperback and Kindle formats. I will say more about them later, but they should prove to be good fodder while travelling this summer, or sitting on the beach or in the garden.
One of life's great mysteries. That and how does the Venus de Milo hitch-hike, as Robin Williams once asked.
A work in progress this month is reading Ian Thomson's new novel The Northern Elements. While I will be writing a full review in due course, I will take this opportunity to encourage others to read it. It's an engaging and intriguing story about youth, life, death, fun, love, disappointment and pain as well as friendship, loyalty and growing up.
I've known Ian Thomson since not long after he accompanied Gérard de Nerval walking his lobster in the Palais Royale and know that he is a great flaneur. Reading about the two gangs of boys exploring the nooks and crannies of Blackburn points to how his disposition for urban exploration began.
Thomson also reveals his youthful interest in the Roman Catholic Church through some amusing incidents and remarks. I suspect this interest continues, as ritual, mystery, ethical issues and forgiveness (or lack thereof) are themes in many of his books and stories.
Perhaps it is a sign of advancing years, but I find myself visiting old books and writers. For a reader, it is very much like visiting an old friend, but in this case, you don't mind them telling the same story again and again. Like old friends, they are always good to see, and in spite of telling the same story, there is always something new to learn and discover.
I am re-reading Marisha Pessl's disturbing and fascinating book, Night Film. Subsequent readings are always rewarding because one takes more time with them and is not rushing on to discover what happens next. There is time to take in the surroundings, the style and the nuance. On a subliminal level, this going on during the first reading and contributes to the initial satisfaction with the book, but lingering to study the details is highly rewarding.
The quest for the elusive film director Stanislas Cordova through the mystery of his daughter's death is as compelling on the second reading as on the first. Pessl is a master [forgive the non-PC term, but there's none better] of the dark tale, right up there with Arturo Perez Reverte and Carlos Ruiz Zafon.
Pessl experiments the format of the novel, producing photographs, documents and web-links to various bits of "evidence." There are even unsettling clips on YouTube that bolster credibility of Cordova and his reputation. She doesn't over-do this contrivance, nor does she over-use words and phrases, relying - and do all the masters of suspense and mystery - on the reader's own imagination to create the really scary stuff.
My own collection of short stories, Undivulged Crimes, is now available in paperback and Kindle formats. I will say more about them later, but they should prove to be good fodder while travelling this summer, or sitting on the beach or in the garden.
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