Top Ten Literary Names I'd Totally Give My Non-Existent Kids

 

Hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, this week's Top Ten Tuesday is a rewind!  Looking back over all the TTTs I've missed, I picked this one from February 2011: 

 

Top Ten Characters (Or Literary Figures) You'd Name Your Kids After

Because who DOESN'T occasionally sit pondering what they'd call their completely hypothetical and (thankfully) non-existent children?  And when you're a book fiend there are so many brilliant names to choose from!  Not only that, but a beautiful edition of a namesake book would make a fantastic gift for, say, a 16th birthday.  See, I THINK about these things...  Some of the names could obviously be strung together into a first AND middle name, so really, the combinations are endless.  I have a feeling this might be harder than I thought...

Lorna Doone -  This one's been set in stone for years!  My first daughter (should I ever have one) will be Lorna Rose, after Blackmore's beautiful and feisty young heroine.  I fell in love with the book - and the characters - as a young teenager, and with the BBC's gorgeous adaptation as well, and that was that!

Lord Byron - I LOVE the name Byron for a boy, and always had it in mind for my first son.  Not only was he a passionate, witty and brooding poet who cast his shadow over large swathes of my teen years, but She Walks in Beauty remains my all-time favourite poem.  Now I just need a middle name...

Dorian Gray - Okay, so like Byron, he's not the most morally sound of namesakes - but I love him anyway.  The Picture of Dorian Gray was the first classic I ever bought myself and it's been my favourite book ever since.  I'm a sucker for a tormented bad boy, and I always secretly hope Dorian will be redeemed before it's too late...  Also, it's a bloody awesome name!

Edmond Dantes - Or as he is perhaps better known, The Count of Monte Cristo.  I actually like both Edmond AND Dante, so either would work.  The epic story of a humble man wronged and imprisoned, only to rise again as a strong, intelligent and wordly avenger, this book absolutely blew me away.  Incidentally, it was also my very first review on this blog!  Yes, the Count is occasionally a bit scary - and very dangerous - but at his heart he is still Edmond Dantes, the hard-working sailor deeply in love with the beautiful Mercedes...  That's got to be worth naming someone after, right?

Isabella - This has become seriously clichéd in recent years thanks to the number of breeding TwiHards who couldn't come up with a less obvious tribute, but it is a beautiful name.  Not only is there the vampilicious Miss Swan, but Bella was the name of the title character in one of my favourite books as a child, The Enchanted Horse by Magdalen Nabb.  She was a wooden horse who came to life at night under the tender care of a little girl, and the book always made me cry.  Bonus point: Bella was also my great-grandmother's name.

Jolyon Forsyte - That's pronounced Joe-lee-un, by the way.  Like Lorna Doone, I fell in love with the book AND adaptation of The Forsyte Saga in my early teens.  There are three generations of Jolyon Forsytes across the trilogy, all of them generous and kind-hearted; like the youngest, I'd probably shorten it to Jon.  The alternative, of course, would be to go for good old John - perhaps as a middle name - which immediately brings to mind steadfast John Ridd (Lorna Doone), loyal John Watson (Sherlock Holmes) AND hard-working John Thornton (North and South)...

Beth March - When I was younger I, like every other wannabe-writer book-loving kid out there, always thought of myself as a 'Jo'.  But over the years I've come to appreciate quiet Beth far more than her rowdier sister.  Sweet, innocent and selfless, she's the one the other girls depend on without knowing it, the one they turn to for comfort and balance and a kind word.  If you wanted to name your little girl after a literary character, you couldn't choose one much lovelier! 

Daphne du Maurier - Daphne is a beautiful name, and I love her novels (Rebecca is one of my favourite books), so this one's a bit of a no-brainer really.  Not only is du Maurier a bit of a literary legend, but Daphne is also the name of one of the characters come good in Enid Blyton's Malory Towers series, AND it was the name of my stepdad's witty and wonderful mother.  I didn't know her very well but she was a sweetheart, and sharp as a thumbtack!

Harry - Include Henry in this bunch, and you've got a hat trick of characters to choose from as a namesake: the dashing Sir Henry Curtis in King Solomon's Mines, the incorrigible Lord Henry Wotton in The Picture of Dorian Gray, and of course, the boy wizard himself.  Plus Prince Harry was always my favourite...   ;)

Charlie - I know I only read The Perks of Being a Wallflower recently, but I completely fell in love with Charlie.  It's a lovely name, and if I had a son who was even half as sweet, thoughtful and bookish as the blossoming young wallflower he was named after, I'd be a very lucky woman!

Come on then, fess up - if you had to name a child after a literary figure, who would it be?  Perhaps you already have?  And if you're a TTT participant, feel free to leave the link to your Top Ten Rewind in the comments so I can come a-visiting and check it out!
 

REVIEW: Wedding Babylon, by Imogen Edwards-Jones and Anonymous (4*)

(Bantam Press, 2009)

Another hit from the guilty pleasure that is the Babylon series, in which Imogen Edwards-Jones teams up with a bunch of top players in a given industry, extracts their best tips, tricks, behind-the-scenes secrets and scandalous stories, then packages them all up in a neat week-in-the-life semi-fictional demi-novel for our entertainment.  Oh, how I love 'em...

This installment, as the name suggests, is all about the wedding industry, as seen from the perspective of a top London wedding planner.  Babylon enthusiasts can probably already guess the rest - the helter-skelter pitch through dress fittings and flowers, bridezillas and warring relatives, celebrity nuptials and wedding day mishaps.  Alongside the day-to-day running of the business and the memorable weddings the planner has survived (or heard about through the grapevine), there are also plenty of interesting details that go beyond the obvious: How finely tuned do even the most dull and practical of details have to be?  How does a planner network with all the other companies that make up the wedding industry?  Which readings are guaranteed to bore your vicar to tears?  And what the hell is a bridal potty?  As always, this book gave me a renewed respect for the hard work going on behind the scenes in the service industry, showing the reader all of the lovely highs but also the stressful lows, the egos and the tantrums, deftly demonstrating just how far these professionals have to go to serve the ridiculous demands and passing whims of their high-maintenance clients.  

For me, it seems like Edwards-Jones is becoming better and better at this formula, streamlining her books with each new release.  I find that the newer books (like this one, and Beach Babylon, which I read last year) seem to feature more likeable narrators, and offer more detail and genuine insight into their chosen industries to balance against the gleeful gossip and outrageous horror stories.  I think I'd be torn between wanting to read this book before my wedding (for the tips) and wanting to stay the hell away in case I had nightmares!  Great literature it ain't - it's very easy reading and some of the dialogue, in particular, is horrendously clunky - but it's super-fun, extra-frothy and an absolute pleasure to come back to at the end of a long day at work!

Notable Quotables:

• "As I sit there, listening and nodding away, I can feel my hangover creeping up the back of my neck, giving me a thumping great headache.  I start to frown hard, trying to concentrate.  I look across at Bill, who is slowly sliding down in his chair.  There really are only so many photographs of fancies a bloke can look at without losing the will to live."
• "Whatever happened to a quiet dinner and a few drinks for a wedding?  Or even a bit of cake and a drink, like in the olden days?"
• "The number of extremely pretty girls I have seen done up like Polish prostitutes on their wedding day does not bear thinking about.  No matter how many times you impress upon the bride that she shouldn't have a tan for her wedding, and that her hair and make-up should not be too dramatic or different from usual, they all still make the mistake of shoving on the slap and crimping their hair, teasing it into curls so they end up looking like some Best in Breed at Crufts."

Source:  I have no idea.  I think I stole it from the shop when I spotted it in a bag of incoming books! 

Top Ten Books I Want To Stay In The Spotlight

 

Hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, this week's Top Ten Tuesday prompt is as follows: 

 

Top Ten 'Older' Books You Don't Want People To Forget About

(You can define older however you wish.  Basically just backlisted books you think are great.   The point is to share books that could be forgotten about in the midst of all the new releases...)

 

Time to consult my trusty LibraryThing catalogue, methinks...  Here's my ten, in no particular order!
 

The Secret History by Donna Tartt - If you haven't already read this book, then get on it.  Really.  It's a bit gothic (check), the characters are part of a strange academic clique studying the classics (double check), there's a mysterious death (check, check, check) and the writing is wonderful.  I read it for a book club, and would never have picked it up myself otherwise - now it's one of my favourite books.  I've read it twice, am well due another reread, and heartily recommend it to my customers on a regular basis - now it's your turn!

 

The Shallows: How the Internet is Changing the Way We Think, Read and Remember by Nicholas Carr - Published in 2010, I think this book is going to get ever more relevant as more and more people switch to e-readers, and more schools and libraries throw out swathes of their physical books in favour of computers, e-books and online learning.  I identified with much of what Carr says about changing concentration levels and comprehension styles, and his research is fascinating.  It's a balanced book that will have different implications for different readers; for me, it convinced me to stay firmly in the 'paper and ink' camp for the time being... (My review)
 

 

Lorna Doone by R.D. Blackmore - In the sea of classics, certain names stand out as being the most popular: Dickens, Austen, Bronte, Hardy... their novels sell by the bagload, particularly as the cold weather draws in.  Sadly, Lorna Doone seems to be regularly overlooked - and it's such a shame, because it's a wonderful novel!  A plucky heroine, a swoonworthy love interest, land war, family betrayal, lies and love and violence, all done with a broad Exmoor accent.  Oh, and the BBC's adaptation is fantastic too!

 

 

Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks - People rave about March and People of the Book - but what about Brooks' first novel?  It's a fictional version of events in a Derbyshire village very close to me, Eyam, which went into voluntary quarantine during the plague of the 1660s in an attempt to stop the disease spreading any further.  It was an incredible act of courage, and the book is so compelling - I've read it three times and I'm not tired of it yet!

 

 

Books, Baguettes and Bedbugs: The Left Bank World of Shakespeare and Co. by Jeremy Mercer - Yes, yes, this book appears on every bookish list I've ever made - but seriously, every book lover should read it!  Shakespeare and Company!  Modern bohemian literary life in Paris!  Living in a bookshop!  Storytelling and wine, pancakes and poetry, pretty girls and eccentric occupants, it's all here!  READ IT ALREADY!  Oh, and watch this video too.

 

 

The Undomestic Goddess by Sophie Kinsella - Most of Kinsella's books come through the shop regularly, but we rarely see a copy of this one.  It's about a lawyer who makes a serious mistake in her professional life and runs away to the country, where she accidentally falls into a job as a housekeeper for a 'nouveau rich' couple, despite her complete lack of domestic skills.  Oh, and she falls in love, of course...  Funny, clever and very uplifting!

 

 

Plague by Malcolm Rose - As a teenager I read this multiple times, but it seems to have been completely eclipsed by his two popular mystery series since then.  It's a YA thriller about a mysterious ebola outbreak, a town in panic, and a medical team's attempt to find a cure.  It's fantastic and terrifying and hit the spot way before zombie and dystopian novels took over the 'plague fiction' theme...  I'd love to find a copy again!


 

 

Deric Longden's cat books - These days cat memoirs are everywhere, from Dewey to A Street Cat Named Bob, but for me the original and very British best are still Deric Longden's books.  His tales of life with his blind wife (writer Aileen Armitage) and their evolving feline family (especially Thermal, the small white kitten) are warm, wryly observed and very funny - they've been my comfort reads since I was about eleven and I love 'em!  Start with The Cat Who Came In From the Cold...  :)
 

 

An Unquiet Mind by Kay Redfield Jamison - Misery memoirs are all the rage these days - but what about a book about surviving mental illness that ISN'T all doom and gloom?  Jamison's account of her life with bipolar disorder is emotive and compelling, but never drifts into mawkish sensationalism.  She is a clinical psychologist so her book is underscored by her professional interest, and her books are fuelled by hope and insight.  I'm certainly not letting my copy go anytime soon!
 

 

Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli - I adored this book when I was at school, and rightly so!  It is a love song to individuality, a quirky story about a spirited girl who follows her heart and a young boy who finds himself falling under her spell.  Stargirl is such a unique character (she taught me what a ukulele was long before Amanda Palmer zoomed onto my radar) and reminds girls that it's okay to be themselves, however unusual their interests and ideas may be!


REVIEW: Dragon Heat, by Allyson James (3.5*)

(Berkley Sensation, 2007)

'She took several deep, dry breaths of air, and said, "Caleb?"  His smile returned and his eyes twinkled...  He spread his arms.  "In the flesh."'

Well now...  another bit of holiday fluff to chat about... What can I say about this one that the horrendously-bewigged Boden model on the cover hasn't already told you?  First up, can I just say that it was quite refreshing to be reading a paranormal romance novel about dragons rather than vampires, werewolves or angels?  I think I might like this series, actually...

Secondly, ignore the dude on the cover.  He really does look like he should be crop-haired, dressed in a button-down cardigan and riding a bike through the Cotswolds.  Instead, try picturing Caleb the golden dragon-warrior more like this:

 



*carefully rolls tongue back into head*  Aaaaah, much better.  ;)

Right... now, essentially this is a dragon sex book.  That's how I've been referring to it all week anyway, much to Mum's amusement.  It's about a beautiful part-Chinese girl called Lisa who has recently moved back to San Francisco to her late grandmother's apartment, where she has befriended the fifty-foot glittering golden dragon-guardian occupying the portal in her spare room.  As you do.  (Don't worry, all is explained... conveniently...)  Unfortunately, there is an EEEEVIL BLACK DRAGON wandering around the city in human form, which means that the only way Caleb the Golden Dragon can protect Lisa is to... whaddaya know?  Become human too!  Which he does, just in time to save Lisa from one of the black dragon's minions.

Of course, Lisa is a bit bemused to find herself suddenly face-to-pec with a six-foot-six naked man-hunk with amazing blue eyes and a shiny golden... armband (minds out of the gutter, people).  Caleb, for his part, is equally perturbed by his new complicated human emotions and interesting man-bits.  Naturally the only demonstrable response to this unexpected situation is to have lots of sex - so they do.  And in between bouts of energetic bed/wall/floor-shaking lurve, they also have to deal with the black dragon (who is actually just a little bit misunderstood), an evil witch who masquerades as a soccer mom, two extra witches, three incubi (read: excuse for lots more sex scenes), a dragon orb, a bottle of chocolate sauce, some near-fatal mishaps, a detour into Dragonspace, and the possibility that Lisa may be a whole lot more awesome than we all originally thought.

So far so predictable... but actually, I really enjoyed it!  Sure, it had its less-than-fine plotting moments/odd typos/occasional dialogue-based clunkiness, but it was still a fun novel with enough spice to satisfy paranormal romance junkies, enough dragon lore to keep things interesting, and enough substance to pull it together into a satisfying little comfort read.  It does what it says on the tin, surprised me once or twice, and actually made me cry at one point (at the sheer magnificence of Caleb's... nah, just kidding) - and that's good enough for me to say 'yay dragons!' and go find the next book in the series!

Notable Quotables:

• 'Lisa sat up, her jaw dropping.  A tall, massively muscular man with long golden hair and eyes as blue as lapis lazuli held Greg by the neck in a powerful grip.  The man looked like a wrestler, his body rock solid, his face square and hard, his skin moving like liquid bronze over muscle.  He was also quite naked.'
• 'Human women, he knew from watching television, would do anything to make themselves rail thin, including slicing into their bodies to remove bits of it.  Why, he could not fathom.  A woman was beautiful, whatever shape she happened to be.  She had curves in the right places and hair to stroke, and eyes to admire, and a smile to warm your heart.  He wished he could make them understand how perfect they were.'
• 'Caleb and Malcolm were watching television.  Caleb held the remote, and both man-dragons stared with looks of rapt concentration at a basketball game being rerun on a sports channel.  "Ah," Lisa said.  "Male bonding."'

Source:  I think I probably nabbed this one from the shop!  Surprise surprise...  :)

REVIEW: On the Island, by Tracey Garvis Graves (4.5*)

(Penguin, 2012)

This was the perfect holiday read while we were away soaking up some sunshine.  I actually thought On the Island was a young adult book when I ordered it, but it definitely isn't!  Which was probably a good thing, as a romantic beach read without a bit of spiciness would be... well, disappointing.  So, Anna is a thirty year-old teacher accompanying her new student, seventeen year-old T.J., to his parents' holiday house in the Maldives for some summer tutoring.  T.J. is in remission from cancer, and not all that happy about spending his vacation with his nose in a pile of schoolbooks - no matter how attractive his new teacher might be...  As it happens, their summer is going to be far from mundane, as their plane crashes between Malé and their final destination, leaving them marooned on one of the many uninhabited islands dotted across the vast sweep of the Maldives.

About two thirds of the novel consists of the trials and tribulations of desert island life for T.J. and Anna, and I was thoroughly absorbed in their daily experiences.  It's the kind of scenario that is familiar enough for the reader to create some very vivid mental imagery along the way, but also has plenty of scope for innovation on the author's part - and Graves definitely kept me hooked.  I thought she provided a good balance between the pair's fight for survival and the negative aspects of island life (for example, when they are forced to drink stagnant water and suffer the consequences) and the more idyllic picture-postcard moments (like their afternoons sitting by the fire roasting freshly caught fish). 

Watching these all-modern people learning to survive was a fascinating ride, and in the way a good book should, made me really start to reflect on how I would have coped in their shoes.  It emphasised the huge importance of company and social interaction; it was clear that on the island, having another person to look out for them, to help them, even just to talk to, made all the difference - and when one of them was in peril it was genuinely heart-wrenching watching the other struggle with what the implications could be if they were left alone.  I cried when Tom Hanks lost his football 'friend' in Castaway for the same reason - because we all have a kind of deep primal fear of that kind of loneliness. 

This intense microcosm and enforced proximity neatly paved the way for the romantic element of the book.  Some readers might wonder about the appropriateness of a relationship between a student and a teacher, but actually, in this unprecedented situation it's hard to imagine how a bond WOULDN'T form between T.J. and Anna.  As the weeks turns to months and then to years, their boundaries inevitably start to crumble, they get closer with every shared difficulty and joy, and as T.J. becomes a grown man it might be considered odd if their relationship didn't become more complicated at some point.  T.J. is never an immature character anyway; even at the beginning he is a realistic teenage boy, with anger and a raging sex drive, but this is tempered by the maturity he has acquired through his illness, and the necessity of being a man on the island.  I was definitely rooting for them, as mutual tenderness and respect, growing love and a unique shared experience cemented them together into an inseparable couple.

What I deeply appreciated about this book was the fact that Graves doesn't resort to a cliched 'And then a plane flew over and we waved and got picked up' way of ending her characters' island stay.  Instead she cleverly ties it in with real-life events and orchestrates a far more gritty and interesting escape.  The last part of the book follows Anna and T.J. back to 'real life' - something usually missing from stories like this - and explores how they adjust to being back in America with their families around them, modern conveniences at every turn, and the press desperate to hear their story and dissect the propriety of their relationship.  This section wasn't quite as gripping or immersive, but it rounded off the novel in a far more satisfying and realistic way than if it had simply ended at the moment they got off the island.

I only really had a couple of little niggles while I was reading.  One was that the dialogue was slightly clunky at times, particularly because of the frequent overuse of names.  Anna doesn't do this so much, but I noticed that T.J. frequently uses her name in conversation.  It doesn't really sound right, particularly given that they are the only two people on the island!  My other tiny gripe was with the occasional over-idyllic moments, like the dolphins that come to play in the lagoon and befriend T.J. and Anna.  Not that this is completely out of the question, of course - and the dolphins do have an important moment of their own later on - but it did smack a bit of a child's fantasy desert island at times!

Other than that, however, I found this to be a stellar bit of storytelling and a great read for a dose of holiday escapism.  I was genuinely caught up in T.J. and Anna's fight for survival and their budding romance, and their isolation meant that every moment of happiness, sadness or fear cut that much more deeply, both for them and for the reader.  It was quite an emotional ride!  Like a movie, I wanted these warm and relatable characters to get their break and live happily ever after.  I teared up a few times, and smiled along with them in others.  This will definitely be a keeper for me - in fact, reading it outside on a hot sunny day might have to become a new summer tradition!

Source: I bought this book from Amazon UK

REVIEW: The Perks of Being a Wallflower, by Stephen Chbosky (4.5*)

(Pocket Books, 2009)

"He's a wallflower...  You see things.  You keep quiet about them.  And you understand."

I've never met a single person - friend, blogger, librarian or bookseller - who has read The Perks of Being a Wallflower and not fallen in love.  That's quite a reputation for a humble book to live up to!  Perhaps it also helps explain why, knowing little to nothing about it, I left it sitting on my shelves for so long.  It was actually the fervent whispers about the film, the growing buzz, and finally the fantastically exuberant trailer, which lured me back to my bookcase and persuaded me to pluck it down at long last.  And as always, I am kicking myself for letting it go unread for so long...

This is such a wonderful book, and it's perfect summer reading too.  It's the coming-of-age story of a fifteen year-old boy called Charlie, told entirely in epistolary form via letters to an unnamed friend-of-a-friend.  Quiet, introspective and naive, Charlie is surely one of the most loveable and achingly sweet characters I've ever come across in my reading life.  It is his freshman year, and to his surprise his largely solitary existence is turned upside down when he is 'adopted' by worldly older stepsiblings Patrick and Sam.  At the same time his English teacher, Bill, begins to draw him out of his academic shell with some well-timed encouragement.  Slowly, his new friends nudge Charlie out into the big wide world, into a bountiful land of music and books, love and longing, parties and The Rocky Horror Picture Show - and stand beside him through the hardships that teenage life and his own past conspire to throw his way. 

This is definitely going to be one of my favourite books of the year.  I adored Charlie and found myself underlining things on almost every page as his thoughtful exploration of the world around him prompted me to stop and reflect.  I also noted down dozens of movie, book and music references to check out later, which was a bit of an unexpected bonus!  Through his letters we can see Charlie's style mature as he does, and our involvement becomes deeply personal because it feels like he's writing just for us.  Chbosky's characters are complex and painfully real, and no one is all good or all bad, even Charlie himself.  I think Patrick was my favourite, because he was all heart even when he wasn't necessarily doing the right thing!  I loved Bill too - I think every student should have a Bill to see their strengths and provide a shining light of knowledge and hope during the difficult school years.  Some really serious teen issues are discussed throughout the book - rape, drugs, gay identity, abuse - without ever feeling too heavy or gratuitous, and I can well understand the reputation it has gained as a positive, even life-saving cult classic for young readers.

The only thing I didn't like - and the reason for the half-star drop - were those occasional moments when I felt like my heart would break because SURELY no one could be so naive at fifteen?  The book becomes quite difficult to read at times as Charlie's naivety is stripped away - this is the true meaning of the word 'bittersweet'!  But it really is an unmissable novel.  Charlie is such an intuitive character, and the writing is beautiful; he thinks outside the box and it's a pleasure to read!  He is inspiring and generous, and accepts everything with a high level of tolerance and emotional intelligence, even if he is very childlike in other ways.  There is something for everyone here, whether you are 15 or 50 - and I can't WAIT until 2013 when Chbosky's adaptation finally hits the big screens.  I'll be first in line to laugh and cry all over again...  :)

Notable Quotables:

• "I have finished To Kill a Mockingbird.  It is now my favorite book of all time, but then again, I always think that until I read another book."
• "... things change.  And friends leave.  And life doesn't stop for anybody."
• "There's nothing like the deep breaths after laughing that hard.  Nothing in the world like a sore stomach for the right reasons.  It was that great."
• "I love my mom so much.  I don't care if that's corny to say.  I think on my next birthday, I'm going to buy her a present.  I think that should be the tradition.  The kid gets gifts from everybody, and he buys one present for his mom since she was there, too.  I think that would be nice."
• "She wasn't bitter.  She was sad, though.  But it was a hopeful kind of sad.  The kind of sad that just takes time."
• "I guess we are who we are for a lot of reasons.  And maybe we'll never know most of them.  But even if we don't have the power to choose where we come from, we can still choose where we go from there."

Source: I bought this book from Amazon UK.

The best customer in the world

This morning when I arrived at work there was a message flashing on our shop answering machine:

"Hello to my friends at the bookshop.  It's David ----- here.  I wanted to say thank you for the card you've sent to me.  And I want to say an extra thank you for going to the trouble of finding one with a lovely Land Rover and farm animals.  It's very touching...  *sneeze*... *pause while he tries to work out how to hang up his mobile*...*end of message*"

Today is our favourite customer's birthday.  His name is David, and he's got fluffy hair and a curly beard and the twinkliest, cheekiest little face you've ever seen outside an Enid Blyton story.  Back when we were first refurbishing the shop we used to leave the door open so locals could pop in and say hello; David was our first visitor, and ordered a book from us before we'd even opened!

Since then he's been a firm fixture in the shop.  He has so many health problems and struggles to get around sometimes, but he comes down whenever he can and sits in one of our red tub chairs, catching us up on his sons' exploits and talking about his life and waxing lyrical about his favourite things: animals, rallying, chickens, Land Rovers and biscuits.  He's a joy to listen to, so funny and down-to-earth and enthusiastic about life.  Sometimes we bring him a cup of tea and a biscuit or two so he can take his tablets, and secretly we love it because it means he'll stay and chat a bit longer.

The card he sent when the bookshop turned three this year.  He's separated from Joan but still sees her all the time because she helps him with things when he can't manage...

He lives nearby, in a little flat in a warden-monitored building, and he's every bit as eccentric as we are, which helps!  But he's also incredibly generous and has the warmest heart of anyone I've ever met.  I rang him this morning when I got that message, and he went into raptures over the card, and was very excited because another had just arrived in the post.  He's been invited to tea with Joan and the family tonight and he's hoping there might be blueberry cheesecake.  Then he got a bit quiet and said again how touched he was by the card - and when I said, "We love you David, you know that!" there was a sudden silence and he got all choked.  After I put the phone down I found myself welling up, and Mum did too.

It's people like David that make the fairly thankless job of running a shop worthwhile.  Sure, it's great being surrounded by books all day, but all the books in the world can't save you when your head's aching and kids are throwing tantrums and people are moaning in stage whispers and you're exhausted.  But when David appears at the door, I can feel a smile spreading across my face, and it's like the world falls back to rights for a few minutes.  I remember that there's someone out there who really appreciates what we do, and makes a special effort to come here for books and chatter, and who remembers our shop birthday, and who brings us shortbread at Christmas, and who knows when we're ringing him because no one else does, and who told us he'd make room for us at his tiny flat if we ever got caught out in the snow, and who brings photos for us to look at, and who cuts out magazine articles he thinks we'll like, and who shares his life with us as generously and openly as we try to share ours with him.  

THIS, ladies and gentlemen, is what it's all about.

REVIEW: Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, by Hunter S. Thompson (4*)

(Harper Perennial Modern Classics, 2005)

I was a little intimidated at the thought of starting this book, and yet again I was overjoyed to find that I am, in fact, a grown up after all and can handle a cult classic with the best of 'em.  I don't know why it's such a surprise really, because so often when I've been daunted by a book I've found my fears to be completely unfounded.

Anyway.  This book is mad.  Funny, chaotic and mad.  I can see why it made such a good film, and why Jack Sparrow Johnny Depp fit the lead role so perfectly.  Not that I've seen the film, but I've ordered a copy and from the trailer it looks pretty close to the original, certainly in spirit!  Basically, Fear and Loathing is a semi-journalistic, semi-fictional, semi-situations-have-been-altered-for-artistic-reasons journey through the heart of early-seventies Las Vegas, set against the shifting drug culture and the dissipation of the hippie idealism of the sixties.

This is a time when the American Dream is falling apart.  When money talks, the power of the masses is seeping away, 'consciousness expanding' drugs are disappearing from fashionable circles, and flower power is transforming into something darker, dirtier and a whole lot more seedy.  At the heart of the book, Raoul Duke (Thompson's persona), his attorney and a very nice Red Shark convertible loaded with a medley of dangerous substances coast through conventions and rallies, bars and casinos, seeking the remnants of the American Dream and getting amazingly loaded along the way.  Part 1 is about their 'coverage' (I use the term loosely) of the Mint 400 race in the Nevada desert, and Part 2 documents their return to Las Vegas to gatecrash the National District Attorneys' Conference on Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs (there might be samples!).

It's always difficult to describe and review such a crazy book, so instead I'll just say that it's pretty damn brilliant.  It made me chortle aloud plenty of times, yet also had some quite poignant and downright repulsive moments that brought home the futility of their search for meaning, and the decidedly less-than-glamorous world a junkie inhabits.  Mostly though, it was the best kind of farcical comedy - funny, ridiculous, outrageous, gutsy and I never quite knew what was going to happen next!

P.S. My Harper Perennial copy also has a handy section at the back with a short biography of Hunter Thompson, a little about the book and film, and some notes on Gonzo journalism.  Very helpful!  :)

Notable Quotables:

• "Every now and then when your life gets complicated and the weasels start closing in, the only real cure is to load up on heinous chemicals and then drive like a bastard from Hollywood to Las Vegas."
• "History is hard to know, because of all the hired bullshit, but even without being sure of "history" it seems entirely reasonable to think that every now and then the energy of a whole generation comes to a head in a long fine flash, for reasons that nobody really understands at the time - and which never explain, in retrospect, what actually happened."
• "It was treacherous, stupid and demented in every way - but there was no avoiding the stench of twisted humor that hovered around the idea of a gonzo journalist in the grip of a potentially terminal drug episode being invited to cover the National District Attorneys' Conference on Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs."

Source: I bought this book during a flying visit to Waterstones in Chesterfield.

REVIEW: In Cold Blood, by Truman Capote (5*)

(Penguin Modern Classics, 2000)

"I didn't want to harm the man.  I thought he was a very nice gentleman.  Soft-spoken.  I thought so right up to the moment I cut his throat."     - Perry Smith

Wow, this is an incredible book - and so much more accessible than I was expecting!  In fact, I'd go as far as to call it compulsively readable...  In Cold Blood is surely Truman Capote's masterpiece (Holly Golightly might be cute as a button, but she just doesn't compare) and knocks modern true crime into the dust.  It takes the murder of a Kansas family on their ranch and turns it into a jigsaw puzzle of brilliant storytelling and evocative journalism.

One mid-November night in 1959, four members of the wealthy Clutter family were tied up, shot and killed in their home.  Herb Clutter, a successful rancher, along with his wife and two children Nancy and Kenyon, were found dead the next morning when friends arrived to catch a lift to church.  The book explores how this horrific crime affected the surrounding community, and how the authorities locally and across the US worked tirelessly to catch the culprits.  Alongside events in Kansas, Capote simultaneously offers us the story of the murderers themselves.  Perry Smith and Dick Hickock both had charismatic personalities and complicated back stories, and after the Clutter murders managed to evade the law for over a month and a half before they were finally captured, jailed and taken to trial for their crimes.  They were hanged in April 1965.

So far, so Crimewatch.  What really makes this book special is how much heart and soul Capote pours into it.  His eye for a good story and his focus on people rather than process render In Cold Blood as gripping and enjoyable as a novel.  The amount of painstaking work he must have put into bringing this sweeping story together is genuinely awe-inspiring.  For me, there was also the intriguing fact that Capote was known to have become close to Perry Smith during his research - how much did that skew how he was portrayed?  It was certainly fun to wonder as I was reading. 

Smith and Hickock sit right at the heart of the book, and it is their humanity that provided the most disturbing and thought-provoking aspect of my reading experience.  I found myself reflecting on the complexities of law and order, and the validity of the death penalty.  I began to consider the murderers more closely, to ponder whether one was more guilty than the other and what made them so - their mental health, their level of participation, their attitude?  There were moments where Hickock melted into a normal American boy, and many times where I felt genuine sympathy for Perry and quite liked him - until some little word or gesture reminded me exactly what I was reading and what he had done.

In short, In Cold Blood has everything I want from a book: intriguing characters, an exciting narrative, thought-provoking themes and superb writing.  The fact that the entire book is a work of true crime only adds to its brilliance, because every detail, movement and conversation had to have been so meticulously researched and slotted together to create this perfect piece of storytelling.  I now have the 1967 film adaptation to watch and two more Capote/Hickock/Smith movies to track down (Capote and Infamous) - and In Cold Blood is taking its place as one of my favourite reads of 2012!  Highly recommended.

Notable Quotables:

• "Imagination... can open any door - turn the key and let terror walk right in.  Tuesday, at dawn, a carload of pheasant hunters from Colorado - strangers, ignorant of the local disaster - were startled by what they saw as they crossed the prairies and passed through Holcomb: windows ablaze, almost every window in almost every house, and, in the brightly lit rooms, fully clothed people, even entire families, who had sat the whole night wide awake, watchful, listening."
• "'What is life?  It is the flash of a firefly in the night.  It is a breath of a buffalo in the winterime.  It is as the little shadow that runs across the grass and loses itself in the sunset.' - Said by Chief Crowfoot, Blackfoot Indian Chief."

Source:  I borrowed this book from my local library..

DOUBLE REVIEW: V for Vendetta, by Alan Moore and David Lloyd (4.5*)

THE BACKGROUND

I've been wanting to read this book for SO LONG - and I've been wanting to watch the movie ever since I discovered the book.  Finally, fairly recently, everything came together!  I found the DVD at a local charity shop for £2, the book came into the library at long last, and by the time I was halfway through it I'd fallen in love and bought my own copy anyway.

The basic summary goes like this:  England is now under the control of a totalitarian government called Norsefire.  The different branches of control - the Eye, the Ears, the Voice and so on - fall under the dictatorial rule of one power-hungry leader.  The story opens on 5 November with Evey Hammond, a young woman, out after curfew and about to be raped by a bunch of corrupt government officers.  To her simultaneous relief and surprise, she is saved by a masked and cloaked figure who rather theatrically recites a section of Macbeth as he effortlessly takes down the agents.  Thus we meet the enigmatic V, and watch as he takes Evey into his confidence and sets in motion his elaborate plan to bring down the government once and for all.  But who is he?  What did they do to him?  Is he a madman, a genius, a terrorist, a freedom fighter - or a mixture of all of these things?

The graphic novel was originally published in the 1980s, but my new edition was published by Titan Books in 2005.  The movie, starring Natalie Portman as Evey and Hugo Weaving as V, came out in 2006 and was directed by James McTeigue and written by The Wachowski Brothers, of The Matrix fame.

THE BOOK

This being my first ever graphic novel, I really wasn't sure what to expect.  I didn't know if I'd fully engage with the visual format, or if I'd be involved enough in the emotional aspects of the novel to really enjoy it.  Which just goes to show how little I know - because it completely blew me away! 

Between Moore and Lloyd they have crafted a beautifully stylised book that was as moving and exciting as any novel could be.  The use of creative techniques like 'voiceover' captions and poignant juxtaposition actually creates an experience that is at times even more powerful than a 'conventional' novel.  The musical interlude, a third of the way through the book, is one of the most poignant and memorable bookish moments I've ever come across - it is sheer genius from start to finish.  Complimenting Moore's writing, Lloyd's artistic style is dramatic, using stark colour contrast and black backgrounds to bring England's bleak existence to life.

There were some elements of the book that differed from the film.  There were more characters, exploring this new society across a wider range of individuals, including the wives and partners of some of the government agents.  The key characters' back stories were also explored in more detail, as you might expect.  It was perhaps easier to follow V's flights of speech and copious literary allusions in print, where they were obviously reduced to the readers' own speed.  In the movie some of his rhetoric is delivered in a furious and unstoppable torrent, so it's easier to miss things along the way.

The symbolism in the book - and film - is one of its strongest points.  I can see now why the Guy Fawkes mask has become such a potent cult emblem over the years.  More than symbolism in itself, I think V for Vendetta is about the POWER of a symbol.  One letter, one mark, one dynamic figurehead - that is all it can take to create an icon, to bring about a revolution.  And alongside the power of symbols, of course, V is a deep believer in the power of the ideas behind them.  The book explores how an idea can flourish and strengthen if you only ACT on it: something we can all take away and apply to our lives, where so many of our hopes and dreams remain just that - ideas.

Notable Quotables:

• "Everybody is a hero, a lover, a fool, a villain...  Everybody has their story to tell."
• "Authoritarian societies are like formation skating.  Intricate, mechanically precise and above all, precarious.  Beneath civilisation's fragile crust, cold chaos churns... and there are places where the ice is treacherously thin."
• "From rubble may we build."

THE MOVIE

The film adaptation of V for Vendetta takes the stylised swirl of Lloyd's images and makes them harder and cleaner.  The theatricality and the most striking images remain, only now they live and breathe and move - which is exactly how a film adaptation should be!  All of the key moments of the book, the most memorable frames, are there, and are reproduced so beautifully on screen that it really is a case of 'bringing the book to life'.  The addition of music strengthens the atmosphere and creates even more layers in V's enigmatic story.  Natalie Portman is on top form as Evey, and casting John Hurt as the High Chancellor is an inspired reversal of his role as 'everyman' Winston Smith in Michael Radford's Nineteen Eighty-Four.

I think one of the key strengths of the film is that it takes a superhero, a character who seems perpetually untouchable, calm and sure of himself, and makes him human.  Although most of his surety and confidence remains, screen V is just that little bit less distant.  He cooks breakfast (V with a dishcloth thrown over his shoulder, cooking eggs?  Priceless!), he is unsure of himself, he gets angry, and if we could see under that smiling mask I'm sure we would have seen a blush or two.  All credit to Hugo Weaving for giving a faceless character such a variety of expression...

There are some changes, of course.  For example, Evey's moment of triumph near the end of the book is changed in such a way that it surely works much better on screen than the original would have done.  The film also redeems those who deserve it, which the book doesn't entirely.  The resulting finale is so powerful that I was holding my breath, tears streaming down my face as I watched it.  The filmmakers have cleared out some of the more confusing or convoluted elements of the book's plot too - some of the sideline characters are gone, and the political environment feels more streamlined and focussed.  In a way, Moore's story may have been made all the more powerful by the clarification allowed by the transition from page to screen.

THE VERDICT

I think V may be one of the most magnetic characters I've ever come across, on the page OR on screen.  He's quite the gentleman, well versed in literature, music, and all the other elements of culture Norsefire has forbidden.  Every frame and every scene he appeared in, I couldn't take my eyes off him.  I think it has something to do with his monochromatic appearance, the clean lines, the efficiency of his vision... like all the best heroes, he cuts an impressive figure, while retaining a certain poetry that renders him irresistable.  His Shadow Gallery is almost as covetable as the Beast's library (don't pretend you didn't want it, ladies!), and his care of Evey and reverance for the beautiful Valerie render him deeply, poignantly human.  He reminded me a little of the Phantom of the Opera in a way, only he kills for justice, not out of bitterness and jealousy.  In fact, he's pretty darn sexy! 

My advice to anyone considering reading their first graphic novel?  Do it.  And if you like masked heroes, political intrigue and gentle romance, this might just be a good place to start.  V for Vendetta offers a wonderfully complex look at the corruption and brutality of a totalitarian government, and its effects on the whole of society, including the families of the people who forms its backbone.  And on a smaller scale, it is the story of one man who is determined to set things right.  He never moans, he never complains, but he knows what must be done and he does it.     

Both the book and the film are absolutely fantastic, but if you're planning to tackle both, I'd definitely recommend reading the book first.  It will give you a stronger understanding of Norsefire and the politics of Evey's world, as well as giving you a good grounding in V's style.  Some of his motives and explosive exploits are more thoroughly explored in the book, and it is obviously easier to follow his literary and ideological flights of rhetoric in print.  Then when you're done reading, you can watch the movie and see Lloyd's illustrations coming to life before your very eyes... 

Enjoy... and England prevails!

REVIEW: Rant - An Oral Biography of Buster Casey, by Chuck Palahniuk (4.5*)

(Vintage, 2008)

I've never read Palahniuk before, and although everyone raves about Fight Club, in particular, I wasn't really sure his famously oddball style would be 'my kind of thing'.  Happily, Rant turned out to be EXACTLY my kind of thing, which is why this review has taken so long to write.  It's always hardest to review the books we've loved most, isn't it?

I won't say too much about the plot, partly because there isn't one per se, and partly because I think this is really one those books that needs to be read WITHOUT knowing everything about it.  That way the reader can work things out for themselves and be swept along by the narrative without any preconceptions and erroneous ideas ruining the fun.  On the surface this is just what the name suggests: a fictional oral biography of a strange young man called Rant Casey, who has odd abilities, bizarre habits, and dangerous vices that include 'Party Crashing' - driving around at night in a kind of giant crazy game of dodgems - and being bitten by all kinds of venomous and diseased creatures.

But although Rant is at the centre of the novel, and everything ultimately returns to him, this is an incredibly reductive view of Palahniuk's vision.  It is also very much about the way society works and about the people in Rant's life over the years.  It is only as the book unfolds that you come to realise that Rant's America isn't the same as ours; it's a futuristic place with advanced media technology, and a society segregated into Daytimers and Nighttimers in an attempt to deal with overpopulation and road congestion.  As these things are explained by the various 'contributors' to Rant's biography, the book becomes almost like a fascinating non-fiction at times, kept manageable and well-paced by the broken-up oral-biography format. 

This really is an incredible book.  It has the energy of a Baz Lurhmann movie and the no-nonsense brutality of Quentin Tarantino's finest, all rolled into one.  I don't think I've ever read a book that feels so immediate and ALIVE.  It bristles with energy, like electricity sparking off the page.  As I turned the pages, I felt like I was in the hands of an expert manipulator; the building clues about Rant, about the new society, were all there, but I felt like I was working things out and getting little light-bulb moments EXACTLY when Palahniuk wanted me to.  Whatever he wanted me to feel - nauseated, tender, intrigued, repulsed - I did.  Even when I wasn't sure what was happening or where things were going, I felt 'safe' enough to accept it and carry on.  Like the Nighttimers' Party Crashing culture, I just held on tight and went along for the ride - and what a ride it was!

Rant definitely isn't going to be for everyone - there are some pretty extreme and unsettling moments thrown in along the way - but if you dare to dive in and go with it, you will find a novel that is simultaneously philosophical, amusing, disgusting, exciting, thoughtful, sensual, perplexing, shocking, stimulating and utterly brilliant.  Palahniuk throws out a continuous stream of ideas and observations, skewed through the different characters that make up the 'biography' and through the vaguely dystopian perspective.  I'm still thinking about it now, a couple of weeks later, asking questions and trying to work it out in my mind all over again.  Needless to say, I won't hesitate to read more Palahniuk now I've started.

Notable Quotables:

• "The way Rant Casey used to say it: Folks build a reputation by attacking you while you're alive - or praising you after you ain't." - Wallace Boyer
• "In the first forty-three seconds you meet a stranger, experts in human behaviour say that, just by looking at them, you decide their income, their age, their brains, and if you're going to respect them." - Wallace Boyer
• "How weird is that?  A sexually conflicted thirteen-year-old rattlesnake-venom junkie with rabies - well, it's safe to say that's every father's worst nightmare." - Shot Dunyan
• "It doesn't matter for crap that you've got three years of sobriety or that you finally look good in a two-piece bathing suit or you've met that perfect someone and you've fallen deeply, wildly, passionately in love.  Today, as you pick up your dry cleaning, fax those reports, fold your laundry, or wash the dinner dishes, something you'd never expect is already stalking you...  That bullet or drunk driver or tumor with your name on it, the way I tolerate that fact is by Party Crashing.  Here's one night when I control the chaos.  I participate with the doom I can't control.  I'm dancing with the inevitable, and I survive.  My regular little dress rehearsal." - Shot Dunyan
• "There's worse ways to be dead than dying." - Shot Dunyan
• "Every high school has its Romeo and Juliet, one tragic couple.  So does every generation." - Toni Wiedlin
• "You could argue that we constantly change the past...  I close my eyes, and the Rant Casey I picture isn't the real person.  The Rant I tell you about is filtered and colored and distorted through me." - Shot Dunyan
• "Ask yourself: What did I eat for breakfast today?  What did I eat for dinner last night?  You see how fast reality fades away?" - Neddy Nelson

Source: I borrowed this book from my local library. 

What I Love About Read-a-Thons, by Ellie aged 24 3/4

1.  There Will Be Pizza

And other delicious snacks.  Read-a-thons are all about luxuriating in reading pleasure, and as we all know, what we're shoving in our mouths as we turn the pages is a huge part of that.  Some people prefer to go for vegetables and dips and healthy, healthy food - but let's face it, that really isn't my style.  For me, the ideal read-a-thon food is anything I can cook quickly and/or graze on.  That means stuff I can cook, slice up and nibble (pizza, Spanish tortilla); stuff I can toast (pancakes, toasted teacakes and, er, toast); cakes and pastries (chocolate chip muffins and custard Danish pastries being my vices of choice) and stuff I can pour into a bowl (sweet popcorn, Hula hoops, M'n'Ms)... I think I might have put on three stone just writing this paragraph.

2. Read-a-Thons are a Geek's Paradise

NO WORD OF A LIE.  There are SO MANY opportunities to geek out during a read-a-thon, which is probably why I love them so much.  Before every read-a-thon I have a total list-making frenzy, combing through my LibraryThing catalogue hunting down potential reads.  It stops me overlooking any perfect candidates and sometimes I stumble across a book and get that NOW IS YOUR TIME feeling.  Aside from all the list-making, a read-a-thonner also has the opportunity to keep numerous read-a-thonny statistics (page numbers, hours, books) to his or her own level of nerd-compulsion.

3. Snoozing Is Compulsory

Whether you're doing a 24-hourer or a seven-dayer, it is VITAL that you get some snoozing time in there somewhere.  Obviously, if you're reading for seven days you're going to be, y'know, SLEEPING and all that.  But if you're reading for any prolonged amount of time, day or night, you know that at some point your eyes will start to burn, the words on the page will start to swim, you'll read the same paragraph thirty times, and suddenly the cushion/sofa/bed/floor will look sooooo inviting...  That's when you snooze.  Twenty minutes later, you wake up, pop a handful of M'n'Ms, and the read-a-thon goes on!

4.  Step Away from the Interwebs

This is v. ironic because quite often during readathons I end up spending a ton of time online reading (and writing) stuff ABOUT said readathon.  I suspect I am not the only one.  WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE READING THIS RIGHT NOW, HMMMM?  I thought so...  The bestest thing about read-a-thonning is that it is a most excellent excuse to NOT do other stuff, like laundry, gardening, cleaning, shopping and playing on Twitter.  Okay, there might be a bit of playing on Twitter.  And laundry.  But the read-a-thon is a very good reason to keep these dangerous, dangerous things in moderation and retreat somewhere cosy where you can read and eat biscuits instead.

5.  I Did it Myyyyyy Waaaaaaay

Above all, a read-a-thon should be FUN!  Whether you're reading over breakfast or before bed, at work or in the park, sunbathing in the garden or huddled in an armchair watching the rain, for twenty minutes at lunchtime or twenty-four hours on your day off, it's all about doing it your way.  Everything about your read-a-thon is personal and interesting, which is why I love trawling other people's updates!  I want to know that X is reading Sarah Waters in Edinburgh, eating Nutella with a spoon, while Y is in Florida reading Charles Dickens while their homemade lasagne cooks and Z is sitting on a bench on their university campus drinking chai latte and reading Sarah Dessen.  This is what it's all about!  Reading good books, eating good food, making good friends and being really, REALLY nosy about other people's reading habits.

Happy reading, everyone!

REVIEW: King Solomon's Mines, by H. Rider Haggard (5*)

REVIEW: KING SOLOMON'S MINES (5*)

by H. Rider Haggard (Penguin Popular Classics, 1994)

Well, here's a rave review I didn't expect to be writing!  In fact, I'm not even sure I'm going to make this into a 'real' review - how do you review a book that's been read by generations already and been discussed hundreds of times to boot?  I think if I have to attempt that I might never post ANYTHING about it, so I thought I'd go for a rambly collection of thoughts instead.  Better that nothing, right?!

** There may be teeny tiny SPOILERS ahead here - it's hard to throw together all my thoughts about the book without revealing any details!  But I'll try to keep them very mild and not reveal any major plot points and big moments, okay?  Read on! **

I borrowed this book off my sister's shelves, expecting a light, dated and slightly rubbish adventure story, something I could read fairly quickly, tick off my list, and stick back on the shelf without any fuss.  I am happy to report that I couldn't have been more wrong!  I LOVE it when this happens - when I'm not expecting much from a book and it turns out to be awesome.  Makes the pleasure that much more satisfying, don't you think?  Actually King Solomon's Mines completely blew me away, and by the end, to my surprise, it had even managed to topple Eowyn Ivey's The Snow Child off the top spot as my favourite book of 2012 so far.

In a nutshell, this is a proper old-fashioned adventure yarn.  It is narrated by the now-iconic Allan Quatermain, an English hunter making his living shooting game in South Africa.  He is on a boat returning to his home in Durban when he meets Sir Henry Curtis and his friend, naval officer Captain John Good.  Sir Henry is attempting to find his brother, last seen heading out on a suicidal mission across the desert in search of King Solomon's legendary diamond mines.  He enlists Quatermain's (rather reluctant) help and the three set out for the mountains, aided by a crudely-drawn map left to Quatermain by the last fool to attempt the journey.

What follows is a real Indiana Jones story that had me completely absorbed from start to finish.  First the desert must be navigated, then there are mountains to cross, only for the exhausted trio to find themselves embroiled in a bitter tribal war on the other side.  It could have been so dull, but Quatermain's plentiful dry humour and beautiful flights of description proved irresistable.  The excitement and suspense is genuinely riveting - there are a couple of deliciously gruesome moments that sent me mentally diving behind my sofa cushion - and when I reached the last page I felt utterly bereft.  Having been so completely immersed in the trio's African exploits, I wasn't quite sure what I could read next that could POSSIBLY compare (always the sign of a great book!).

I think two things really made it for me: the characters and the big set-piece moments.  The characters are exquisite creations, each and every one of them.  Sir Henry, the great fair Viking with his deep integrity and ferocious strength as a warrior.  Captain Good, with his eye glass, impressive swearing abilities (never rendered here, by the way!) and determination to dress like a gentleman despite the harsh conditions.  Even foul old Gagool, the ancient and evil Kukuana witch doctress, was so brilliantly drawn that I felt a wave of revulsion every time she graced the page with her presence.

One thing that pleasantly surprised me was the respect Haggard shows towards other races - I had expected a more 'savages vs whites' mentality.  In some ways it is still very much of its time, of course - for example, the idea that it wouldn't be 'proper' for a black person and a white person to be together, and the implication that the local tribes are inferior in status and intelligence - but in others it seems quite progressive.  Quatermain and his companions show great affection and respect for the Kukuana tribespeople across the mountains, joining their civil war and becoming close friends with several of their leaders.  These leaders are portrayed as impressive, if brutal, warriors, and honest men.  The Kukuana language is wonderful too, 'translated' by Quatermain in all of its grand, sweeping and eloquent beauty.

The biggest thing I'll take away from the book, the element that will stick with me the most, is the incredible set-piece imagery, some of which wouldn't seem out of place in a Lord of the Rings film.  I think certain 'snapshots' from the book are forever imprinted on my memory, they're so unforgettable.  The great twin mountain peaks at sunrise.  A wounded bull elephant charging through the trees (there are scenes of elephant hunting in the book, by the way, but as with the outdated race issues it would be unfair to judge Haggard too harshly for it).  Key moments from the tribal war.  The moment when the trio first enter the Kukuana Place of Death (that was perhaps the most memorable scene of all for me).  I mean... wow.  I'm actually glad that no decent film adaptation of the book has ever been made, because now I'm not tempted to watch it.  It'd take a damn fine movie to match up to the pictures in my mind!  Perhaps I should write to Peter Jackson...

Notable Quotables:

• "There is no journey upon this earth that a man may not make if he sets his heart to it.  There is nothing, Umbopa, that he cannot do, there are no mountains he may not climb, there are no deserts he cannot cross... if love leads him and he holds his life in his hand counting it as nothing, ready to keep it or lose it as Heaven may order."
• "On, on we went, till at last the east began to blush like the cheek of a girl.  Then there came faint rays of primrose light, that changed presently to gold bars, through which the dawn glided out across the desert.  The stars grew pale and paler still till at last they vanished; the golden moon waxed wan, and her mountain ridges stood out against her sickly face like the bones on the cheek of a dying man.  Then came spear upon spear of light flashing far away across the boundless wilderness, piercing and firing the veils of mist, till the desert was draped in a tremulous golden glow, and it was day." - Isn't that just gorgeous?
• "My mind's eye singled out those who were sealed to slaughter, and there rushed in upon my heart a great sense of the mystery of human life, and an overwhelming sorrow at its futility and sadness...  Only the old moon would shine on serenely, the night wind would stir the grasses, and the wide earth would take its rest, even as it did æons before we were, and will do æons after we have been forgotten."
• "Reader, you may have lain awake at night and thought the silence oppressive, but I say with confidence that you can have no idea what a vivid, tangible thing is perfect silence.  On the surface of the earth there is always some sound or motion, and though it may in itself be imperceptible, yet it deadens the sharp edge of absolute silence.  But here there was none."
• "Truly wealth, which men spend their lives in acquiring, is a valueless thing at the last." - Wise words indeed!

Source: I borrowed this book from my sister - though I'll definitely be getting my own copy now I know how flippin' AWESOME it is!