As usual, I judged a book by its cover and picked it up. An orange book, with two silhouetted figures - an old man and a child gazing at flames in the distance.Now promised to be more powerful than it was, or perhaps it just did not happen to me at the right time. The ideas there could have been deeply moving. A child grappling with guilt that does not have a foundation, similar to The Worry Tree I read not so long ago. An old man haunted by memories of the past, of the holocaust and the loss of loved ones. A child trying to be proud of the fact that her parents have sacrificed their lives to help people in Africa... but realising that more than pride, she feels rejection, over and over again.Now could have been more powerful, but left me with a sense of incompleteness. I wanted to be more moved. … [Read more...]
What I’ve been reading …
Yes, it's been a long time since I wrote about books, so there are three books that I've read in the time that has passed.I remember when I started reading Dick Francis. I was amazed that a single writer could have written so many books about horses and the racing world. Longshot is one of those, but I realise, once again, how much a book strikes a chord within you when you read it at a time that's right. The narrator of Longshot is a writer. A writer who has just quit a regular job to become a full-time writer. He suffers, nearly starves. Is that a message to me from the universe? The book was gripping, with the stoicism that's typical to Dick Francis. Even though parts of it made me squirm because they hit home, I enjoyed Longshot, as I always expect to when I read a book by Dick Francis.Two more books I've read and intend to write about soon... … [Read more...]
The Goldsmith’s Daughter
Yes, The Goldsmith's Daughter is the story of a girl restricted by her gender in a barbaric civilisation that is in conflict with another world with different beliefs.It is set in a moment in history when the Aztec civilisation must deal with Spanish invaders. The Aztecs need to accept that their emperor is, apparently, not the emperor of the world because there are people with peculiar features coming from across the ocean to the Aztec world.But I don't always find history fascinating. I don't typically spend hours researching and reading. And I knew next to nothing about the Aztecs when I began to read The Goldsmith's Daughter.Tanya Landman made the story come alive. There was no judgement in the voice that told me the story of the bloodshed required to feed the superstition that the sun battled with darkness each night to emerge whole the next morning. There was … [Read more...]
War Horse
There's something about Michael Morpurgo that haunts me. I remember being blown away by Kensuke's Kingdom. I've read and reread so many of his books. Running Wild, The White Horse of Zennor, Adolphus Tips, and of course War Horse. They come to mind immediately.This was not the first time I read War Horse.I was not in a mood to read anything soppy. In fact, I began reading War Horse when I was in a rather cynical mood. I'm not quite sure why.Despite that, towards the end of the book I found myself smiling because I did not want to cry. I closed the book, closed my eyes and sighed that particular sigh that only a beautiful book can pull out from the depths of your being.I can't imagine how the movie would be. How can a movie capture the mind of a horse?I don't think I will ever watch the movie. I've already decided that the book is better. … [Read more...]
A Doll’s House
I love how time changes the way I read a play. I read A Doll's House. Again. I imagined how it would be on stage. I cringed, yes. I closed my eyes, yes. But I enjoyed it. I read it cover to cover without needing a break. I did not worry about how good or bad a translation it is. I just saw it as it was - a play that has the power to make you squirm from the time the curtains are drawn open to the time the door is slammed shut.And just about seven months ago, I wrote:The Norwegian playwright I had never heard of - that's how I once began to read the play. It was far more powerful than Ghosts, and far more interesting than An Enemy of the People. I wonder why I made those judgements. Now, I cringe at so much more and wonder about how good the translation is. That's what studying English does to you. Yet, it's a strong play. It's one that I still read with the whole bag of emotions - … [Read more...]
Airs Above the Ground
I remember quite enjoying Airs Above the Ground by Mary Stewart. Maybe I didn't like it as much as The Ivy Tree or Madam, Will You Talk? but I did enjoy it.This time, I enjoyed the beginning. The Spanish Riding School, the levade, Timothy in his awkward state between adolescence and adulthood... I smiled through all of it. I liked the sudden unreliability of the narrative voice, the same technique that blew me over in The Ivy Tree. I liked the balance between description and narration.In fact, I think I liked the story till the husband makes an appearance.Is it just me or is the novel too full of dramatic action and corny romance to be really enjoyable? … [Read more...]
The White Horse of Zennor and Other Stories
I love short stories! I wrote in my diary not very long ago, I think short stories are far more exciting to write because they capture a spark of imagination that lasts right through the moment of the story. A full-length novel... It begins with the spark, but for me involves more laborious imagination and less exciting inspiration.I've read The White Horse of Zennor and Other Stories before, and I enjoyed it just as much the second time around. Writing about the sea is an old idea. I think, of course, of Tennyson and so many others. Michael Morpurgo captures the same excitement and thrill of the sea in stories that mix the traditional and the modern.Magic, folk-tales and a very willing suspension of disbelief come together to create stories that are filled with wonder. The first story, The Giant's Necklace, made me sad, but it was so gently told, with such great sensitivity, … [Read more...]
All Because of Jackson
There's a bubble of contentment within me whenever I read Dick King-Smith, and All Because of Jackson is no different.Filled with delightful pictures and dreams, All Because of Jackson is the story of a rabbit. Of course, with Dick King-Smith, it has to be about an animal. An animal that is perfectly ordinary, but different.Different because Jackson the rabbit wants to be a sailor. No rabbit becomes a sailor! Human beings eat rabbits!But Jackson wants to be a sailor.And so he does.All Because of Jackson is a twenty-minute voyage of joy! … [Read more...]
Moon Pie
Every page of Simon Mason's Moon Pie rang true. On the book-cover, I remember reading that someone called it an 'ultra-modern' story. I was not sure what to expect.I certainly did not expect this kind of brutal honesty. It made me shake my head and cry.Eleven-year-old Martha is puzzled by her father's strange behaviour. Martha's mother is dead, and the girl assumes that her father is grieving and so, naturally, behaving strangely.But Martha's mother always said that someone had to think straight, someone had to keep his head.So Martha has to keep her head. After all, she is eleven, she tells herself. She is old enough to take care of herself, to take care of her five-year-old brother Tug and to make endless lists of things to do to maintain order despite her father's strange behaviour. She is eleven. She cooks, makes lists and tries to do the things on the list.One … [Read more...]
A Mouse Called Wolf
Whenever I read Dick King-Smith, I think about C.S. Lewis's oft-quoted “A children's story that can only be enjoyed by children is not a good children's story in the slightest.” How true it is!Whoever heard of a singing mouse?From the single line on the book cover, reading the book is like a joyful ride into a story that moves from the first page to the last in the course of about half an hour.When Wolfgang Amadeus Mouse was born, he was the littlest of all, so his mother wanted to give him a grand name. Her nest was was made of a chewed up sheet of music and somehow, a little bit had remained unchewed. It said 'Wolfgang Amadeus Mo'. Of course, Mary Mouse knew that the last three letters were missing because what could the name be but Wolfgang Amadeus Mouse?Wolfgang Amadeus had to have a nickname, of course. His name was rather a mouthful. And so, his twelve siblings nicknamed … [Read more...]