Salman Rushdie - Currently reading . . .

I'm currently reading 'Midnight's Children' by Salman Rushdie. Phew. It's the first one of his books that I've read and I'm having to make myself persevere.
I'm over a third of the way through now, so I'll finish it. It is getting easier, but it has taken me till now to get drawn into the story. I think it's important to work hard to finish it, because it is reckoned to be a great book, and the effort I put in might be repaid. It has felt like work, rather than pleasure, though, up until now.
His story-telling is full of diversions and detail, and references to anticipated future events, and recollections of past events so that it can take several pages to tell of one small incident. When you are reading a book do you ever think you might be a bit dumb, or incompetent, if you are finding it difficult? I do. But then, when I am marking students' essays, or reviewing papers, if I find myself having difficulty understanding them, I have to decide whether it is their writing style, or my inability to process what they are writing. Maybe sometimes there is just a mismatch between style and preferred style.
Never mind Salman. I will persevere. I think I am learning to appreciate you.
Only another 412 pages to go.

My secret diary 1970 December (ii)

Dec 17 Thurs
So happy for Miss Hatch*. We (the form) bought her a perfume spray, Kleenex tissue holder and big card. She wanted to cry.
Dec 18
Went to Manchester yesterday with J. Got Shirley a writing set 5/- for Xmas. Got Norma 'Lancashire Hotch-Potch' 7/6 today. Got dad some anti-mist.
Dec 19 Sat
Down to Birmingham to pick up Norma. Mrs Essen's nice. Tired all day. Visited by Auntie May, Elsie, Caroline and Allan.
Dec 20 Sun
Caught *
Dec 21 Mon
Never been so ashamed - I actually gave up writing my diary for months. Be patient. I'm writing this on 24th April 1971.
Dec 22
Did I have a nice Xmas? Yes I think so. Norma was ill again.
Dec 23
Got midi coat for Xmas. Norma bought ne a fantastic little handbag.
Dec 24 Thur
I quite like Xmas. Hapy. Full of luv and feeling I wish I had a boyfriend.
Dec 25
Blank
Dec 26
Blank
Dec 27
(To hell with L.S. she hates me and I hate her) AT* Full of Xmas spirit aren't we?
Dec 28 & 29
blank
Dec 30 Wed
Goodbye 1970. Funny year. More permissive, more wars, more grief, more strikes, more love discovery, more
Dec 31
moon missions. For me personally, more understanding, more laziness, definitely a more year.

*Commentary
Dec 17 - Miss Hatch was our Russian teacher. Was she also our form teacher at this point? If not, why did we get her a present? She made me want to cry often enough - she was a very scary woman!
Dec 20 - don't ask me why I wrote the single word 'caught'!
Dec 27 AT = afterthought

Joanna Trollope - Just finished reading . . .

The Spanish Lover by Joanna Trollope

4 out of 10


I think I read a Joanna Trollope once, in favourable circumstances - 'The Choir', read whilst trying to relax on the narrowboat. It was very enjoyable, and so I keep on picking her up in charity shops, hoping for a re-run. Nope. Not going to happen.
Why would I want to read about these people? One of the heroines (the other is her twin) gets very down and depressed because the bank calls in her and her husband's astronomic loan, and they have to move to a smaller house (the old one was called The Grange) and she has to get a depressingly menial job in the office of a private girls' school, and her husband kisses the drippy woman who assists him in their posh gift-shop business, because he feels insecure. Meanwhile the other twin gets a Spanish Lover. And a baby. And a dreamy, fulfilled smile.
No.
I've had a bad run of books.
Now, in my bag I have Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children, and another book which is a novel which pretends to be Pride and Prejudice, written from Mr Darcy's point of view. Which shall it be?

Just abandoned . . .

Venus Envy by Louise Bagshaw

0 out of 10

I got this out of the library (an audio-book) because I am making myself work through the alphabet (so next time I will have to get an author beginning with C)- I like to live dangerously.
As I have explained I aim to get audio-books that are not too challenging to read in heavy traffic (and snow blizzards, fog and ice, at the moment). Well - we could never call this a challenging book. Nor is it entertaining. Nor amusing. I don't know what page I've abandoned it on, because it is audio, but I only got to track 12, Disc 1, because I was stuck in a traffic jam.
A bit like Brigitte Jones, but not amusing at all.
I don't want to draw any parallels with anything else I have read. Oh - I suppose, like Jane Austen's Lady Susan (the letter A), it is about women trying to catch men.

My secret diary 1970 December (i)

Dec 1 Tues
Physics and Music exams. Both Horrible! In physics I've got all number one wrong. Music - well we all know what I'm like at music.
Dec 2
RESULTS.
Scripture 76 Last year 66%
English 79 last year 67
Came 3rd in English. Fab.
Dec 3 Thus
History 72 last year 71
Geography 85 last year 72
Top in geography
Dec 4
Results
French 72 last year 71
Russian 78 last year 72
3rd in Russian (pleased with results so far)
Dec 5 and 6
Blank
Dec 7 Mon
Maths 86 (1st) last year 85 (3rd)
Chem 87 (1st) last year 71
Bio 77 (4th) last year 71*
Dec 8 Tues
Physics 72 last year -
Music 61 last year 60
I hate music. My average is now 76.8
Dec 9 - 11
Blank
Dec 12 Sat
Shirley came to stay. Xmas shopping. Decided to crochet J and S scarves and berets for Xmas. Do I believe in God? Had a party.
Dec 13 Sun
Party was a flop 'cos mum stayed in (Dad told her to!) Oh Lord. Shirley's gone home. Good.
Dec 14
I'm more or less friends with W now. We break up on Thursday. Good. Carol service on Wednesday.
Dec 15
Took some books home. Xmas. It just doesn't feel like Christmas. Perhaps it's 'cos there is no snow.
Dec 16 Wed
A rotten Carol Service. A bit worried in case of power strike (had a lot recently. Everybody's been turned off nearly)

*Commentary
Dec 7 - As I transcribe these results I've got a weird dual reaction. On the one hand I'm a bit embarrassed, because it looks like showing off on ehalf of my 14 year old self. On the other hand, I do feel a little warm glow of pride :-)
I don't think that she was bragging. I think that she was setting academically high standards for herself and measuring outcomes.
Dec 16 - As far as I can recall these weren't the big power-strikes. This wasn't the Winter of Discontent. I was revising for my 'A' levels, I think, during the three day week. Revising by candle-light if my memory serves me correctly.

Jane Austen - Just finished reading . . .

Lady Susan by Jane Austen

4 out of 10 (this version / audio-book)


Oh dear. No, no, no, no.
I love Jane Austen. I have read all her books several times. Lady Susan was written when she was only 20 and it's written in letter form, so it is easy to follow for listening to in the car, in traffic jams, going hospital visiting, as I have been recently.
BUT - it was read by American actors! With American accents! Jane Austen!
(Please, if you are an American reader of my blog, don't take this personally - I have no problem with American accents in general - just not reading Jane!!)
It made me ponder if I was just bucking against tradition, but it isn't that. They way in which language is spoken in any country / culture has significance for what is said, and how it is said - for the meaning of the text. There are subtleties about language which are probably best understood by those who are immersed in the culture of that language (I'm probably not expressing this well - someone will have written an academic paper on it). The way in which Jane Austen's characters speak would reflect Georgian England, its manners and etiquette and subtle nuances of meaning (who am I to say that I would recognise these if I fell over them? Do I think they are represented by the BBC version of Pride and Prejudice?)
Anyway, in my adventures in audio-books, I have listened to American novels read by American voices, and Australian ones read by Australian voices etc, etc - and the novels have been mightily enhanced by this, because you are there, with them, in their culture.
So, sorry, Jane - this time only 4 out of 10
And it has a disappointing ending.