Hello, welcome to my blog

Mostly you will find, here, transcribed entries from the secret diary that I used to keep as a teenager between 1970 and 1975. I try to be honest with my transcriptions, but, just occasionally I do edit, to protect myself or others from embarrassment or some other emotion.
Also, though, I like to do a brief review of the books I have been reading, so these are interspersed throughout. I reserve the right to write blog entries, also, about other random things.
Why do I keep this blog? I don't know. I am an academic and one of my research interests is around how people construct their own identities. The diary transcriptions, and what I write about my books, are very much about revealing something of my identity.

Wednesday, 3 August 2011

Just finished reading . . .

Stars and Bars by William Boyd (1984)

8/10

I've never read William Boyd before but my partner is a fan. This was a good yarn, which kept me turning the pages. It's an interesting tale about someone who wants to 'fit in' and be accepted into American society, but he doesn't get it right until a series of weird and unlikely events happen to him.
It's a comedy - the second one I've read recently, since Ian McEwan tried his hand at comedy with Solar. I'm not a great comedy lover - especially when the stories about adult men who are victims of unfortunate circumstances that turn their lives into a farce. Nonetheless, I enjoyed this one, and it had me galloping to the end to find out what happens - and it did make me laugh. I can't believe that this book is 8 years older than the Fay Weldon that I just read. It has less of an aged feel.

I think I am a little hard to please with books at the moment. It might be because I am reading what comes up next on my reading pile, rather than rooting down the pile to find a book that I fancy, that meets my mood. Also, I am making myself read authors that aren't my first choice.
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