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.

Tuesday, 25 February 2014

Mark Haddon - just finished reading ....

The Red House by Mark Haddon (audio)
8/10


Isn't Mark Haddon a great writer?
Have you read The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time? Have you read A Spot of Bother? I love this writer for his ability to see things differently, and therefore to make the reader see the world differently. he can make us have sympathy with the most unlikely people.
I listened to The Red House whilst driving about in the car. Maybe it would have been confusing to read in written text, because the story is told through the various voices of the members of the two families who are are sharing a holiday cottage. This means that we shift between angst ridden grown-ups, insecure teenagers and a normal imaginative young boy. Some significant events happen, relationships shift and change and everyone grows up a bit.
I like all the detail of everyday life and all the nonsense that people think and do as they go about their everyday lives. But the everyday mundaneness can suddenly shift towards critical incidents which send ripples outwards to touch everyone in different wats.


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