The Shadow of the Wind, by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

Not sure what to make of this really.  For a long time I was gripped by the plot, and not unduly disturbed by the way it was written.  Then I kept having a bit of an internal grump about turns of phrase that seemed trite or hackneyed, or like the guy was "telling us what to feel" rather than "writing the feeling".  Then I went through a bit where I thought it might be the translator's fault rather than the authors.  Then I went back to just letting that wash over me and enjoying the plot.

In the end, I think it's a great read if you switch your brain off.  Sadly, I didn't (much)

Tommo

You're an animal, Viskovitz! - Alessandro Boffa

Some amusing short stories, which make you think what it is to be human.

Tommo

Huh. Not that I've read more than a couple of his novels, but they were pretty fine, iirc. This autobio, however, just seems turgid, dull, dull, dull and actually rather sloppily written, as if it were a chore he felt he had to get out of the way. Practically the first third of it is: Boy cycles around Shanghai in pre-war years. Boy cycles around Shanghai in war years before being interned, whereupon he plays chess a lot. Teenager cycles around Shanghai in post war years...'

I was a great fan of Ballard's writing when I was a teenager, novels like The Drowned World and The Drought, and especially the more experimental stuff he started doing in New Worlds magazine, which led to books like The Atrocity Exhibition. Don't think I'd be that keen on them now.

Can't say I'd like to read about him as a person, though I did grab from LA the excerpts from his autobiog which were on R4's Book of the Week recently. But I don't like reading biogs/autobiogs anyway, very few people seem sufficiently interesting to warrant having a whole book written about them.

I can think of a few, Andy... 

The thing about an auto/biography is that it should tell you as much about its subject's times as his/her life. I think I've recommended this one before, but Andrew Motion's 'The Lamberts' is a cracking triple bio (SOOO much a better read than his lame poetry), covering the lives of Constant's dad, Constant himself and his son, Kit (who managed The Who). Wonderful picture of musical Britain in the middle decades of the C20th, plus a salutory story of dangerous genes... 

I've just finished The Witch of Portobello, by Paulo Coelho.

I've read all but one of his books now, and they are beginning to be a bit 'samey'.  There is a different message in each, but it's like looking into the same house through different windows.  I also get the impression that his characters tell you what to think.  That's a whole load better than "the narrator telling you what to think", but not quite as good as "the reader inferring from the characters behaviour what the author wants you to think".

All the same, his books are very thought provoking, and uplifting.

Tommo

Maryna Lewycka (I think I was telling Mort about this the other week, but I couldn't remember her name) is apparently an ex-girlfriend of a friend of mine, who had 5 or 6 novels published in the 80s and 90s but hasn't yet been able to find a publisher for his latest two books. He was quite surprised to walk into a bookshop and see Tractors when he was visiting London (he lives abroad now) - she wasn't a writer when he knew her, about 10 years ago I think!