Further book related thoughts
This week I've finished Elizabeth Gaskell's 'Gothic Tales' and Zadie Smith's 'On Beauty' both rollicking good reads in their way although the former took me ages and ages to read and the latter I zipped through.
The Gothic Tales was something I bought because it was the only Gaskell in the shop when I got to Eason's closing down sale in January. Gothic really isn't my thing. And it's generally not her thing either of course. I loved it because it was Gaskell. I'd be interested to know if a fan of the Gothic would like it.
The second I was given as a placeholder gift by Kate (big bro's S.O.) and I approached it with trepidation. Books or authors that are universally praised by the media and get lots of hype as new literature often leave me feeling utterly out of touch with my fellow human beings, for example it took me nearly a year to struggle through 'The Blind Assassin' and I have previously always liked Atwood. But 'On Beauty' was as page-turningly compelling as Marian Keyes, as insightful as Forster (on whose writings it is largely based) and often quite beautiful in its language.
Plus nearly all the characters were black. This made it very interesting and I was about to post about the fact that I don't think I've read a majority black character novel before when I was uploading it to librarything and I saw all the covers of my No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency novels! But they are written by a white man. Does that make a significant difference (says she assuming Zadie Smith is black)? It did to me as I clearly held them in distinct categories in my brain.
Anyway these positive experiences plus the general joy I got out of last years crop of fete books have made me pick up a few books I may have eschewed: David Mitchell's 'Cloud Atlas' and Donna Tartt's 'The Little Friend' I was nearly brave enough to try 'Brick Lane' but the possible pan-generational family saganess of it repelled me in the end. To thine own reading tastes be true as that Polonius dude almost said.
The Gothic Tales was something I bought because it was the only Gaskell in the shop when I got to Eason's closing down sale in January. Gothic really isn't my thing. And it's generally not her thing either of course. I loved it because it was Gaskell. I'd be interested to know if a fan of the Gothic would like it.
The second I was given as a placeholder gift by Kate (big bro's S.O.) and I approached it with trepidation. Books or authors that are universally praised by the media and get lots of hype as new literature often leave me feeling utterly out of touch with my fellow human beings, for example it took me nearly a year to struggle through 'The Blind Assassin' and I have previously always liked Atwood. But 'On Beauty' was as page-turningly compelling as Marian Keyes, as insightful as Forster (on whose writings it is largely based) and often quite beautiful in its language.
Plus nearly all the characters were black. This made it very interesting and I was about to post about the fact that I don't think I've read a majority black character novel before when I was uploading it to librarything and I saw all the covers of my No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency novels! But they are written by a white man. Does that make a significant difference (says she assuming Zadie Smith is black)? It did to me as I clearly held them in distinct categories in my brain.
Anyway these positive experiences plus the general joy I got out of last years crop of fete books have made me pick up a few books I may have eschewed: David Mitchell's 'Cloud Atlas' and Donna Tartt's 'The Little Friend' I was nearly brave enough to try 'Brick Lane' but the possible pan-generational family saganess of it repelled me in the end. To thine own reading tastes be true as that Polonius dude almost said.