84 Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff

As Robert Evans wrote in his autobiography "there are three sides to every story; yours, mine and the truth". It seems there are three sides to the story of 84 Charing Cross Road.

The Book
Unusually for me, I'd seen the film of this first, and have only this week managed to find a copy of the book to read in my local library. The book is short and an epistolary. It is a touching memoir of a friendship, and it reduced me to tears.

The Film
I loved this film. I'm not one for romances normally, but this story of unfulfilled love amongst old books appealled to the disappointed romantic in me that people so often mistake for a cynic. Of course, now having read the book, I know that the film turned what was more a friendship into a romance. They made Frank Doel's marriage seem cold when there was nothing to suggest that in the original letters. But that's Hollywood for you. I still love it though. London looks beautiful. New York looks beautiful. I still want to sit in a Brownstone apartment reading English literature and writing letters.

The Present
"If you happen to pass by 84 Charing Cross Road, kiss it for me" writes Helen near the end of the book. I walked along Charing Cross Road last week and thought I'd see what was at number 84. There are still lots of books shops along there so even though I knew it wouldn't be Marks & Co. I was horrified to find that it is now a Pizza Hut. A Pizza Express I could have coped with, but Pizza Hut! What a fate.

888 Challenge: End of August

One category completed but I need to do some more reading in the 1001 and Prize winners categories if I'm going to succeed in this challenge.

1001 Books to Read Before You Die
1. Hideous Kinky - Esther Freud
2. The Graduate - Charles Webb
3. Saturday - Ian McEwan
Read so far: 3
To Read: 5

Non-fiction
1. The Hypocrisy of Disco Clane Hayward (memoir about growing up in seventies communes
2. Pies and Prejudice Stuart Maconie (journey around the north of England)
3. The White Album Joan Didion (essays and articles)
4. The Film Club David Gilmour (film history mixed with father/son relationship)
5. Elephants on Acid - Alex Boese
6. Stuart a Life Backwards Alexander Masters (biography of a homeless man)
7 A Year of Magical Thinking - Joan Didion (memoir about grief)
Read so far: 7
To Read: 1

Fiction authors that are new to me
1. The Russian Debutante's Handbook Gary Shteygart
2. The Best Thing that can happen to a Croissant Pablo Tusset
3. Post Office Charles Bukowski
4. She's Come Undone Wally Lamb
5. Flowers for Algernon - Daniel Keyes
6. Replay - Ken Grimwood
7. The End of Mr Y - Scarlett Thomas
8. Fup - Jim Dodge
Read so far: 8
To Read: 0

Crime & Detectives
1. The Naming of the Dead Ian Rankin
2. The Big Blowdown George Pelecanos
3. Exit Music Ian Rankin
4. Darkly Dreaming Dexter Jeff Lindsay
5. The Shape of Water - Andrea Camillieri
6. The Return of the Dancing Master - Henning Mankell
Read so far: 6
To Read: 2

As seen on Screen (books with films or television series)
1. Hideous Kinky - Esther Freud (overlapping two categories)
2. The Graduate - Charles Webb (overlapping two categories)
3 Darkly Dreaming Dexter Jeff Lindsay (overlapping two categories)
4. 84 Charing Cross Road - Helen Hanff
Read so far: 4
To read: 4

Prize Winners and Nominees
1. The Sea, The Sea - Iris Murdoch, Booker Prize Winner 1978
2. The Restraint of Beasts - Magnus Mills, Booker Nominee
Read so far: 2
To read 6

Book Club reads
1. Uncommon Reader Alan Bennett
2. If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things - Jon McGregor
3. The Sea, The Sea - Iris Murdoch (overlapping two categories)
Read so far: 3
To read: 5

Books by authors whose other books I've enjoyed
1 Glyph Percival Everett
2. So Many Ways to Begin - Jon McGregor
3. A Spot of Bother - Mark Haddon
Read so far: 3
To read: 5

Shiny New Library

The main library in my borough has recently reopened after a major refit. A £2million refit. I didn't really need any more books as I have quite a pile to read already but I was curious to see what £2million had done to the place.

The old version of the library was drab with beige carpets and opaque tinted windows. The books were piled high but rarely where they were supposed to be.

The new version is so much brighter. The old windows have been replaced by ordinary glass so the room is filled with natural light. Everything has been painted white. There is now a cafe and a specific quiet room. The main room is no longer particularly quiet.

You can scan your own books to check them out and you receive a printed receipt that tells you when the book is due for return. It is quick and efficient, but there is no chat with a librarian about the subject of your book, and the book isn't stamped. So in a new library where mobile phones, personal steroes and screaming children are allowed to make their noise, it is missing the reassuring sound of books being stamped.

But this is just dressing, but matters is the books. By the windows the old high bookcases have been replaced with low level cases, which adds to the feeling of light and space, but detracts from the number of books they can store. The books seem now to be in the right places too, but there really aren't that many of them.

So that £2million has been spent on paint, glass and computers, but seemingly not a pound on books.

50 Book Challenge - Late August

Nearly the end of August and I've reached the half way point.

1. The Uncommon Reader - Alan Bennett
2. The Naming of the Dead - Ian Rankin
3. Glyph - Percival Everett
4. The Big Blowdown - George P Pelecanos
5. Post Office - Charles Bukowski
6. She's Come Undone - Wally Lamb
7. Hideous Kinky - Esther Freund
8. Flowers for Algernon - Daniel Keyes
9. Film Club - David Gilmour
10. The Graduate - Charles Webb
11. The Sea, The Sea - Iris Murdoch
12. If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things - Jon McGregor
13. Exit Music - Ian Rankin
14. Restraint of Beasts - Magnus Mills
15. So Many Ways to Begin - Jon McGregor
16. Replay - Ken Grimwood
17. Spot of Bother - Mark Haddon
18. Elephants on Acid - Alex Boese
19. Darkly Dreaming Dexter - Jeff Lindsay
20. The End of Mr Y - Scarlett Thomas
21. Saturday - Ian McEwan
22. Fup - Jim Dodge
23. The Shape of Water - Andrea Camilleri
24. Stuart A Life Backwards - Alexander Masters
25. A Year of Magical Thinking - Joan Didion

25 down, 25 to go.

Book Review: "Saturday" Ian McEwan

I persist in reading the novels of Ian McEwan, although I'm not sure I actually like his work. I think I like "The Cement Garden" and "Black Dogs", I can't remember much about "Amsterdam" and "Endearing Love", and I thought "Atonement" was over-rated.

It took me three attempts before I finally finished "Saturday". I felt hugely satisfied upon completing it, not because I enjoyed it, but because it felt like an achievement to have stuck with it.

The book forces us to spend a day in the company of Henry Perowne, a successful neurosurgeon with a beautiful clever successful lawyer wife, a beautiful talented poet daughter and a beautiful talented musician son. It isn't written in the first person, but we see and hear what Henry does and are subjected to his thoughts and detailed observations.

Unfortunately, Henry isn't much fun. I've nothing against unlikeable central characters, but this one is a smug, humourless sort, and his family aren't much better. I found myself hoping that something really bad would happen to the lot of them. Something does happen, but it isn't bad enough and they still emerge with their self-satisfaction in tact.

Of course, McEwan is a great writer so it isn't all bad. There are a few passages that drew me in and gave old Perowne a glimmer of humanity, for example his recollection of how he met his wife and his visit to his mother's care home. But for the rest of the book, I don't care about him or want to be part of his world.

Connections: "The End of Mr Y" and "Elephants on Acid"

"The End of Mr Y" by Scarlett Thomas is what is decribed as meta-fiction. It is the story of a woman who finds an rare book, and learns the secret of how to travel through the minds of others.

"Elephants on Acid" by Alex Boese is a non-fiction work. It is a collection of descriptions of weird experiments.

What connects these two books?

Both mention Dr Duncan MacDougall and his experiments to discover of the weight of the soul.

Inspired By: "Replay" by Ken Grimwood

Another foray into Science Fiction, a genre I had normally avoided. This time "Replay" by Ken Grimwood.

Jeff Winston dies suddenly in 1988 at age 43, discontented with his life.
He immediately reawakens in 1963 at age 18, in his college dorm room.
Disoriented and confused, he discovers that he gets to live his life all over
again. And again. And again.

It was (to use that over-used phrase) a thought-provoking read. I enjoyed the earlier part of the book a lot, seeing what the effect of different choices on the way life turns out. The second part of the book, with ideas about aliens and dolphins didn't interest me quite so much.

So I've been thinking about what I would do if I was given the chance to replay my life. A few things I'd change depending on how far back I was sent:

I would pick the other dolls house for Christmas when I was 8.
I wouldn't do French A Level. I'd do German instead and I would keep it up afterwards.
I would study harder for the Oxford exam
I wouldn't take the first job I'm offered and move to London.
I'd take a year off and travel to South America
I'd make a move to work in the theatre industry sooner
I'd find a way of buying a property before the price rises and sell before they dropped

Given the chance to "Replay", what would you do differently? (You can't influence major world events though unless you were involved in them originally)

888 Challenge: Mid August

I need to do some more reading in the 1001 and Prize winners categories if I'm going to succeed in this challenge. The Authors New to Me category is the easiest, not much of a challenge there at all.

1001 Books to Read Before You Die
1. Hideous Kinky - Esther Freud
2. The Graduate - Charles Webb
Read so far: 2
To Read: 6

Non-fiction
1. The Hypocrisy of Disco Clane Hayward (memoir about growing up in seventies communes
2. Pies and Prejudice Stuart Maconie (journey around the north of England)
3. The White Album Joan Didion (essays and articles)
4. The Film Club David Gilmour (film history mixed with father/son relationship)
5. Elephants on Acid Alex Boese (weird science experiements)
Read so far: 5
To Read: 3

Fiction authors that are new to me
1. The Russian Debutante's Handbook Gary Shteygart
2. The Best Thing that can happen to a Croissant Pablo Tusset
3. Post Office Charles Bukowski
4. She's Come Undone Wally Lamb
5. Flowers for Algernon - Daniel Keyes
6. Replay - Ken Grimwood
Read so far: 6
To Read: 2

Crime & Detectives
1. The Naming of the Dead Ian Rankin
2. The Big Blowdown George Pelecanos
3. Exit Music Ian Rankin
4. Darkly Dreaming Dexter Jeff Lindsay
Read so far: 4
To Read: 4

As seen on Screen (books with films or television series)
1. Hideous Kinky - Esther Freud (overlapping two categories)
2. The Graduate - Charles Webb (overlapping two categories)
3 Darkly Dreaming Dexter Jeff Lindsay (overlapping two categories)
Read so far: 3
To read: 5

Prize Winners and Nominees
1. The Sea, The Sea - Iris Murdoch, Booker Prize Winner 1978
2. The Restraint of Beasts - Magnus Mills, Booker Nominee
Read so far: 2
To read 6

Book Club reads
1. Uncommon Reader Alan Bennett
2. If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things - Jon McGregor
3. The Sea, The Sea - Iris Murdoch (overlapping two categories)
Read so far: 3
To read: 5

Books by authors whose other books I've enjoyed
1 Glyph Percival Everett
2. So Many Ways to Begin - Jon McGregor
3. A Spot of Bother - Mark Haddon
Read so far: 3
To read: 5

50 Book Challenge: Early August

Still enjoying reading and this challenge isn't looking so difficult now - I could have it finished by the end of 2008 at this rate. The 888 Challenge is certainly going to be harder to complete. More on that later...

1. The Uncommon Reader - Alan Bennett
2. The Naming of the Dead - Ian Rankin
3. Glyph - Percival Everett
4. The Big Blowdown - George P Pelecanos
5. Post Office - Charles Bukowski
6. She's Come Undone - Wally Lamb
7. Hideous Kinky - Esther Freund
8. Flowers for Algernon - Daniel Keyes
9. Film Club - David Gilmour
10. The Graduate - Charles Webb
11. The Sea, The Sea - Iris Murdoch
12. If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things - Jon McGregor
13. Exit Music - Ian Rankin
14. Restraint of Beasts - Magnus Mills
15. So Many Ways to Begin - Jon McGregor

15 down, 35 to go.