A visit from the Goon Squad - Jennifer Egan

Hello again internet.

My posts are annoyingly infrequent, I'm aware, and can only apologize  but you know I do life as well and sometimes it becomes more important than blogging. Also i'm lazy*. Who knew.

Let me tell you, i have lusted after The Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan for quite some time. A vlogger I follow on YouTube - I know I'm a new medias traitor, i'm sorry but its interesting - that goes by the name of Hannah Hart raved about it and I, perhaps arrogantly, have assumed we have similar tastes due to her penchant for drinking wine and making awful puns, the worlds greatest pastimes i'm sure you'll agree.

So, I was browsing Herne Hill's delightful yet tiny bookshop and I saw this book that over the months had slipped to the bottom of my to read list. A perfect find, I thought.

And what a find it is. What a very rare book. 

I'm a big fan of stories that jump about, time wise, not sure why, its just always appealed to me and in AVFTGS it's charmingly and seamlessly done. In fact i'd go so far to say as this wouldn't be the book it is without the timey-wimey confusion. It adds so much to the story, you get a little slice of real life seen through the eyes of about 20 different characters who all interlink. Spread over about 60 years. Each character slightly struggling through a point in their life but ultimately they are refreshingly real and relate-able. For someone who usually reads fantasy fiction, or some derivative of it, this was a very nice change for me. 

Egan shows how human life as doomed to repeat with characters that are beautifully individual and detailed who interlock as we seem them at a difficult point in their lives.

What was interesting for me was the idea that each story was so different, but with similar things happening - does that make any sense at all? It does to me but i'm hungover so i don't think i can be a judge of 'sense.' I clearly don't posses any in the common variety. 

Note to self - wine will always lead to hangover, no matter how invincible you may feel. 

  

Returning to the point, AVFTGS is a great and original reflection on our fickle lives with ever changing trivial and poignant issues and with an overall idea that nobody really knows what they are doing in life, the same confusing trip ups are as present in youth as they are in middle ages. Which is comforting, not at all as depressing as it may sound and ultimately true. 

Not to mention, its very funny. In a kind of sarcastic, self depreciating way. A kind of High Fidelity way i think, which works perfectly with the themes and plots that run through it. 

I happily recommend this book. What i do not recommend is going to watch The Great Gatsby on a Thursday and being over excited by the excellent wine at your lovely local cinema... Just, you know, in case you were thinking of doing that... 

* I'm not actually lazy its just most of my downtime is spent reading books, and i'm going through a surge of excellent ones so instead of writing about them i am selfishly just powering through the series. Sorry. (No, i'm not actually, not at all. I am enjoying them GREATLY) 

The end.


For fans of: Nick Hornby,Roddy Doyle, Ian McEwan, Douglas Copeland
Opinions are cool friends, so share your if you like!

Notes from Belgrade: is print dead?

Camille Scherrer talks on her augmented reality animations. Beautiful and inspiring 

Rather than talking blindly at the internet I thought today we could try something different. I am going to ask you two questions and it would be nice if we could all have a conversation.

When I set up this blog it was intended to be an outlet for me to talk about books but as it stands it's mostly me shouting things at you and I'm not a huge fan of that. Makes me feel like I'm a bit mad.

So, my first question is, where are you?

I am currently in Belgrade, Serbia at a new media festival called Resonate.

Now I know what your thinking, new media and books, nice oxymoron, moron. Well yes, its true that I am not exactly a new media buff rather more of a campaigner for old medias, but my other half is and as we well know learning is great, so I'm here learning things with him and I've got to say so far its great.

There's something very refreshing about being a complete novice surrounded by experts, i know I'm getting a view if things they can't have, like an innocent baby casting fresh eyes on the world.

There were two talks yesterday that have sparked my interest and that are extremely relevant to the traditional medias us book lovers adore. (Incidentally we need a better collective name than book lovers, suggestions welcome.) So i thought I'd share some thoughts with you, perhaps you'll feel compelled to as well.

Firstly I watched Camille Scherrer (http://chipchip.ch/) An illustrator who lives a fairytale existence drawing in her mountainside cabin in the hills of Sweden. How beautiful that sounds.

She has always harboured an interest in augmented reality and that turned to adding animations to books so as you view the story the pages almost literally come to life, the stuff off dreams.
Which got me thinking in a world where traditionalists battle against kindle supporters what is it we get from the old medias that makes it so much more appealing than the new, or vice versa depending on your opinion.

For me the physical shopping for a book is part of the enjoyment, choosing my stories from all the books in front of me, the smell of a secret old shop, chatting with the shop staff about favorites old and new. It all gives me a child like joy like no other. There is also something to be said of the thought that stories carry their own stories, books passed between hands, down through generations or groups of friends, everyone sharing the same story but each experiencing it in their own way. The fact its a tangible product gives it a life of its own.

So where then, is the place for new medias in books. The kindle hath arrived and taken over most households, is that simply for its accessibility? It takes away so many other aspects of reading in favor of speed and cost, so in my mind digital books only existed to  destroy the industry, or at least the aspects of it I love.

But with Camille's illustrations working with the words and the story have we found a whole new realm of imagination? Stories have the potential to come alive in a new and beautiful way. Camille's projects and animations, which have a very 'where the wild things are' feel to them completely enchanted me, just like a good book and almost everything she does is a beautifully crafted combination of old medias and new, and it seems to me that the future should look to be this kind of a compromise rather than a battle for one or the other, and the question we should be asking is how can new and old work together for the benefit of the consumer.

In the afternoon I watched three speakers discuss their kickstarter funded magazine on the topic 'print is dead.. Or is it?' This is a subject that regularly comes up in conversation in my world. Do physical publications, be that books or magazines and so on, still have a place in a world where web press is so popular, easy and cheap. Holo, the magazine in discussion, will be published bi annually and is a publication for the new media subculture. Interesting then that they decided to go for physical print, but in doing so they outlined exactly why print publications will never cease to exist, which I think was really their point.

People will always want a tangible record of their work or passion. With media online everything is so easily erased or replaced at a click, print gives our work and our lives a chance to exist in the world and leave its mark.

The more relevant question then may be does print only exist as a novelty for small niches, and will it ever be a necessity again. I was almost sure that online medias would eventually replace every aspect of physical print until the Holo gang (gang...? Am I really going to call them that. Yes, I think so) made and excellent point of having found a copy of Arthur C Clarke's 2001 A Space Odyssey in a charity shop that was 50 years old. Yet still, there it is, in full working condition, in an immediate and universally accessible format. That is the beauty of physical print, anyone anywhere that can read can enjoy the stories and tales recorded in books, newspapers, magazines without any special skills or interface, physical books can be shared and loved and cried over and engrossed anywhere, potentially forever.

Part of the reason I love shopping for books in second hand shops is wondering the stories that those stories have seen, a joy you only get with print. They are, in theory, imperishable where as content online is almost entirely disposable.

So my second question then friends, is what do you think? Is print dead, does is exist only for small niches? What is it that keeps you buying books?

Share with me because I think its genuinely interesting to know from every side.

As always opinions are subjective, so try not to hate, and please please go check out Camille (http://chipchip.ch/) and the Holo 'gang', who can be found here (http://holo-magazine.com/) if not for any reason other than they gave me some well wanted inspiration to finally write a post about print publications.

Also check out resonate (www.resonate.io) because if your interested in new media or just learning in anyway its been a great experience so far.

If all that wasn't enough to convince you that Resonate is great, there is also live music in the evenings, that looks like this. 

As a final note, before you say so, I am well aware of the contradiction in posting this on the internet. Its my blog, I can be contrary as I wish.

Waiting For Sunrise By William Boyd

 I am about to confess one of the greatest literati sins, so brace yourselves friends.

I bought this book after having seen the BBC's adaptation of William Boyd's Restless.
Yes, that's right, I saw something on the telly and only then bought the book.

Feel free to stop reading now if this is too big a crime for you to forgive.

I'm sorry, but sometimes that's just the way it happens! Something catches your eye in non literary form and you like it so you explore the author. Obviously I didn't pick up Restless as I knew all the spoilers. I was tempted by Any Human Heart, Boyds best known but it was also made into a TV adaptation that I missed, but had seen trailers for - I like to be able to imagine characters from my own mind so prefer not to have seen one else's projections on screen.
Incidentally one of the only books I've ever read after having 'seen the movie' was The Hunger Games but the books are not exactly Shakespeare and I very much enjoy Jennifer Lawrence so it didn't ruin them at all. ANYWAY, I digress.

So, no matter how I got there I settled on this. A story of an actor with unexpected sexual difficulties escaping his life in Vienna and then half way through it turns into a WW2 spy drama.

This book has to be reviewed in two parts because that it what it is, its like two separate books pushed into one.

The first half, is notably not as interesting but very well written, we explore Lysander Rief's character, his troubles as his sits through therapy and a doomed from the start relationship with an unpredictable femme fetal but actually not a huge amount happens. The character of Hettie Bull, the doomed lover, is excellently played out. Its clear from the start you are not supposed to like her but you are intrigued by her.
She is not remotely likeable but Boyd captures Lysander's feelings well and even though as reader you dislike her you understand why he wants her.

The second half of this book is where all the action happens. Finding refuge back in England after a dramatic exit from Vienna Lysander becomes a soldier and the war breaks out. The book becomes a classic 'spy thriller' and is very engaging as he hunts out a mole in the war office. You find yourself second guessing all the characters you've met so far finally turning this book into the page turner it should have been from the beginning.

To add to Boyd's praises, it ends fantastically. Very dramatic and satisfying, just what is needed after a fast paced tension building hunt for an informant.
It is just such a shame the beginning half of this book is so slow. Its not that's its boring, its an interesting character development but it would have been a much better book if that part were cut in half and the second half were longer. I felt as thought I spent most of the book waiting for the big thing to happen, I knew it was coming but the story was just taking ages to get there.

In review, Waiting For Sunrise is good. Its very well written as you would expect and by the end its captivating but it falls short of great purely for frustratingly slow beginning.


The End.


End Notes:


 For fans of: William Boyd, Alan Furst.

 Do keep in mind, reviews are subjective. Different opinions are cool friends, so feel free to share. 

The Night Circus By Erin Morgenstern

I have an unwritten rule when it comes to my addiction to fiction. I'll try anything, anything at all that anyone recommends, but if the story hasn't sucked me in by 100 pages i give up.If you're not connected with a book by then, you never will be. Put that book down, it is not for you.

Sometimes they get you on the 99th page, usually its about 40 pages in. You settled into the characters and you think, yep i'm going to enjoy this, I've stepped into this world and i am invested in it, take me away. 

The Night Circus however, had me at the first sentence .."The circus arrives without warning. it is simply there, when yesterday it was not." The adventurer in me knew this was going to be quite a ride and after 20 pages i was completely hooked.Everything about this book is right up my street. I love a strong female character, a bit of magic and  mystery, a doomed love story and this book delivers on all fronts beautiful wrapped up in a world so vivid i found it hard to believe it wasn't real - which is exactly what a good book should do. 

The Night Circus is an absolute assault on the emotions and senses from start to finish. Every sight, sound and taste happens in your mind too. Morgenstern is an expert in painting the clearest of pictures and as your progress through the book you find yourself walking with the characters. I was left with an absolute longing to attend Le Cirque des Rêves  and explore. 
As a girl who grew up down the road from Glastonbury festival this kind of circus frivolity is not only close to my heart, but also very real to me and this novel captures the essence of that perfectly. An adult entering a circus should feel like a child bowled over with awe and excitement and with in the pages of the Night Circus you find that exact feeling, particularly as we follow young bailey around on his first ever trip and in the occasional pages written in a second person narrative. 

Aside from the childlike joy you can find in the imagination of this book there is also a darker story, each character essentially being used as puppets by two aged rivals who bound the two central characters together for life in a sinister game. This plot line gives the book the dramatic edge that it needs. From the start of their meeting you are aware some impending sadness and bad omens leak into the story as warnings that something terrible will happen. Rather than this making the book seem predictable it actually makes it thrilling and suspense filled as central story flits around the different characters dragging your attention away and then back again, it makes it all the more page turning. 

In my, oh so humble, opinion a great book should wash over you like a tidal wave, take a real impact on you and leave you standing on the beach stunned at what just happened. I have read a great many books like that in my life, and read them again and again because of it. But The Night Circus is more than that. Its like the deadly undercurrent that sucks you back into the swell over and over you can not escape the world Morgenstern has created whilst you are reading it and I personally loved every second of it. So, in review, in case you hadn't guessed - its utterly wonderful. 

The End. 



End notes: 

* For fans of: Audrey Niffenegger, Joanne Harris, Neil Gaimen

** Do keep in mind, if you only like sci-fi or crime novels you probably won't enjoy this. The excellence of this book is subjective, obviously.

***Different opinions are cool friends, so feel free to share.