Steve's comments (member since Aug 25, 2008)

Steve's comments from the Good Readers of Scotland group.

Currently reading Orhan Pamuk's The Black Book. A man's wife disappears so he starts searching for her in the streets of Istanbul and scouring the newspaper columns written by his cousin (her half-brother who has also disappeared) for clues.

It's not a conventional detective novel (the kind that the protagonist's missing wife used to constantly read) but more an exploration of identity and a compendium of stories about the history of the Turkish city. The protagonist becomes so consumed by his columnist cousin's articles that he gradually assumes his identity, moves into his apartment and writes his columns in his absence.

Some people find Pamuk's books a bit academic and hard going but anybody who like Umberto Eco, Italo Calvino and Borges would probably enjoy him. I've also read My Name Is Red which was great, similar to Eco's The Name Of The Rose.

Oh yes, I meant to say Scotty = rubbish accent.

Wait! I can't believe I didn't think of this one straight away:

Most ludicrous Scottish accent in celluloid history must go to the extremely French Christopher Lambert in "Highlander".

And the very Scottish Sean Connery didn't even attempt a Spanish accent.

James "Scotty" Doohan on Star Trek, surely.

"The engines cannae' take it, cap'n!"

He was Canadian.

I am currently reading Three Things About Me by Aliya Whitely. It's an entertaining black comedy about customer service trainees. Er.. that may not sound particularly exciting but there is a hint of darkness to the novel and a whiff of the absurd about it.

I must confess that this book is a a bit lighter than the usual stuff I read but I needed a break from Thus Spoke Zarathustra: A Book for None and All!

Hello, y'all. I moved to Glasgow a couple a months ago from Oxford via Devon via Liverpool via Hertfordshire after finally deciding that I just don't like England.

I've only been here a short time but I already love it especially all those secondhand bookshops hidden away in the West End.

And I can afford to live somewhere bigger than a cupboard up here. Wonderful!