false 602693 0349118809 9780349118802 23 8 A Tale Etched in Blood and Hard Black Pencil http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1176190789m/602693.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/602693.A_Tale_Etched_in_Blood_and_Hard_Black_Pencil 167572 Christopher Brookmyre 2111 206 4 0 false Sun Jul 12 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Jul 10 12:21:57 -0700 2009 Sun Jul 12 12:02:34 -0700 2009
It was not totally random, actually. Thanks to Nick Hornby, lately I'm a sucker for anything British. Nope. 90s-to date novels by British male writer, to be precise. This book had a quote from Guardian's review on the cover 'Looks back with a painfully accurate eye... One of the funniest writers in Britain' British and funny. Plus I like the cover. I was so buying it.

It turned out that it's actually Scot instead of British. Same difference? English is already not my first language (third, if you count Sundanese). But after I survived the Scottish dialect, I really enjoyed the book. It IS funny. Cleverly written. Twists that keep you from putting it down. A long journey for the characters, and you seek longingly for the connection. Which kid grew up to be which adult. How they are so different, yet so similar. And the funny thing is, I spent my childhood thousands of miles apart, totally different culture, yet I can totally relate to them (I think I was Helen, if not the girl version of Marty).

After 200 pages or so and I'd already figured out at least 75% of the Scottish, I just realized that there was a glossary on the back. A bit late but still came in handy, not only for reading this book but also for general purpose especially if you plan to go to Scotland. Such as this one
ginger Generic term for carbonated minerals. Despite billions of dollars spent on brand recognition and advertising, in Glasgow, Coke, Pepsi, Seven-Up and Sprite are all referred to as 'ginger'.
or this one
fitba Popular team sport known in some quarters as 'soccer', invented and given to the world by the Scots. English claims to have invented it rest on their having the first Football Association, which proves only that they invented football bureaucracy. Thanks a pantload, guys. You form yet another bloody committee and a hundred years later, we had to put up with Jim Farry.
Shite. Now I have to look for another Christopher Brookmyre's book.]]>