Tips, links and suggestions: what are you reading this week?

Your space to discuss the books you are reading and what you think of them

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Welcome to this week’s blog. Here’s a roundup of your comments and photos from last week.

conedison is reading Karoo by Steve Tesich:

[It’s] about a man who has allowed lying to become his way of life. Tesich, an Oscar-winning screenwriter, died at age 53 and knew he was dying when he wrote this novel (published posthumously). This knowledge freed him from the desire to protect any member of the human race – most assuredly including himself. Almost every page is like a stinging paper-cut, speaking of how easily and constantly we lie to others and ourselves until the only way we can “know” each other is through our lies. Karoo reminded me of a line from a Joni Mitchell song, “Do you really smile when you smile?” Steve Tesich was a wise man and a fine writer, but unless you’re in the mood to be disturbed for 406 pages I can’t recommend it.

Having a cup of jasmin tea, wrapped up in my blanket. It is freezing cold and the heating is rubbish. But the book is great.

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By Martha Weaver

1 December 2014, 20:12

I finished A Time of Gifts, reaching the “to be continued” on the last page. [...] The narrative works best when he’s with people, and I found myself wondering about every person he described and what became of them (although not so much about him, funnily enough).

The writing stands on its own as commanding literature, but apart from when he’s in Vienna, there isn’t much humour to be had; it’s much more a young man’s adventure in which things generally go in his favour. Being so well-connected, he has lots of help on his journey, although given that he walked 1,200 miles in winter, that’s probably a good thing.

I was also just grateful for him because he was doing the journey I would have wanted to do and was doing it in the way I would have wanted too.

Im reading Don Quixote. Are there other novels in the world? Has anyone written a better one since?

One of only two private houses designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh is in my village. I read it first in September for the story, I’m rereading in December for the poetry.

What piqued my interest in Afghan Adventure was the inclusion of two names on the spine: John Fox as told to Roland Goodchild. The book was published in 1958, by which time Fox was still under 40. So why did he tell his tale to another to write up for him? It is early yet but looks to be an interesting time, with efforts to track down caravans of illegal arms being trafficked, amidst fears by the locals that they may be used against them when the Army moves out.

But it got me thinking of other books on the shelf where the story is penned by another. One that comes to mind is The Restless Voyage. Mind you Archibald Campbell had at least written his own account of his wanderings across the oceans from 1806 to 1812, with Stanley Porteous updating it in 1949, to regale us of shipwrecks, the loss of his feet and much more.

Very interesting topic, but only one book immediately springs to mind - the ill-omened Three Cups of Tea, the sad saga of which serves for a salutary tale. Even those with the best of intentions cannot help but fictionalise their own journeys when it comes time to tell the story. Taking on responsibility for telling the tale of another’s voyage, then, strikes me as a dangerous task. The narrative has already passed through one filter of fictionalisation, and the writer is effectively travelling blind. And then, having no access to the cutting room floor where the excisions from the raw memories lie, there’s no restraining knowledge of the actual truth, and thus no reason not to fictionalise further – which seems to be what happened with Three Cups of Tea...

Great cookbook. Love her recipes.

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By TaymazValley

3 December 2014, 18:55

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