Our Man In Havana

There on a book shelf had stood for years a slim volume of a book once read, then left waiting for it's turn of attention. Only for it to pass, then pass again. The pages yellow, it acquires a smell, the smell an old book gets, the smell given off from volumes of literature in an established library.  Musky like, dusty like and learned, waiting to be read.  So it was, I picked up this novel by Graham Greene, which has the category of "entertainment" and this week have been reading.

The funny thing about books is it is easy to read a book just once and then never pick it up again. To say to people oh yes I read that book, and describe parts of it or the storyline.  The truth though is one reading is never enough when the book you read is real literature and not the throw away kind, like a TV soap which will never fulfil the mind.  But after such a great gap I didn't realise how much I had forgotten of the story line, to the point I can hardly recognise any of the story at all. It is like picking the book up from new and starting all over again. Graham Greene however could never be described as an entertainer which belittles his great skill as a writer.  The book is entertaining however more than this it is funny.

A man in Havana eaks out a living and his business in vacuum cleaners seems to be hitting a declining trend.  His teenage daughter doesn't understand the value of money and starts to push him into financial ruin, however at this time an offer comes out of the blue.  To work as a secret agent for the British government and report on events which take place.  Except Havana is a boring location to live, it may be nice and hot, but nothing much happens in the way of Wormould's life.  He does what he does and gets by.  After an incident with a friend's apartment being ransacked he decides to feed a bucket load of lies to the secret service and claim all the expenses he needs.  The story line is wonderful and the writing is superb.  There are times of laughter, I can put it down easy and then pick it up and read it just as easily as well. 

Go out, buy it, read it and see for yourself.

Biting off too many books

At the moment I am reading four books at the same time, no maybe five lets list them

Something Happened - Joseph Heller (Story book)
The LEAN Toolbox (The essential guide to LEAN transformation). - J. Bicheno & M. Holweg (Management book)
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People - Stephen Covey (Self improvement book)
The Enemy - Lee Child (Who done it book)
The 33 Strategies of War - Robert Greene (Strategy/management/history/war book).

There are a couple of other books I have half heartily on the go but somehow have stopped in the middle of them and marked the page with a post-it note.  Then there's the odd few waiting in the wings to be picked up.  When I do allocate time to read these books or take extensive notes from them the time is short and periodical.  Certainly in some cases not on a daily basis but more of a weekly or two weekly basis depending on the mood I happen to be in.  I don't know if it is only me but I would like to know if other people have the same problem.  Do they?  Or have I bitten off more than I can chew.  Even though I must admit to enjoying reading each of these books and know they deserve more.  The one problem I do come across is when I remember something I have read but confused the story line or the book I got it from.  Heller's book can't be mixed because it is pretty different from any thing else.  Child's book I have only started this week after buying it out of a charity shop for the fantastic price of £2.50 as opposed to the five or six quid it would normally cost and the story is again something far different from anything else so it can not suffer from overlapping syndrome.  However, the management books and self improvement books can occasionally become confusing as I read one of them and then recall something else quite similar but different in another book.  At which point I wonder if it is my memory failing me, whether I have a touch of mad-cows-disease or whether it was a dream I had which has somehow trespassed into my conscious memory because it has nothing better to do.  At this point I have a head full of written passages and no idea where they come from.  It's a wonderful insanity and I quite rather enjoy it.

The problem is I do like to read books.  But I do also get bored with them.  It's like I have some kind of attention-deficit disorder of the literary kind.  I also like the feeling when I can say I have actually read a book.  For example when I walk through a train and I see people reading books I always take in the title and automatically recognise if I've read it.  (Down with the E-Reader) If I have read a book but forgot the thing afterwards I can actually say yes I read it and usually I can remember the author.  Authors are important, in fact all writers are important.  Possibly more so than actors in a film but we only tend to remember the actors and take no interest in the scrip writers.  It's a shame if you ask me.  Then there are the books I have read on more than one occasion, these still bring me great pleasure.  For there is always something I come across whether a sentence, phrase or paragraph which hits me like a lightening bolt because it is either well written or says something in a significant way.  An example would be Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig, every so often I'll pick this up and re read it.  It's a book about quality and a man who is trying to stop on a road trip but at the same time wondering if he is having a mental breakdown.  Maybe it is a gender specific book.  A book men would read but women would not.  If anyone has a comment please add it.  I can't help it, I like it.  Sometimes I notice the books I read tend to be more from American authors than British ones.  Some classical British writers I just have not read.  Charles Dickens is one of them, Happy Birthday Charlie (he's 200 today by the way).

Perhaps all of this adds into my introvert personality type.  I'm the one who likes to sit indoors with a ... you guessed it good book, piece of cake and cup of coffee.  But I do sometimes try a read when having a more alcoholic type drink,  unfortunately this can lead to re-reading the same page or paragraph over and over again and still not knowing what it is I have read.  Coffee is far better.  If it weren't for the cake I'd certainly of said I had bitten off more than I can chew.

A review of the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and a Happy new year for 2012

There is a quote I came across the other day it is:

"Learn from the past and look to the future"

So it should be with 2012.  A time to look on what has gone before and hopefully a little wiser greet the new year with a glass in the air.   Although personally I'm still catching up on my sleep after Scotland so I could well be asleep before the new year comes in.  If I'm snoring away then nothing will disturb me.  If it's anything like last year there will be fewer people opening their doors and windows than before as the old goes out and the new comes in.

This afternoon I took Layabout lad out to watch a movie.  The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.  I'd read the book so already knew what the film was about however, if anyone went to see the film without knowing the story I'm sure they could easily get lost.  Truth be told the English version of Sieg Larson's book is quite accurate, unfortunately it is a little boring.  I doubt if it will break the box office and if it does it will be because of the hype from earlier sales of the book.  Were there no book success no way would movie of attracted so much attention.  Watch this space though, my prediction is it will be a flop, a big flip flop.  Somethings just sometimes don't convert to picture format.  The written word while engrossing and exciting to read, except for the first sixty pages doesn't play so well.  It's one of those things which should really of been done in a series.  In this way more depth in the characters and sub stories could of been interwoven.  Perhaps a set of six or even twelve episodes might of suited it.  Then it should of been sold to the rest of the world.  It would of only been something the BBC could have done justice in making, lets face it they are amongst the best two or three TV series makers in the world.  As for Daniel Craig playing one of the main characters, Mikael Blomvkvist he really was too young and not fat enough for the image I drew from the book.  Where Blomkvist is portrayed as a middle aged, bit more worldly, slightly overweight investigative journalist.  Craig doesn't pull this off because he doesn't physically hit this portrait but also because he has already been James Bond and Bond is still too fresh an image in the public eye.  Lisbeth Salander is played by Rooney Mara.  Someone I have not seen act before.  Although Mara may have the physical characteristics of Salander, I am unfortunately not entirely convinced in her portrayal she does not come across as hard enough of psycho enough.  This could in part be down to the directing and editing of the movie, which leaves out little linking snippets which would give the film more sense.  Her performance was a little on the flat side, like coke without the sparkle, you endure it but it's just not satisfying.  To sum up, my advice is: don't see the film unless you have seen the book and really want to complete the loop because it will not leave you wanting more and will leave to many questions on your mind.  It demands attention and concentration, so don't see it if you are drunk as well, unless you need to sleep.

So with this as my last BLOG for 2011, happy new year to all.

Thanks for reading.