Having got through chapter one and learnt from the example of Socrates that just because something is popular and as a result a widely held belief it isn’t necessarily right, Button turns to other issues. Next in line is the question of pleasure and wealth.
Step forward Epicurus who welcomed the seeking of pleasure. Before he gets into describing what the great philosopher thought produced that pleasure he lists off some of his own demands which includes a couple of similar wishes to my own including the following:
A library with a large desk, a fireplace and a view on to a garden. Early editions with the comforting smell of old books, pages yellowed and rough to the touch. On top of shelves, busts of great thinkers and astrological globes. Like the design of the library for a house of William III of Holland.”
Hoping the next few pages won’t burst the bubble that getting that library is something worth aiming for.
More tomorrow…
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Death and the Penguin - post III
Thankfully there is a sequel to this book because this ends in a hurry with too many questions left unanswered. With Misha the penguin out of the picture having surgery to save his heart in the last chunk of the book the focus goes back onto Viktor.
You have to say that he is not the most loveable character. He lives with Nina and Sonya yet doesn’t seem that attached to either. When faced with the reality of what he has been doing – helping write death orders – he also seems to be only mildly disturbed.
What does trigger a reaction, a selfish one of self-preservation, is when he faces losing his own life.
Viktor runs away and as a result the book sort of hangs there. It is an ending that leaves an awful lot of the blanks to be filled in by the reader. In some respects too many because by the time you have thought about them you have moved onto another book. Maybe the best idea is to get straight into Penguin Lost and treat this as one half of a two-part story.
A review will follow soon…
You have to say that he is not the most loveable character. He lives with Nina and Sonya yet doesn’t seem that attached to either. When faced with the reality of what he has been doing – helping write death orders – he also seems to be only mildly disturbed.
What does trigger a reaction, a selfish one of self-preservation, is when he faces losing his own life.
Viktor runs away and as a result the book sort of hangs there. It is an ending that leaves an awful lot of the blanks to be filled in by the reader. In some respects too many because by the time you have thought about them you have moved onto another book. Maybe the best idea is to get straight into Penguin Lost and treat this as one half of a two-part story.
A review will follow soon…
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Books for free even if you want to cut down
I have been admiring Stephen Lang's attempts, described on his blog, to only read books he has already purchased for the rest of the year. I Thought of him this morning as I picked up The Times at Victoria station and received another free book from the Penguin celebrations collection.
Even when you don't want to buy a book it seems without too much effort you can find one for free. The book today, Consolations of Philosophy by Alain de Botton is about how we can learn from the great philosophers can help us accept problems in our own lives. Chapter one covers Socrates and the fact he was prepared to be unpopular - to the point he had to kill himself as he tried to inflict his own justice on himself rather than that of the Athenian court. Half way through the chapter and already liking the idea that just because an idea is popular it doesn't mean it is right.
That was one book worth getting for free to add to the pile to be consumed this year.
Will post the final chunk of Death and the Penguin tomorrow...
Even when you don't want to buy a book it seems without too much effort you can find one for free. The book today, Consolations of Philosophy by Alain de Botton is about how we can learn from the great philosophers can help us accept problems in our own lives. Chapter one covers Socrates and the fact he was prepared to be unpopular - to the point he had to kill himself as he tried to inflict his own justice on himself rather than that of the Athenian court. Half way through the chapter and already liking the idea that just because an idea is popular it doesn't mean it is right.
That was one book worth getting for free to add to the pile to be consumed this year.
Will post the final chunk of Death and the Penguin tomorrow...
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Rabbit Run - post IV
In some respects you finish this book with your own ideas about Rabbit but you are grateful for an afterword by Updike that helps clarify some points. He is using a character as a way of challenging American attitudes and working out what some of the big questions are.
The problem is that you come to the end of the book and you are still left wondering what some of those answers are and questioning the response of running away from trying to figure them out.
After his daughter dies and his wife falls apart Rabbit returns from his fateful night away and starts to pick up the pieces but at the graveside he cannot resist asking out loud why everyone is treating him like a murderer when it was his wife’s fault. He then heads off at speed running through the woods rather than facing the fallout from that one.
He blusters back into Ruth’s flat and she shouts and screams at him for being selfish and useless and rather than take in what she has said he walks out the door and starts running.
The sense of failure is reinforced by the appearance at a couple of points of his old basketball coach who has had a stroke. In the afterward Updike points out that he lived in towns packed full of failed high school basketball players so finding the inspiration for Rabbit was not that difficult.
Will have to get together my thoughts for a review to be posted soon…
The problem is that you come to the end of the book and you are still left wondering what some of those answers are and questioning the response of running away from trying to figure them out.
After his daughter dies and his wife falls apart Rabbit returns from his fateful night away and starts to pick up the pieces but at the graveside he cannot resist asking out loud why everyone is treating him like a murderer when it was his wife’s fault. He then heads off at speed running through the woods rather than facing the fallout from that one.
He blusters back into Ruth’s flat and she shouts and screams at him for being selfish and useless and rather than take in what she has said he walks out the door and starts running.
The sense of failure is reinforced by the appearance at a couple of points of his old basketball coach who has had a stroke. In the afterward Updike points out that he lived in towns packed full of failed high school basketball players so finding the inspiration for Rabbit was not that difficult.
Will have to get together my thoughts for a review to be posted soon…
Death and the Penguin - post II
This book works on several different levels. In one sense the reader is ahead of Viktor as it becomes clear that he has been writing not just obituaries but in effect death orders that have been processed through his newspaper offices based on selected criteria he is not party to.
But in other ways it is far from clear where this is going. Writing the obituaries has changed Viktor’s life permanently and he has not just collected the mafia bosses’s daughter as a companion but now gains a nanny for her who becomes his lover. The link between all them is the reaction they all have to Misha the penguin.
Misha is growing as a character and makes you realise the potential that a good writer can get out of a character that not only does not speak but has very little facial expression. If anyone asked me if this book was worth reading the answer would have to be that it is just for the Misha character alone.
More tomorrow…
But in other ways it is far from clear where this is going. Writing the obituaries has changed Viktor’s life permanently and he has not just collected the mafia bosses’s daughter as a companion but now gains a nanny for her who becomes his lover. The link between all them is the reaction they all have to Misha the penguin.
Misha is growing as a character and makes you realise the potential that a good writer can get out of a character that not only does not speak but has very little facial expression. If anyone asked me if this book was worth reading the answer would have to be that it is just for the Misha character alone.
More tomorrow…
Rabbit Run - post III
This is a hard book to get on with. Maybe Rabbit is a metaphor for a period of American history where maybe the country felt after the success of the Second World War that it was now a loser.
Rabbit is a selfish character that is driven not just by a yearning for a repeat of the success and adoration he had on the basketball court but also by a primitive sexual urge. Having returned to his wife believing on the way that the preacher’s wife is also after him he leaves her at a critical stage.
Having encouraged her to get drunk so he can have sex with her she goes on a bender that results in the tragic death of their newborn baby daughter. The bath-drowning scene is written with pace and through the perception of a drunken woman in a world of pain that is also something rather selfish.
With Rabbit now handed the reason to leave Janice and partly to blame because of his absence will he again try to run? Problem is that he can’t run away from himself and his own immaturity.
More tomorrow…
Rabbit is a selfish character that is driven not just by a yearning for a repeat of the success and adoration he had on the basketball court but also by a primitive sexual urge. Having returned to his wife believing on the way that the preacher’s wife is also after him he leaves her at a critical stage.
Having encouraged her to get drunk so he can have sex with her she goes on a bender that results in the tragic death of their newborn baby daughter. The bath-drowning scene is written with pace and through the perception of a drunken woman in a world of pain that is also something rather selfish.
With Rabbit now handed the reason to leave Janice and partly to blame because of his absence will he again try to run? Problem is that he can’t run away from himself and his own immaturity.
More tomorrow…
Monday, July 28, 2008
Death and the Penguin - post I
The expectation before you start this book is of the penguin being a comic character but within a few paragraphs there is a penguin that lives in a flat with the main character Viktor because he could no longer be cared for in the zoo.
Although Misha the penguin can’t speak he both expresses some of the moods of the hero, the environment and the world as he shuffles from room to room sighing. He also acts as a bridge between the isolated hero of the story and others acting as an excuse to attract friendship and fellow penguin enthusiasts.
The world of Viktor is largely a failed one with his girlfriend abandoning him, his attempt to become a novelist in tatters and his career not particularly going anywhere. He writes a short story, all he is capable of and that leads to a job writing obituaries for the as yet undead.
Problem is that after undertaking some work for the mafia he mentions none of his work has been published so one of his favourite subjects is helped out of a window. The penguin watches this with an air of indifference as a war breaks out between rival mafia gangs sparked by Viktor’s obits.
More tomorrow…
Although Misha the penguin can’t speak he both expresses some of the moods of the hero, the environment and the world as he shuffles from room to room sighing. He also acts as a bridge between the isolated hero of the story and others acting as an excuse to attract friendship and fellow penguin enthusiasts.
The world of Viktor is largely a failed one with his girlfriend abandoning him, his attempt to become a novelist in tatters and his career not particularly going anywhere. He writes a short story, all he is capable of and that leads to a job writing obituaries for the as yet undead.
Problem is that after undertaking some work for the mafia he mentions none of his work has been published so one of his favourite subjects is helped out of a window. The penguin watches this with an air of indifference as a war breaks out between rival mafia gangs sparked by Viktor’s obits.
More tomorrow…
Sunday, July 27, 2008
bookmark of the week
This graphical and bright bookmark is designed to help children learn about road safety. Some of the faces represent things like zebra crossings and the importance of stopping to look and listen. Does the job as far as getting the message across and as a bookmark.
Rabbit Run - post II
The irony is that although children don’t seem to matter much to Rabbit the arrival of a baby daughter pulls him back to his wife. It is the minister Eccles who ends up watching Rabbit’s son Nelson playing in his grandmother’s yard fighting for toys and angering the neighbours dog. Rabbit seems to care about nothing other than trying to recapture former glories.
His relationship with Ruth seems to be built on possession and control. Those two factors make him feel successful and in the sense of being a competitor he has managed to beat her opposition. But ironically it is her previous independence that drives his jealousy.
He leaves her not knowing she is pregnant to head over to the hospital to see his new child arrive into the world. Ruth is left behind crying bitter tears sensing that she has lost Rabbit to the pull of his wife. It certainly appears that way as Rabbit leaves the maternity ward to stay with the minister rather than go back to Ruth’s apartment.
But for a man without much paternal pride will the thought of a daughter and another child on the way cause him to run off again. Probably.
Someone I once met had her husband walk out on four days after the birth of his son saying, “It wasn’t for him” the whole fatherhood idea. That real-life story reminds me very much of the fictional Rabbit.
More soon…
His relationship with Ruth seems to be built on possession and control. Those two factors make him feel successful and in the sense of being a competitor he has managed to beat her opposition. But ironically it is her previous independence that drives his jealousy.
He leaves her not knowing she is pregnant to head over to the hospital to see his new child arrive into the world. Ruth is left behind crying bitter tears sensing that she has lost Rabbit to the pull of his wife. It certainly appears that way as Rabbit leaves the maternity ward to stay with the minister rather than go back to Ruth’s apartment.
But for a man without much paternal pride will the thought of a daughter and another child on the way cause him to run off again. Probably.
Someone I once met had her husband walk out on four days after the birth of his son saying, “It wasn’t for him” the whole fatherhood idea. That real-life story reminds me very much of the fictional Rabbit.
More soon…
Saturday, July 26, 2008
The Children of Hurin - post IV
Well the curse takes them all to their graves and the dark lord continues to rule with out challenge. Although he does lose his faithful servant the dragon he is not going to lose too much sleep over it and even lets Hurin lose at the end in the knowledge that he can do more harm.
This feels like a start of something and when it does end it is with a sense of slight anti-climax because the story did not quite go according to plan plus with Morgoth still in control there is a real sense that justice has not been done.
At the end there are family trees, maps and appendices about how the book was written. This in a way is more interesting because it shows the love a son has for his father and his commitment to keeping a world that came out of his father’s imagination going. There are notes about when J.R.R wrote the book and how it fitted in with other works he was planning plus an insight into the switch from just being a story told in verse to something that ended up in prose.
A book that is a struggle to get into but then keeps going with a great plot but probably one that the Lord of the Rings fans rushed out to buy quicker than anyone else. Also you can’t help but feel like you a reading a children’s book when people on the train catch you at the moments when the entire right hand page is taken up with one of the illustrations that pepper the book, good though they are.
A review will follow soon…
This feels like a start of something and when it does end it is with a sense of slight anti-climax because the story did not quite go according to plan plus with Morgoth still in control there is a real sense that justice has not been done.
At the end there are family trees, maps and appendices about how the book was written. This in a way is more interesting because it shows the love a son has for his father and his commitment to keeping a world that came out of his father’s imagination going. There are notes about when J.R.R wrote the book and how it fitted in with other works he was planning plus an insight into the switch from just being a story told in verse to something that ended up in prose.
A book that is a struggle to get into but then keeps going with a great plot but probably one that the Lord of the Rings fans rushed out to buy quicker than anyone else. Also you can’t help but feel like you a reading a children’s book when people on the train catch you at the moments when the entire right hand page is taken up with one of the illustrations that pepper the book, good though they are.
A review will follow soon…
Friday, July 25, 2008
The Children of Hurin - post III
By now the curse that lies on the children of Hurin is not only bringing doom to Turin but anyone he decides to visit. So there is always a mixed response when he turns up and sure enough the little empires of elves and men start to crumble as Turin wanders through Middle Earth.
He brings death to his friends and manages to provoke Morgoth to bring out not the Orcs but a dragon that has a very cruel streak and managed to bring desolation to Turin and his mother and sister.
What felt like it was building towards a climax when a mixed army or men and elves stormed the Dark Lord's lands now feels like it is going to end in death and failure. Not quite what you were expecting but maybe that’s refreshing after the success of the climatic battles in Return of the King.
The moral of the story so far seems to be: do your best to avoid curses, particularly from those that happen to go by the nickname of The Dark Lord.
Final chunk tomorrow…
He brings death to his friends and manages to provoke Morgoth to bring out not the Orcs but a dragon that has a very cruel streak and managed to bring desolation to Turin and his mother and sister.
What felt like it was building towards a climax when a mixed army or men and elves stormed the Dark Lord's lands now feels like it is going to end in death and failure. Not quite what you were expecting but maybe that’s refreshing after the success of the climatic battles in Return of the King.
The moral of the story so far seems to be: do your best to avoid curses, particularly from those that happen to go by the nickname of The Dark Lord.
Final chunk tomorrow…
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Time specially dedicated to you
I was moaning at work today about the lack of time we have to get round to posting dozens of stories on the web now we are all web first whizzy internet hacks.
But time is something I miss in other areas. The only reason I occasionally have a go at the Lottery is to try and get the money to realise the dream of owning a house with a library big enough to have a gallery you can pull yourself around with one of those special ladders, ideally a real log fire for the winter plus of course a globe that turns out to be a drinks cabinet.
After sitting on a day bed flicking through book after book occasionally you might feel like going into the local school and sharing some of your thoughts on great writing with the impressionable, but most of the time the struggle would be to choose the next book and flick crumpet crumbs off your chest.
Oh happy dreams…
But time is something I miss in other areas. The only reason I occasionally have a go at the Lottery is to try and get the money to realise the dream of owning a house with a library big enough to have a gallery you can pull yourself around with one of those special ladders, ideally a real log fire for the winter plus of course a globe that turns out to be a drinks cabinet.
After sitting on a day bed flicking through book after book occasionally you might feel like going into the local school and sharing some of your thoughts on great writing with the impressionable, but most of the time the struggle would be to choose the next book and flick crumpet crumbs off your chest.
Oh happy dreams…
Rabbit Run - post I
There is a moment near the start when Janice says to her husband Harry (Rabbit) not to run but as he goes out to pick up his son from his parents and his car from outside the front of his in-laws something clicks.
He picks up the car and drives hundreds of miles before oddly coming back to his home town. He avoids going home but instead seeks out the support of his old basketball coach. Things then become stranger still because far from running he seems prepared to get involved in another relationship with a girl, Ruth, he is introduced to by his coach.
There are some great bits of dialogue: "after you've been first-rate at something, no matter what, it kind of takes the kick out of being second-rate."and good descriptions of places but Rabbit does seem to be a loser and his decision to from Janice to Ruth an odd one. Also having got kids it is hard to sympathise with a character so happy to walk away from his son. He may think his wife is dumb but what about the child?
Maybe he will get the chance to run further than a few blocks away? Wait and see I guess.
More tomorrow…
He picks up the car and drives hundreds of miles before oddly coming back to his home town. He avoids going home but instead seeks out the support of his old basketball coach. Things then become stranger still because far from running he seems prepared to get involved in another relationship with a girl, Ruth, he is introduced to by his coach.
There are some great bits of dialogue: "after you've been first-rate at something, no matter what, it kind of takes the kick out of being second-rate."and good descriptions of places but Rabbit does seem to be a loser and his decision to from Janice to Ruth an odd one. Also having got kids it is hard to sympathise with a character so happy to walk away from his son. He may think his wife is dumb but what about the child?
Maybe he will get the chance to run further than a few blocks away? Wait and see I guess.
More tomorrow…
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
The Children of Hurin - post II
Although this is a story still populated by odd names of characters and locations there is a real plot developing and it is that which keeps you reading on. Turin has blotted his copybook in the land of the Elves after wandering off first put of boredom and then returning to kill one of the King’s council after a row.
He joins up with a band of outlaws to populate the woods but they are driven away from their hunting grounds by orcs and end up getting in a position of hunger and despair so they turn to a dwarf and seek shelter in his home in return for sparing his life.
There are personality stories developing the whole time with Turin managing to fall out with people left right and centre, including for a while the elf who is sent by the King to tell him he is pardoned for killing a member of the council.
All you really want him to do is get to the battle when Turin tries to release his father from the imprisonment of the dark Lord.
More tomorrow…
He joins up with a band of outlaws to populate the woods but they are driven away from their hunting grounds by orcs and end up getting in a position of hunger and despair so they turn to a dwarf and seek shelter in his home in return for sparing his life.
There are personality stories developing the whole time with Turin managing to fall out with people left right and centre, including for a while the elf who is sent by the King to tell him he is pardoned for killing a member of the council.
All you really want him to do is get to the battle when Turin tries to release his father from the imprisonment of the dark Lord.
More tomorrow…
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
First few pages, first impression - Rabbit Run
There is something different about the moment you decide to walk down a well trodden path and start reading a book that has been read and praised widely. One of the fears I suppose is that ultimately the experience will be disappointing and leave you wondering what the fuss was about.
But there is also something attractive about finally getting round to entering into a world that has managed to work for millions of other readers already.
So it was with a sense of anticipation I picked up Rabbit Run and started the first twenty pages. What you have to comment on already is the deftness of touch, Little descriptions, like the rotting toy under the porch step and the exchange between husband and wife convey a lot without taking up much space.
Your focus is instantly on Rabbit and you do want to carry on reading and get into Updike’s imagination.
More tomorrow…
But there is also something attractive about finally getting round to entering into a world that has managed to work for millions of other readers already.
So it was with a sense of anticipation I picked up Rabbit Run and started the first twenty pages. What you have to comment on already is the deftness of touch, Little descriptions, like the rotting toy under the porch step and the exchange between husband and wife convey a lot without taking up much space.
Your focus is instantly on Rabbit and you do want to carry on reading and get into Updike’s imagination.
More tomorrow…
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