This’ll be brief since it’s been a busy week. I’m aiming to get through my ‘to do’ list before heading off on holiday at the weekend. If past form is anything to go by, it will me take a few days to wind down. I have a plans for a grant application roiling in the back of my mind, still churning, still not quite formed. But eventually, I will come to rest.
We’re going to the seaside. The kids love the sand and the water, and my wife and I are happy to sit on the beach, me in the shade and her in the sun. Every so often, we will argue in the most desultory fashion about whose turn it is to take them out on a pedalo.
I’ll be bringing my laptop, but only so I can finally get around to editing the video of our holiday from last year. I have three hours of footage from Sicily that I want to whittle down to a snappy 30 minutes — or less, if I can hold my nerve. I may spend some time sketching out a few ideas for blog posts. I’ve loaded my iPhone with movies and the entire 3rd series of The Wire.
And I’ll bring some books.
It struck me when I took this picture just how much my reading matter is linked to blogging. What has become of me?.
Buzz Aldrin’s Magnificent Desolation speaks to my “lunatic”:http://network.nature.com/people/scurry/blog/2008/12/28/imagine-there’s-no-earth interests. I bought it to get the frank story of how Aldrin really crashed to earth after landing safely back on the planet at the end of the Apollo 11 mission. It will be a counterpoint to the rampant anniversary celebrations going on around us (which, by the way, I am enjoying enormously!).
Singh’s and Edzard’s Trick or Treatment is the book that inspired the newspaper article that led to Singh being sued for libel. The case was highlighted by the electrifying Skeptics in the Pub meeting that I attended in May. And the fight goes on.
Huxley is a character I have long admired, and not just for his connection with Imperial College. I read a short biography of him “earlier in the year”:http://network.nature.com/people/scurry/blog/2009/02/16/are-you-going-to-this-seminar-huxley’s-speaking, but am looking to getting the complete story from Adrian Desmond’s book.
For ‘light relief’ I have Maxine to thank for stirring a renewed interest in crime fiction. I still haven’t been able to get hold of the first book in the Wallander series. But recent mention of Eric Ambler in The Guardian (not a word, Henry) caught my attention, so I will be giving Uncommon Danger a try.
Mind you, if I get stuck on that bloody pedalo, I probably won’t get very far with these…
It struck me when I took this picture just how much my reading matter is linked to blogging. What has become of me?
Really, Stephen – I’ve been wondering that too…
Have a fantastic holiday!!
Looks a really good selection to me and since I haven’t read any of them I now want them! Must resist. Have a great holiday, Stephen – happy peddling.
I’ve just uploaded Stanza to my iPhone and have collected a small but eclectic collection of reading matter. However, if I took my iPhone on holiday I’d get very disapproving looks from Mrs Gee.
Ah, the sea. What is the magic of the sea? I have a theory that the beach is the natural habitat of Homo sapiens, which is why we like to spend time there.
@Steffi – well, I hope I haven’t caused you too much consternation!
@Clare – thanks! I’ll try to remember to report back, though even without pedalo distractions, I’m not the speediest of readers…
@Henry – Somehow I don’t think reading on the iPhone would be quite as relaxing. I still prefer heft and feel of a book. And the attraction to the sea – isn’t that just our inner fish?
I don’t think it’s our inner fish. There is increasing evidence that when Hom sap first evolved in Africa around 200,000 years ago, the first thing he did was head for the beach. There he learned to eat seafood, full of healthful omega-3 fatty acids. Art, culture, debate, warfare, genocide and Richard P Grant swiftly followed.
…nd Richard P Grant swiftly followed
If only that Watchmaker could see, that would never have happened!
Ha, ha Stephen – I also
blamethank Maxine for a renewed interest in crime fiction, and a friend contributed by giving me one of Jacqueline Winspear’s Maisie Dobbs mysteries, as well as Colin Cotterill’s The Coroner’s Lunch. I’m taking a long weekend before classes start next week, and I’m hoping to finish Stieg Larsson’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.Reading books on my iPhone would give me a headache – I must have some sort of brain defect, I guess.
Happy holidaying!
My favorite crime fiction, which I keep foisting on everyone I know, is the Harriet Vane/Peter Whimsey series by Dorothy L. Sayers (kicking off with ‘Strong Poison’). They are very intellectual and also very romantic — and the London interwar period is a colorful backdrop. I don’t tend to read much of the genre, but these books are really a wonderful exception.
I liked Gaudy Night very much.
I’m not sure the iPhone would be good for a very long read, but it’s nice for short stories to while away time on the train. I’m renewing my acquaintance with the ghost stories of M. R. James.
I’ve just finished Strong Poison and enjoyed it very much. Is Have His Carcase next?
I enjoy non-fiction, but I read it slooooowly. I just finished Bad Science after a good few months of dipping in and out. In contrast I started a novel late last night, and I’m already about 1 cm in.
Recommending books to read is one thing I don’t mind being blamed for! Thanks for noticing my reviews, Stephen and Kristi.
The CWA International Dagger shortlist comprises perfect holiday reading – and Kristi, if you don’t know already, Colin Cotterill just won “The CWA dagger in the library” prize, something along lines of “most loved by library borrowers”. I think the Coroner’s Lunch is a lovely, original book with great humanity (despite its harsh context of 1970s Laos) and hope you like it. The author has recently started blogging, actually – his first post was a very funny one about how the publisher re-titled one of his books. As such matters are one of the regular topics of this blog, you might be interested to look. Enjoy!
Richard – here are the Dororthy L. Sayers books in order.
I liked The naturalist is a good novel.
Thanks for the tip-off Jenny – judging from the comments, DLS seems to be a popular choice…
Cath – for me the speed depends only on the quality of the story-telling, whether it be fiction or non-fiction.
And thanks for all that supplementary information Maxine – good job! 😉
Happy hols everyone!
Thanks Maxine, I got your DM too 😉
I started a novel late last night, and I’m already about 1 cm in
Cath, I love your approach to measuring reading progress there 😉
That blog post from Cotterill is hilarious, Maxine – thanks for linking it. The Coroner’s Lunch is one of the best novels I’ve read this year; the characters are so engaging and interesting, and their resourcefulness in the face of poverty and the aftermath of war is impressive, yet believable. One thing that The Coroner’s Lunch shares with a crime novel (Åsa Larsson’s The Blood Spilt) set in a very different location, is a sympathetic portrayal of a character who has a developmental disability. Seems to me that such a choice has the potential to go very wrong, or to seem contrived, but in both cases it worked very well.
The Dorothy Sayers crime novels are easy to find at my local library; the Scandinavian crime fiction, not so much. I get frustrated trying to track the latter down at other city libraries, so I end up buying the books. If anyone wants to swap crime fiction, let me know. 😉
I have the same speed disparities reading non-fiction vs. fiction, Cath.
_The die sintflut kam_is a great work.
Ehe Die Sintflut Kam ,that is
Bit late for this thread, but rather serendipitously we have started a bit of a crime lit discussion en passant in the comments following this post.
Interested by Stephen’s mention of the moon landing 40th anniversary coverage. Having watched it all as a child in the 60s, I reckon the space programme was very key in capturing kids’ imaginations and showing them the possibilities of science and technology. I can’t think of a contemporary equivalent.
Henry
apparently I missed an opportunity to meet you a couple weeks ago when we were up in Blakeney eating strawberries and cream and walking along the marsh.
oh what a lovely place it is that you live.
woops that comment was for Henry. Are you going up north to the beach? I am finally home and am catching up on the bloggers…
Steffi, it was lying all the way across the room, on a whole different sofa, so it was far too arduous for me to pick it up and count how many pages I’d read! But I could see the position of the book mark from where I was sitting.
Kristi, I’m glad it’s not just me! I feel very ADHD when I try to read non-fiction. I do enjoy it, and the book can be as engaging and well-written as any novel, but I just seem to need the hook of a fictional narrative to get into any sustained reading.
The important thing with starting a new novel is to try to get over the hump in the first reading, the hump being the point at which you stop having to go back a few pages to remember who a new character is and what they’re doing there.