Mirthful's bookblog

Playing catchup on the review front here… It’s been a couple of weeks since I finished Stardust by Neil Gaiman.

I loved it. However, I didn’t love it anywhere near as much as I loved some of Gaiman’s other novels. It feels a bit like a first draft, to be honest, one that needs filling in. The sky pirates, for example, I need to read more about them. And the story of Stronghold, of Primus and Septimus especially: I’d like a bit more. Primus is interesting, but he is here and gone so quickly that I was left gasping for air (metaphorically).

And Tristran Thorn, our hero, well, I didn’t entirely fall for him.

On the other hand, the descriptions of Faerie are lovely. The star that turns out to be fairly human, the lilim, the little hairy man (gotta love him and his impatience) and a host of other characters that would probably be worth a whole novel to themselves.

One thing, though: I’ve seen Victoria Forester described as shallow in several reviews, which I think is a bit unfair. As far as I can gather, she sends Tristran on a fool’s errand in the hope that he’ll bugger off home and be ashamed of promising more than he can live up to, and so leave her alone. She seems genuinely distressed at him actually going off on a quest, and is willing to keep her promises to him when he returns, despite the fact that she is clearly in love with someone else. Tristran, on the other hand, seems to (imagine himself to) be in love with Victoria simply because she is “the prettiest girl within a 100 mile radius”. That’s what I call shallow.

Still and all, I did love it. And I think I’m going to try to get hold of the illustrated version. And I might even see the film. I’ll have to think about that one.

Our edition includes the first chapter of a possible other story featuring Wall. I wish Gaiman would hurry up and write that one, it sounds perfectly ripping.

The Tale of Desperaux – Di Collofello
Very sweet. Not exceptionally good, though, and with an underlying sort of morality which bothered me. Since I rather like rats I objected to the description of them being so nasty to look at and touch (especially in comparison with mice, which are, apparently, not nasty at all), but I can understand how it might be necessary for the story. However, I can’t quite excuse the idea that a rat is a rat and can never change his nature, it smacks – to me – a little of the I’m-trying-to-be-politically-correct-but-I’m-a-racist-really premise that all, say, negroes are lazy, but it’s in their nature and they can’t really help it. Balderdash.

Small Wars Permitting – Christina Lamb
Very interesting, highly readable. My father just finished this when I was trying to get through Sorting Out Billy (see below) and there was no competition, really, I jumped at the chance to read something else. Lamb manages to be both informative, profound and thought-provoking and at the same time laugh-out-loud funny in places. The book contains both newly written context material and quite a few of Lambs articles from various papers and both are equally readable and absorbing. Highly recommended.

Then, a bit of a Durrell reread going on – in between all the other stuff – if I find the time and energy I might write a more detailed post on Durrell, but for now, here’s a list:
The Bafut Beagles – Gerald Durrell
Fillets of Plaice – Gerald Durrell
The Stationary Ark – Gerald Durrell
A Zoo in my Luggage – Gerald Durrell
Catch me a Colobus – Gerald Durrell
The Dunken Forest – Gerald Durrell
Himself and Other Animals – David Hughes (biography)

Sorting Out Billy – Jo Brand
I read only the first half, or thereabouts and then gave it up in disgust. Abysmally bad, actually.

The Book of Lost Things – John Connolly
Entertaining, slightly scary in parts. Well worth the time.

Anybody Out There? – Marian Keyes
Excellent. I was a little worried, not being a great fan of spiritualism and trying to speak to the dead, however, Keyes managed the issue beautifully, I think, and I didn’t cringe even once.

Slam – Nick Hornby
Hornby’s first “young adult” novel, which probably should be compulsory reading for most British teenagers as a sort of literary contraception. Not Hornby’s best book – by far – from an adult point of view, but then that’s hardly the right point of view for judging it.

American Gods – Neil Gaiman
Superb.

A Ramble Round the Globe – Thomas Dewar
Disappointingly unoccupied with whisky or with advertising, the two main reasons I am interested in Tommy Dewar, but a rather interesting read nonetheless.

The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid – Bill Bryson
Just what you’d expect from Bill Bryson: Very good.

A rather beautiful book, another one that came my way thanks to bookcrossing. Bolton’s illustrations are magnificent and the story is concurrently charming and haunting, just as Commedia dell’arte should be. I will have to keep this copy for a while and enjoy it again before sending it on its way (and also, probably, put it on the wishlist).

Good Omens arrived in my office as part of a bookcrossing bookring. I’ve never managed to read a Terry Pratchett novel before, and I’ve only really glanced at Neil Gaiman’s graphic novels, so it was really a case of two new writers in one go. I enjoyed it more than I expected to, really. It’s not laugh-out-loud funny, but chuckleworthy in places and bits of the – for lack of a better word – moral of the story will probably stick with me. On the whole pretty good.

(the book’s journal)