Politic: December 2012

The Beautiful and the Grotesque (Akutagawa Ryunosuke)

Japanese literary legend Akutagawa is a writer I’ve come across more from film adaptations than actually reading his work. I have polished off a few of his shorts (boom boom) in the past, most notably ‘Rashomon’ and ‘In a Grove’, but with ‘The Beautiful and the Grotesque’ I have more than doubled the number of his works that I have consumed.

A mix of weird and wonderful, the collection is started by a rather intriguing, if not overly long and bemusing, introduction by translator, John McVittie, which sets the collection in a strange context. Typically well written, the collection is full of interesting life lessons in short story format that chiefly inform, educate and entertain.

But while each story has its own place, reading endless back-to-back new stories can leave some flying passed with barely a word being taken in. while some show why so much has been put on his talents, others I can barely remember, and so may have to be read another day…if I can be arsed.

Days to read: 22

Days per book: 14.3

Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman (Murakami Haruki)

From one legend of Japanese writing to a more modern day equivalent – though not so much in his motherland. And another long collection of short stories – will I ever learn?! With an introduction by the author himself, the collection is both old and new, with some of his very first short stories previously unreleased in English combined with some newer works.

Like in previous anthologies of his that I’d read, some of the shorts were turned into full novels and so some of what was read was familiar, and the inclusion of ‘Tony Takitani’, made into an excellent film, I was often aware of the end results.

The stories here all have something in common: being rather strange. As with much of his work, there has to be a sense of accepting the incredible and once that’s done, they can be enjoyed. There are hits and misses here, but overall entertaining.

This now marks my completion of all Murakami’s work translated into English and available in the UK, so someone needs to either translate his earlier stuff of he needs to write some more.

It was also while reading this book that my ‘Every 14 Days’ experiment shot to fame via Richard Herring’s ‘Warming Up’ blog. Read here and listen there. 50 books read in 716 days, falling just short of my target two years in to this failed experiment and counting…

Days to read: 16

Days per book: 14.3

I Can Make You Hate (Charlie Brooker)

The latest in the line of the father Konnie Huq’s son’s columns from ‘The Guardian’ and more of the same. With the death of his ‘Screen Burn’ column part way through the time period, some scripts from his television shows have been thrown in for fun. However, as these are items done using cutaways and video clips, they are not always as effective in print and so could have been left out at little detriment to the overall collection.

The removal of ‘Screen Burn’ means that there are less ‘Big Brother’ obsessed moments and more of a range of topics to entertain while your anus is expanded as you evacuate your bowels.

Days to read: 11

Days per book: 14.2

Back Story (David Mitchell)

Sex, drugs and rock n roll. This is neither the time nor the place.

It’s fair to say that David Mitchell hasn’t exactly lived a wild and crazy existence up until now. Despite obviously having the interesting aspect of a career in television comedy to comment on, his life outside of work could be described as quite unremarkable: He went to a minor public school, then was chairman of Footlights at Cambridge before taking the leap to work low level jobs in London while trying to fulfil the ambition of a career in the media that many fail to achieve.

While he’d certainly be the most interesting of your friends and one to definitely include on the invites to a dinner party, he has little of a love life in which to speak of and the only real scandal surrounding him is that he isn’t as similar to Mark Corrigan in real life as one might have originally thought. And that’s what makes this a more interesting autobiography than many.

Keeping in line with a lack of any shocking life events of which to speak, the memoir is based around the fact that after suffering from a bad back, he was encouraged to take walks to improve his physical state. Staring off in his home in Kilburn, Mitchell makes his way through the London streets, ending at Television Centre, Wood Green. Along the journey, various landmarks recall a chronological account of the various stages of his life. Maybe not completely original in chronological and metaphorical recounting, but nice nonetheless.

What it lacks in shock value it makes up for in pure pedantry in his trademark logical manner. It’s an honest account – particularly regarding his recent engagement – and provides insight into his opinions on how television works and why most of it is lacking. And if reading at Waterloo Station, a fat woman might say ‘good choice’ to you.

Days to read: 19

Days per book: 14.3

Politic

Saturday 29 December 2012

Lights (Adapted AKA Sein)

Tuesday 11 December 2012

Every 14 Days...(14)

Wednesday 5 December 2012

Politic 19