Every 14 Days...(23)

Chronicle of a Death Foretold (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)

Second attempt at a Gabriel Garcia Marquez short novel and a much better experience this time around.

Written from the perspective of a returning townsfolk, it follows people's recollections of a murder in the village following a wedding at which the whole village was involved. Patchy details follow as the protagonist tries to uncover the story of what happened to his friend that day, with the more he discovers, the more he finds that everyone knew the murder was about to happen and simply stood by as the situation unfolded.

With the murderers obvious and known by all, the real discovery is of how the village murdered Santiago Nasar, with everybody knowing, everybody speaking, but nobody acting in an indictment of the realities of community spirit.

Days to read: 7

Days per book: 15.0

Stalin Ate my Homework (Alexei Sayle)

I've been meaning to read this for quite some time and recently decided to get off my arse and do it. Now, I'm not a Jewish Communist Scouser, but now I feel like I know what it would be to be one.  This autobiography focuses on his school years up to the age of eighteen, but is as much a story about his formative years as it is the changing political face of the Britain and mainland Europe.

This is a memoir full of subtle comedy, the politics of his eccentric parents and various travels to Eastern Europe during the Soviet years, with exotic summer holidays to Czechoslovakia and Lake Balaton in Hungary.

To be honest, I was probably wanting to read this to get tales of 'The Young Ones' and the rise alternative comedy in the Seventies and Eighties - the clue was in the title that this is not what you would get. But, my foolish expectations aside, this is a very good read by an important figure in Twentieth Century British comedy.

Days to read: 14

Days per book: 15.0

Of Love and other Demons (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)

This was another short and cheap purchase, deigned to get my 'days per book' average down, as well as try another Gabriel Garcia Marquez short novel. Again he looks at a victim of local community, with a young girl shunned by everybody, including her parents, after being bitten by a rabid dog, made to live with slaves before being imprisoned within a convent. Soon, everyone deems her possessed, rather than suffering from illness. The priest tasked with exorcising her demons is the one of the few to sympathise with her condition.

This sits very nicely alongside 'Chronicle of a Death Foretold', acting as a criticism of modernised living and the complexity of morality within a wider community. What is right and wrong has been predetermined by religion social convention, with few prepared to question it, instead falling in-line with the group and failing to think for themselves.

Days to read: 12

Days per book: 15.0

Strange Weather in Tokyo (Hiromi Kawakami)

This was a book I felt almost compelled to purchase, falling victim, as I was, to Internet search engine Nazis, forcing suggestions up my urethral opening (no casual racism terms here). Based on my reading of Murakamis of all varieties, I had this piece of modern, popularist Japanese literature on my laptop screen on a regular basis, even more than vulgar, graphic images!

A quote from some magazine or other (Monocle) on the back cover talks of how this 'paints perfectly the lightness and delicacy of modern Tokyo.' This is indeed true. There are many images of Tokyo that one can have in their mind, but one that will be present is the very clean, minimalist, chic, stylised view of modern, professional society. Surface-level cool, with designer brands and Michelin-star restaurants. It's very much a Western image of Tokyo that you are likely to find in Hollywood movies. This 'love story' fits in to this image of a utopian world in the Far East.

Tsukiko, a middle-aged singleton develops a nightly binge-drinking relationship with her former school teacher, the obviously-now-much-older 'Sensei'. The more they drink together, the more they grow close, but their history, age and social convention prevent anything from ever really happening. And that is largely that.

One word for this is definitely 'light', there is nothing too deep here, never getting fully under the skin of the characters, being a nice read, but maybe ultimately a little annoying for it. The Japanese title of 'Sensei no kaban' ('Teacher's Briefcase') is much more intriguing as to some of the more hidden elements in the story.

This is light and clean, but needs some more of the grime of the city streets.

Days to read: 12

Days per book: 14.9