Every 14 Days...(49)

Familiar Things (Hwang Sok-yong)

I liked the cover of this book, and the premise drew me in somewhat. However, on reading, I was less than captivated.

Bugeye is a teenager who moves into a landfill site with his mother after his father is sent away. Starting their new life collecting thrown-out scraps to salvage and sell on, they befriend one of the site chiefs and his son, Baldspot. What follows is the developing relationship between the two sons, the strange characters they meet and their dips into the big city, before a rather predictable turn of events.

The setting is one that feels slightly like ones you have encountered before: a post-apocalyptic-like world of waste left behind in the wake of modern progress. The characters are the forgotten ones, cast aside by society, much like the waste the scavenge through. Nothing here particularly feels that original.

The style of writing also has some moments of cringe, particularly in describing the Nintendo that Bugeye buys; written as if an MP trying to be down with the kids. There are also some slightly more fantastical elements that to some extent lose me.

That said, this is an enjoyable enough read and plods along relatively nicely enough. But the fact that this isn't the most exhilarating writing or original work makes this a little too familiar to stand-out too much.

Days to read: 12

Days per book: 14.7

Adrian Mole: The Cappuccino Years (Sue Townsend)

Yet a further installment in the Mole series ticked off, in chronological order, no less.

This, being the fifth, starts a couple of years after "The Wilderness Years", Mole now a soon-to-be-divorced father of one, then two sons. In his thirties, he sees some minor fame as a TV chef, and is finally offered the chance at his dream: being a published author.

As always, he fails in all these things at the start of the Blair Years in the late Nineties. He has successfully alienated his wife, abandoned his son - and not even aware of the second - shown a pure lack of charisma for the camera and simply incapable of writing the simple words he so often yearns for.

Luckily for him, life finds a way of rewarding him: inheriting a house off a man he barely knew; with his mother essentially saving him in everything.

The longer diary entries suggests the sophistication he believes he has, but in his thirties and back living at home, relying on his mother and bemoaning his parents' marital problems, he is firmly back at 13 3/4.

Days to read: 19

Days per book: 14.7

Straight Outta Crawley (Romesh Ranganathan)

When riding a wave of success, it's pretty much standard now for a comedian to write a cash-in book, however necessary one may be. Ranganathan is no different. Pretty much always on the television these days, that cash cow must be milked. As indicated in his introduction, this book was bought for me as a gift and I thus felt obliged to read it.

As the title suggests, this book breaks down his life into various themes, with a pun on a hip hop "classic" as the title for each chapter. The key issues covered are: his start in stand-up ("Could the Real Romesh Ranganathan Please Stand up?"); his childhood obesity and subsequent veganism ("Lose Yourself)"; his mother ("Mama Said Knock You Out"); etc.

Despite switching the chronology up a little, there is a general timeline that is followed throughout, and the earlier parts are the more interesting. His dabbles with hip hop, his career as a teacher, his parental problems during his childhood and his start in comedy are the more interesting parts of the book.

Once fame comes into it, it gets a little bit more boring, anecdotes usually ending "I died on my arse" and with his profile now so great, it feels little more than a DVD extra of "Behind the scenes" tales from the recording of TV shows.

Luckily, his fame comes late on, so this doesn't take up too much of the book, the more enlightening and interesting points in life coming before all that. In fact, his stories from his days as a teacher, starting to try-out the odd bit of stand-up, is where the most interesting moments come from, with some genuine advice on how to deal with unruly teenagers. And I didn't mind this accompanying my Tube journey in each morning - there is enough variety here to keep you entertained.

These books are written at a time when fame is at its peak, so sales will be greatest. His life as a real person is more interesting, and writing about his post-fame days will be best off written in a fair few years' time when there is more interesting stuff to say. But by then, will anybody be reading?

Days to read: 9

Days per book: 14.7

Journey by Moonlight (Antal Szerb)

Reading Antal Szerb's "Journey By Moonlight", I couldn't help but keep Umberto Eco "The Name of the Rose" in mind. That's what happens when two books have an Italian setting and feature some sort of monk.

Mihaly's recent marriage to his new wife Erszi is something of a fallacy for both of them. Mihaly still yearns for the days of his bohemian youth in 1920s Budapest, yet feels the need to conform to society's norms; while Erszi has left her older, rich husband for more of a sense of adventure with Mihaly. The truth is that neither is getting what they truly want from the other.

Starting their honeymoon in Italy, Erszi learns some more about Mihaly's past, with the revelations soon seeing the pair split on their journey. Going their separate ways, Mihaly digs deep into his past with some soul searching, while Erszi sets off for Paris and days of nearly being wild. Both soon find themselevs, however, back where they were before they met.

Mihaly is essentially a man who doesn't want to move on from his student days; wanting to keep the friendships and sense of whimsy he had then. His training and job are explained as trying to conform, but are not for him. Though in reality, he is a man clinging to a past while others have moved on and grown up. This sense of nostalgia is one he will have to grow out of.

While full of convenient coincidences, Szerb's tale is one of the dangers of living too much in the past and allowing thoughts of youth to take over. Gut-wrenching whimsy at what might have been and what happened to those yesteryears is dangerous and can see your present crumble without even realising. Perhaps it's better to be happy with what you've got than think too much about what you left behind.

Days to read: 12

Days per book: 14.7

The Book of Tokyo (Various)

As part of a series of short story collections centred around certain cities, it's fair to say that "The Book of Tokyo", like any city, is a mixed bag of the good the bad and the weird. It can often be the case with Japanese shorts that they can veer off into strange and dark alleyways, and this is no exception. With contributions from some big international names and some less-so, whether or not you get an accurate portrait of Tokyo from these is anyone's guess. A bit like how to interpret Tokyo itself.

Of the ten included, a couple pass-by barely noticeable: Kaori Ekuni's "Picnic" and Nao-Cola Yamazaki's "Dad, I Love You" can be completed without really remembering much of what you read. Another couple plod along nicely, but fail to really leave you with any firm conclusions: "A House for Two" by Mitsuyo Kakuta has some nice moments; and Osamu Hashimoto's "Vortex" likewise. The weird is delivered in the form of the book's opener, Hideo Furukawa's "Model T Frankenstein", which is perhaps best got out the way early; and the biggest name in the book, Banana Yoshimoto's "Mummy".

Two authors with recent successful novels, Hiromi Kawakami and Shuichi Yoshida deliver nice efforts with "The Hut on the Roof" and "An Elevator on Sunday" respectively, but, for me, the strongest efforts come from the perhaps less-known Toshiyuki Horie and Hitomi Kanahara. Horie's story of essentially a hostel for female tourists who end up working hostess bars offers some interesting social comment on foreigners working in Tokyo; while Kanahara's deadpan humour as her heroine fantasises about having sex with every man she walks passed, with some explicit but nonetheless humourous detail of these encounters.

There are definitely better short stories from Japan out there, and better collections. What this collection offers is a slightly less obvious portrait of the lives of those living in the city and confirms that whatever it is it's definitely not normal.

Days to read: 9

Days per book: 14.6