Someone Like You is a compilation of short stories aimed at adults. I’m not quite sure why it’s called Someone Like You, as there’s nothing romantic about them at all – although I think I connect the title with the song by Adele, which doesn’t mean that it should necessarily have anything romantic about it.
In fact, the reverse is the case. These stories all have really horrible twists and subtexts, and they almost make you keep reading even though you really don’t want to know what happens next.
I enjoyed reading the short stories because they weren’t connected with each other (except for the general theme of awfulness) and it was therefore easy to pick up and read a story at a time. However, the one thing I would say is that there were so many stories – and some of them did seem a little repetitive – that by the time I was about 3/4 of the way through I just wanted to have finished them already. That might have had something to do with the fact that I had just got my reading list for Uni and just wanted to start reading them, so I really can’t blame Dahl for that.
Indeed, I can’t really fault his writing. Although he uses a different style to the one he employs in his children’s stories, you can still tell that it’s his voice. The names are often equally amusing as some of his children’s book characters, and the imagination put into each story is very impressive. There were so many stories – and this is only one of a series of collections – and they all had an element which made you cringe in horror or disgust, which really makes the reader admire the talent of the author.
One that sticks in my mind is when a man arrives home (he lives in India) to find his friend with a venomous snake curled up on his stomach under the bed sheets. They spend the story devising ways to remove it without awaking it and letting it bite the friend. The imagery used just made me envision this snake, and I couldn’t help cringing at the thought because it was so horrible! Another was about a man who bet another man his daughter’s hand in marriage, and this second man cheated on the bet. It ended with the first man discovering it, and ended there so we never found out what happened to the daughter!
In fact, this happened a lot in these stories: they deliberately ended just before the story ought to end so that we never found out what happened. It was a very effective ploy, and keeps the stories in your mind much longer than they normally would.
Thursday 28 June 2012
Thursday 14 June 2012
The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald
I just finished reading this a couple of days ago, and I really enjoyed it. I don’t know why, but before I bought the book, I hadn’t a clue what it was about. I thought the title meant some kind of big horse race. Don’t even ask me why. I suppose it’s like the Grand National (biggest horse race in Britain)…? But when I realised that it was about New York in the 1920s, I knew I had to read it.
The 20s is my favourite period. I love the fashion, the architecture, the literature, the art, the music, the BYTs and the party atmosphere. I love films about the 20s, because it really comes alive for me. Have you seen Midnight in Paris? I saw it the other day, and I loved it. That night I dreamt that the same thing happened to me! Seriously, one of the best dreams ever.
So The Great Gatsby was inevitably going to be something I enjoyed. And I really did. As I’ve said a lot recently, I loved the writing style. It was very light (if that makes sense) and vivid. The descriptions of Gatsby’s parties were so magical and fairy-like that they were enchanting. Then the profound passages scattered about made you think about the wider scope of things, about humanity and time and all that deep stuff. And there I have just cheapened it.
The characters were also interesting. I liked Nick as a narrator, and although I used to think it strange that the narrator (if it was written in first person) wasn’t the main character, I’ve read enough now to have got used to it. I didn’t feel the need to know about his life. Obviously it wasn’t that I didn’t care, but it was written in a way that makes us accept that we don’t need to focus on him. That said, there were some scenes in which Nick wasn’t actually there, and couldn’t have known what happened. There was a scene between Mr Wilkes after his wife’s death and his neighbour, in which Nick was nowhere near, and yet full dialogue was given with no explanation as to how Nick knows this. I suppose we’re just supposed to accept it, but it did stand out a bit.
I couldn’t tell whether we were supposed to like Daisy or not. I personally didn’t. As soon as she started going off with Gatsby, I had a feeling that it wasn’t going to last. She struck me as a coward who would bend to her husband’s will. I didn’t think she could ever leave him because she was too frightened of what society would think, or of hurting him, or of what life with Gatsby would be like. I get it. It’s a big risk: especially since she hadn’t seen Gatsby in five years, but you would have thought that she’d make up her mind quickly so as not to lead either man on.
And then, of course, there’s Gatsby. Gatsby was certainly an enigma, wasn’t he? (I realise that if you haven’t read this book, things might not be making much sense to you! Sorry!) I quite liked him. There was something naive and innocent about him – especially when it came to Daisy. He was so eager to see her again, and then so horribly embarrassed, and then absolutely head over heels in love with her that it was really quite sweet. Maybe that’s why I disliked Daisy because she wouldn’t say whether she chose him over her husband. I quite liked not knowing about his past. You didn’t feel like you needed to know. He seems so in the moment that anything he’s done before seems fairly irrelevant. So even though we do find out bits about him, I didn’t mind not knowing everything.
But then, the end. The end. THAT was not expected. Ok, I’m not going to say what happens, in case you want to read the book and hate being spoiled (I hate being spoiled too, so I feel your pain). I really think that if you’re going to read it you can’t known what happens at the end because it’ll spoil the rest of it. If you really want to know, say so in the comments and I’ll tell you there! But I will say that BLIMEY I DID NOT EXPECT THAT! Anyone else who’s read it feel the same? I wasn’t sad, though. Maybe I didn’t get so attached to that particular character as I thought.
Anyway, a film version of this is coming out on Christmas Day (Christmas Day? Why?), starring Leonardo Di Caprio as Gatsby, Carey Mulligan as Daisy (love Carey Mulligan) and Toby Maguire as Nick. Here’s the trailer:
I'm so going to see it!
The 20s is my favourite period. I love the fashion, the architecture, the literature, the art, the music, the BYTs and the party atmosphere. I love films about the 20s, because it really comes alive for me. Have you seen Midnight in Paris? I saw it the other day, and I loved it. That night I dreamt that the same thing happened to me! Seriously, one of the best dreams ever.
So The Great Gatsby was inevitably going to be something I enjoyed. And I really did. As I’ve said a lot recently, I loved the writing style. It was very light (if that makes sense) and vivid. The descriptions of Gatsby’s parties were so magical and fairy-like that they were enchanting. Then the profound passages scattered about made you think about the wider scope of things, about humanity and time and all that deep stuff. And there I have just cheapened it.
The characters were also interesting. I liked Nick as a narrator, and although I used to think it strange that the narrator (if it was written in first person) wasn’t the main character, I’ve read enough now to have got used to it. I didn’t feel the need to know about his life. Obviously it wasn’t that I didn’t care, but it was written in a way that makes us accept that we don’t need to focus on him. That said, there were some scenes in which Nick wasn’t actually there, and couldn’t have known what happened. There was a scene between Mr Wilkes after his wife’s death and his neighbour, in which Nick was nowhere near, and yet full dialogue was given with no explanation as to how Nick knows this. I suppose we’re just supposed to accept it, but it did stand out a bit.
I couldn’t tell whether we were supposed to like Daisy or not. I personally didn’t. As soon as she started going off with Gatsby, I had a feeling that it wasn’t going to last. She struck me as a coward who would bend to her husband’s will. I didn’t think she could ever leave him because she was too frightened of what society would think, or of hurting him, or of what life with Gatsby would be like. I get it. It’s a big risk: especially since she hadn’t seen Gatsby in five years, but you would have thought that she’d make up her mind quickly so as not to lead either man on.
And then, of course, there’s Gatsby. Gatsby was certainly an enigma, wasn’t he? (I realise that if you haven’t read this book, things might not be making much sense to you! Sorry!) I quite liked him. There was something naive and innocent about him – especially when it came to Daisy. He was so eager to see her again, and then so horribly embarrassed, and then absolutely head over heels in love with her that it was really quite sweet. Maybe that’s why I disliked Daisy because she wouldn’t say whether she chose him over her husband. I quite liked not knowing about his past. You didn’t feel like you needed to know. He seems so in the moment that anything he’s done before seems fairly irrelevant. So even though we do find out bits about him, I didn’t mind not knowing everything.
But then, the end. The end. THAT was not expected. Ok, I’m not going to say what happens, in case you want to read the book and hate being spoiled (I hate being spoiled too, so I feel your pain). I really think that if you’re going to read it you can’t known what happens at the end because it’ll spoil the rest of it. If you really want to know, say so in the comments and I’ll tell you there! But I will say that BLIMEY I DID NOT EXPECT THAT! Anyone else who’s read it feel the same? I wasn’t sad, though. Maybe I didn’t get so attached to that particular character as I thought.
Anyway, a film version of this is coming out on Christmas Day (Christmas Day? Why?), starring Leonardo Di Caprio as Gatsby, Carey Mulligan as Daisy (love Carey Mulligan) and Toby Maguire as Nick. Here’s the trailer:
I'm so going to see it!
The Mitford Girls - Mary S. Lovell
I’ve been doing a lot of book reviews recently. It’s quite ironic that I’ve been doing more since I finished all my modules than I did when I was actually supposed to be reading a book a week.
The book I have just finished I actually started last summer – just before I went back to Uni. As term started and I had more and more things to do I had to stop reading it, and I just picked it up again a couple of weeks ago. It’s a biography of the Mitford Sisters: Nancy, Pam, Diana, Unity, Decca and Debo. I don’t know if you’ve heard of them – they were very famous at the time, especially between 1930 and 1950 – but quite a few of them wrote novels, so you may have read them.
In case you don’t know who they are, here’s a brief summary:
1. Nancy Mitford
Nancy was the oldest and although she had a disastrous love life, she had an immensely successful career. She wrote a large number of books including The Pursuit of Love, Love in a Cold Climate and The Blessing, as well as various biographies.
2. Pamela Mitford
Pam (nicknamed The Woman, for some reason) was perhaps the least well-known Mitford, and lived a very quiet life.
3. Diana Mitford
Diana was officially named Britain’s Most Hated Woman during the Second World War because she and her husband Oswald Mosely were friends with Adolf Hitler. They were also Fascists, like Hitler, and this made the British public scared for the safety of their democracy. She was imprisoned in horrific conditions for three years, forbidden to see her children or family.
4. Unity Mitford
Unity was as much a Fascist as Diana, and she was enamoured by Hitler. She lived in Germany for a good few years and made very good friends with him. However, she really didn’t want there to be a war between England and Germany, and when war was declared in 1939 she tried to kill herself by shooting herself in the head. She did not succeed and was permanently brain-damaged, resulting in her premature death.
5. Jessica Mitford
Jessica (more commonly known as Decca) liked to call herself the Black Sheep of the family, because she was staunchly Communist and ran away from home when she was a teenager to fight in the Spanish Civil War. She married her cousin Esmond and the two moved to America, but he died in WWII. She was very active within the American Communist party, and later the Civil Rights movement, and later in her life she wrote a series of controversial non-fiction books including The America Way of Death. She wrote an autobiography called Hons and Rebels which is also very famous.
6. Deborah Mitford
Debo was the youngest of the sisters and was the one who tried hardest to keep the peace between the sisters throughout the years. They were a very argumentative group, and she was one of the few who tried to maintain happiness. She married the Duke of Devonshire and was instrumental in resurrecting Chatsworth House, one of the most renowned houses in the country, and she still lives there now.
The Mitford Girls is a biography of them all, and is absolutely fascinating. I’d read some books by Nancy before, and I’d heard of Decca because she’s JK Rowling’s idol, and JK Rowling’s my idol, so I know way too much about her.
The biographer Mary Lovell has written it incredibly well, and manages to flow between the narratives of all the sisters impeccably. You can hardly tell where one story ends and the next one starts, it’s that deft. She has evidently thoroughly researched it, and all the extracts from letters make it really enjoyable to read. It doesn’t feel like a biography or a non-fiction book: it feels like a story. Even though there are a lot of politics discussed between the 30s and 40s which it would help a little to know about beforehand, it really doesn’t detract from the understanding.
I feel like I’ve learnt a lot from reading it, and although I don’t read biographies very often and thought this would be fairly challenging, I felt as though I breezed through it. If you have any interest in any one of these women or the period of time they inhabited, then I highly recommend reading this book!
The book I have just finished I actually started last summer – just before I went back to Uni. As term started and I had more and more things to do I had to stop reading it, and I just picked it up again a couple of weeks ago. It’s a biography of the Mitford Sisters: Nancy, Pam, Diana, Unity, Decca and Debo. I don’t know if you’ve heard of them – they were very famous at the time, especially between 1930 and 1950 – but quite a few of them wrote novels, so you may have read them.
In case you don’t know who they are, here’s a brief summary:
1. Nancy Mitford
2. Pamela Mitford
3. Diana Mitford
4. Unity Mitford
5. Jessica Mitford
6. Deborah Mitford
The Mitford Girls is a biography of them all, and is absolutely fascinating. I’d read some books by Nancy before, and I’d heard of Decca because she’s JK Rowling’s idol, and JK Rowling’s my idol, so I know way too much about her.
The biographer Mary Lovell has written it incredibly well, and manages to flow between the narratives of all the sisters impeccably. You can hardly tell where one story ends and the next one starts, it’s that deft. She has evidently thoroughly researched it, and all the extracts from letters make it really enjoyable to read. It doesn’t feel like a biography or a non-fiction book: it feels like a story. Even though there are a lot of politics discussed between the 30s and 40s which it would help a little to know about beforehand, it really doesn’t detract from the understanding.
I feel like I’ve learnt a lot from reading it, and although I don’t read biographies very often and thought this would be fairly challenging, I felt as though I breezed through it. If you have any interest in any one of these women or the period of time they inhabited, then I highly recommend reading this book!
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