As it is Muriel spark week ,I decide as she was Scottish I decide to do an expanded song for sunday .To include five of my favourite Scottish bands and singers –
First up is Scottish singer songwriter Ivor Cutler ,I can’t remember the exact day I heard Ivor first but I know where I heard it and that was on John Peel ,I ‘d been twelve or thirteen under bed covers listening to his radio show .I remember thinking this guy is surreal and still think that his deadpan delivery and odd humour make him a true one-off .
Second up are the Jesus and Mary chain these were a band I discovered via friends at school or the NME I can’t remember ,but there fuzzy hazy guitar and dark lyric matter soon made me a fan of them like a bastard child of the velvet underground and sex pistols with a bit of lee Hazelwood thrown in these guys looked like no one else in a time of flowers and fey pop .
In the early nineties Irvine Welsh appeared on the lit scene and just before him the Scottish writer James Kelman won the booker so sottish dialect and tales of the dark side of growing up in Scotland were the order of the day so then step up Arab strap another band lead by a singer with deadpan singing style but much darker and up to date than Ivor Cutler .
Fourth up is King creosote a member of the fence collective ,whose members all hail from the Kingdom of Fife in Scotland Crail King Creosote is only eight miles from my Late Gran’s home and near where my Aunt still lives ,also Fife is home to the mighty Rob of Rob around books .
Last I give you the Phantom band a band I ve like for the last few years the debut was in my top ten albums the year it came out ,they seem to embody all the Scottish artists and bands I grew up with in one package .
Well as you all know I turned 40 two weeks ago and these last two weeks been filled with reading for shadow independent foreign fiction prize this is first time in a long while . I have had a set books that I have had to read it strange as it has focused my reading and also up my daily page count (I always try for 100 pages a day some days I do others I just don’t have time too ) as I needed to read 100 plus pages a day to get the books I had not read from the longlist done in the four weeks I had til shortlist comes out as this years list is full of chunky books so I ve been relaxed about blogging and it has suited me I worried too much in the past about how often I posted and tried for daily post but these lat few weeks have shown less is indeed more as I have up the word count on my reviews from an average of 500 now up to 700 I feel this is part of my new-found confidence in my blog and the passion behind the blog which is fiction in translation .Previously I set the bar high and tried one to tie one to many strings to my bow .I know that doing what I do now is the best for me and my own confidence in the blog as a vision of what I want to pass on which is my love of translation ,as for shadow IFFP reading my last two reads the Amos oz scenes from village life then Aharon Appelfeld blooms of darkness both Israeli writers which have touch me in different ways maybe because both writers have had a number of books out so have developed a style of their own which shines out from some of the other books on the list .Also remind me how much I like Hebrew literature which has always been a favourite area of world literature for me .I wonder if other people find being given a list of books and working through them helps focus there minds and blogging style .I missing bloggeista this year as I have lot things I want to do but I think a weekend is to short time to get things in place and as I ve said small steps and fewer posts but more quality in the post I write is the way forward ,so at last a positive view from me I love my blog and have fallen back in love with blogging again .I may also thank my fellow shadow judges for both the IFFP and man asian our chats on twitter and via e-mail have inspired this blogger more than you will ever know .Any way enough with the blog it is april fools day a day for joy and laughter I ll; share a track from Jake Thackray the northern Noel coward or English Jacques Brel he was a singer songwriter who wrote humorous and thought-provoking songs .I recently got his jake in a box which is 8 pound on i tunes a real bargain I think .so I give you sister Josephine a nun that isn’t what she seems .
Well it is here Henry Green Week .I decide to Honour him with a week following a discussion on twitter with the editor of folio society ,about green the have a forthcoming edition of his one of his books .But we also said how he had dropped a bit of the radar for most readers .I felt it was a shame for at the time he was around Green was held in the same esteem as Evelyn Waugh .His writing is inventive and thou he hate being called a modernist ,it has traits of the modernist style although as you see in the link to the Paris review interview here he said he wrote living and he hadn’t even read Ulysses .I ve read Caught his wartime novel about the fire service in London in which He served during the war .I m just in middle of concluding a book set in a school on a single day .So please let me know of your review at end of week I ll do a round-up of posts from round the web .I m looking forward to seeing what people made of his works .
Well its sunday I ve just done my BBAW links for my nomination .I ve had a busy week at work ,but that said I managed to get a bit of reading done all said ,I found a new crime writer I love the Polish writer Marek Krajewski his Eberhard Mock has been a revelation to me ,Krajewski is a master of description so I feel I ve spent a couple of days in 1919 Breslau not 2011 Derbyshire which is good the weather has been terrible here this week.I went to town yesterday with Amanda and pick some books up from Oxfam and a half price copy of the new Julian Barnes which is longlisted for the Booker prize .Amanda went to Bakewell yesterday so we had some Bakewell tart for our supper last night ,the original tart is so much tastier than the other ones you can buy from elsewhere in the country .so that’s been part of my week ,I m keeping an eye on the hurricane and hoping people are safe.
As I went out this morning to take Winston for his morning walk I put my I-pod nano on as I do every day as I went round the tracks shuffled through ,as we walked round .Then mid way it clicked on Titus Andronicus clicked on with a track from there debut album the airing of grievances as you imagine with a band named after a Shakespeare play there are some literary titles on the album and it was one of these it clicked on” Albert Camus ” the french Algerian writer has inspired many bands over the years to name a few The Cure use one of his books for a song and the band The Fall .
then after a track by the Manchester band inspiral carpets ,came up Ryan Adams song Sylvia Plath his ode to the late poet and former with of Ted Hughes ,like Ryan I wish I was in Spain or France today not with Sylvia thou ,with my darling Amanda .I ;love Adams and the album this is from touches me every time I hear it .
Nicholson Baker is an american writer ,I reviewed Vox a few weeks ago as part of the new Granta reissue series and now bring another from the four reissued books with their lovely Village green designed covers .
So U&I what is it about ,well it is about John Updike (a point to note here for the readers is I share a birthday with mr Updike so have a huge soft spot for him ) it is about John Updike books yes and no ,is it about John Updike the man well yes and no ,this book is hard to pin down to a non fiction category ,the book starts with Baker deciding to write a piece for the Atlantic magazine about Updike but as he starts on this it obviously grows into this book .Baker takes us on a journey through his mind and how his mind has absorbed John Updike’s works and his numerous interviews he has read over the years .As we go along this path we dart here and there into Bakers wider reading habits and how he interacts with books and how he has viewed Updike’s criticism in the past ,Updike was a great critic in his day and some one who you feel Baker admired .Now your asking did they know each other well they meet once at a Harvard lampoon party where he got Updike to sign a copy of rabbit is rich ,he was amazed to find out that Updike had read one of his short stories .
AT the offices of the Harvard lampoon ,in november 1984 ,I sprang out in front of him near a plate of ham cutting as he was hurrying leave the post Harvard-Yale game party .
Baker braving first meeting
Hi I’m Nick Baker
I’m John Updike
I know
and they chat briefly
SO what did I make of this book ,I loved it ,I like Bakers loose stream of consciousness style in the book ,it feels like you’re in his head holding a conversation with him ,this is definitely a bibliophile’s book as it is so full of book love ,he mentions so many books and why he likes them I feel I got a hold new insight into some books I ve missed by his slight mentions of them ,as for Updike and I ,the I in this case being me Stu the writer of the blog ,well I ve read four of his book like most people three of them are the rabbit books ,which I feel are the best insight into the post war american experience the other is the eastwick book .I ve a few of his other books on my shelves am I in a rush to read not really I have a soft spot as mention but I also have another 40 plus years hopefully in front of me to get to them so like Baker who has also not read Updike’s Cannon ,I m in no rush to tick him off my read list as I want to experience Updike for years to come and also I feel the same about Baker so the review of the other two reissues will be a some point in the future .
Early this morning the stats on the bloog passed 100,000 views ,this is a huge goal post I remember when I first started blogging and seeing Rob of rob around books mention his blog passing a 100,000 and think that will never happen to me if it does it will be a long time well here it is passed unfortunately I ve not a bobble head Poe like Rob ,but sure winston will be a great replacement as it is the blog named after him .Also on stats ,I lll hit 500 posts ,5000 comments and 200 reviews in the next few months so I ll tell you rather than more posts .
Many thanks from Stu and Winston for visiting winstonsdad
So as I said with Winston’s covers as this week’s chaos descended in the UK,every night watchingthe news and seeing the youth of this country go on the rampage I turned to a book first Dart by Alice Oswald and then after reading about a river ,I wanted to read a book about being on a river and grab my vintage classic copy of Jerome K Jerome’s Three men in a boat ,so I read about a peaceful english life of drift don the Thames on a boat with two friends and a slightly mad dog (sure Winston would love to go on a boat ,saying that he loves the water ).A different world of simple joys ,the book is very pretty as well as it has illustrations by the british comedian Vic Reeves.
I found this an escape from our current situation .So this is the question
how unbelievable there is that many people who don’t want to find the joy of books and reading absolutely shocking ,this comes from a face book page title I hate reading ,how sad that is ! .there are 400,00 plus people out there that miss out on the joy of book .There is a move into using text speak and shorten words by a section of the public out there ,that seem to have not interest or joy in the spoken or written words instead opting for some slang language that will keep them from moving on in life .What is even sadder is the pages for I love reading has 97,000 likes 🙁 .How do we pass the joy of books on?
thanks to Joe the publicist for pointing this out yesterday on twitter
Well I am a funny soul only last week ,I said I didn’t want to do much with book blogger appreciation weeK on twitter ,but must say who ever runs bbaw twitter needs to reply to people numerous mentions and no reply !! that does annoy but as they say a week is a long time in politics in my mind its a lifetime now I want to take full part I may not want to be a part of a certain type of blogging but want meet new bloggers and learn about blogging more and BBAW can help with that .so if you like my little blog nominate me if not don’t lol .I hope to maybe find some new blogs and also get some fresh ideas for the blog of late I ve seem to have got stuck in the mud in my head I need something to spark the blog of again so maybe BBAW will help me get some spark back in the blog .That and the return of my favourite blogger rob of robaround books should see the old dog rise again .I ve nominated already I ve told people I’ve nominate already .
so have fun and as a publicist said on twitter today #ilovereading and I do
This years world book night giveaways are to be decided by us the public by choosing our top ten books .I looked at the current top 100 and have to agree with Meike from Peirene it is a bit bland and from the perspective of winstonsdad the translation choices which there are at this moment ten book are what I would call the ones people think they should read or put in a list even if they’ve not read to look good (sorry needs to be said) .I love Murakami and Marquez but some diffeernt book here would be great open peoples eyes.Well Meike has suggest if we could all choose Beside the sea by Veronique Olmi it is a lovely french gem and is one of my all time favourite reads any way ,at moment 35 votes will get it in the top 100 I ve vote so 34 would do it come on lets help the nymph and the lovely ladies of Peirene make the list ,all of us bloggers and tweeters know how much effort this publisher puts into social media and interaction with its readers more than any major publisher does .So put your hand up and say yes I want the small guy to win for once because we all love the underdogs in this country lets for once get them there ,Meike has written a blog post about this too here ,thanks stu .I will be put up for giving away this time as I was too shy to volunteer last year .
My top ten –
Beside the sea by Veronique Olmi – reason a french gem touching and it will make you gasp if you’ve not read it !
Rings of saturn by W G Sebald reason started my love of translation and it is a book that can be reread and still make you think .
Don Quixote by Miguel Cervantes – reason the first novel it has all in it that has followed since a true master piece .
Ficciones by Jorge Luis Borges reason he was a genius flash fiction avant grade fiction all look at this as a starting point
If on a winters night a traveller by Italo Calvino reason I love it and I know many people hate it but who can’t love a book that talks to you ?
My century by Gunter grass – reason short interlocking pieces covering the 20thcentury from the German master not his best but it is a good insight into Germany .
Cities of red night by William S Burroughs – reason he was a one off writer this book has all a young guy could want from a book and men shou,ld read more !
The last brother by Nathacha Appananah – reason a unheard corner of post ww2 history jewish refugees stuck on a tropical island told touchingly through two young boys tale .
Goodbye to all that by Robert Graves – reason my favourite memoir war is bad and read this you know it is ,a poets eye goes to war .
Walden by Henry David Thoreau – reason if more people had read this would the world be the way it is the simple life as he spent time in nature thinking whilst living in a wooden hut .
Late last year I did a desert island disc post but since then the choices have puzzled me and a recent chat with an old friend on Facebook has made me re think the list and also in the time in between I ve really found my personnel voice and find writing posts flows easier for me so want to redo list now and flesh out choice with reasons .I love desert island disc and since the archive has come online spent a lot time looking at choices of past guests have made in the show .so for take two here are my choices and the reasons for them .
1.Better together – Jack Johnson – I choose this last time I know ,it is a mellow tune but is the first song we had at our wedding and is Amanda and I song .Because we are better together I feel like I ve lost an arm when we re apart ,we get on so well together every minute together is precious to me .so it will always be here in a desert island disc list .
2.Blue ridge mountains by Fleet foxes – I fell in love with the voices of the fleet foxes when I first heard them ,it was one of those moments you hear a song and know the band will be in your collection for ever ,this track from the debut album make me think of the wild places I ve been in my life ,a windswept beach in Donegal ,the moor in Northumberland or driving through the highlands on a summer day .
3.When I ‘m dead and gone – fury in the slaughterhouse ,the german rem or u2 they’ve been called this from the bluesy album mono ,a dark album about death mainly this song about how your remembered is my favourite by them .This to me is a secret band not well-known here ,I found out about them in the time I lived in Germany and it reminds me of that year there .
4.Drowners – suede – this was huge when it came out the new smiths was the take ,gritty lyrics and clashing guitars made it a teenage anthem ,I remember buying it in Kirkcaldy in a small indie record shop there and listening to it at my aunties ,it reminds me of summers in Fife with family strange for a dark song but I always make connections between time and places with what I listen to so if this is dark it makes me think of happy times .
5. Fake empire – the national – this was used as part of Obama campaign ,I got into national via a track on a magazine CD .This is an album that is always on my I-pod nano so it makes me thing of Winston for some reason this album boxer and this track in particular is great dog walking music ,especially on a dark night .
6.I wanna go to marz – John Grant – this is a soulful song about a childhood sweet shop but much more than that ,from an album that I ve played to death since I ve got it ,John grant was the lead singer of the czars and I got their album via my best friend Steve so in some ways this albums reminds me of the great night s of my twenties when Steve, Leon ,my brother Duncan and I went out every friday and saturday drinking round town .I remember the characters we meet the bars and route we took week after week .
7.Late night ,Maudlin street by Morrissey – Well anyone that knows me knows I couldn’t go to a desert island without Morrissey or the smiths I have had a love /hate relationship with him and his music I was a smiths fan and love his debut solo album which this is from this is one of his longest songs and I think one he revealed some of his own life on a song set in the seventies about urban life .I m reminded of the day I brought the album at beat route records in Congleton and the fact for a long time after they had an australian copy with a title misprint on of “education in reverse ” the run out groove message on the vinyl album ,not “viva hate” the actual title .
8.Mfwany by Sir John Betjeman – This is one of his poems set to music ,he record these in the seventies but it took twitter to get to me ,although Morrissey had used a different track as a show opener on his tour .I just love his voice the tone of it and this song in particular .
Book – essays by Ben Okri – a change I choose Proust but I feel this would keep my mind alive Okri essays in his two collections the first of which I ve read m\ke you question books myths ,utopias and the Arcadian myth to name some .
Luxury – same as last time a digital photo frame with my wedding the best day of my life and a couple of pictures of Winston so I’ll have all I love and hold dear to look at .
There I feel this is a better post than the first ,my friend on Facebook said I live on memories and I do but also live for today because as some one said you have to see where you’ve been to see where your going ,that is very true I think .
This weekend in the Guardian ,they had a number of writers picking their favourite holiday reads ,so on a damp day here in Derbyshire ,I decide to talk about memorable holiday reads for me and what type of books I like on a holiday .My favourite read was in the late nineties on a glorious british summer when I travelled from Alnwick to Elie home of my late gran for a short break .I took Don Dellio’s underworld .this 900 page book with its history of post war america made a great companion on a long train journey and sitting on the beach or the beachfront pub .A book tied to fond memories of a lovely summer ,that in my opinion what makes a good summer read ,for me it is an epic doorstep book and family ,oh and of course good weather is a plus .This means when thinking back on the book I remember the train Journey a brief stop and wander round Edinburgh on the way there and back ,A cool pint of Deuchars IPA reminds me of the book as well sitting on the beachfront as I followed a famous baseball passing hands trough modern america .
So that is me I like modern classic or classic books of over 400 pages length ,over books I ve read over summers have been Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier in spain , Ulysses during a German summer . That’s me I know other people like Lighter reads over the summer the sort of Richard and Judy books or as I call them supermarket books ,Some people like Novellas like the fine ones published by Peirene ,thus meaning you can notch of a few books over the space of a holiday .Then another group likes books about or set where they are like Moveable feast if your in Paris ,shadow of the wind if your in Barceleona ?
My next holiday read is USA by John Dos Passos ,this epic book has sat for a couple of years on my shelves so is needing a read this summer at some point I ve yet to book a holiday so it may be a staycation book .
A recent reading of the secret history of costaguna set me thinking ,this book is parallel novel to Joseph Conrad’s Nostromo ,there is a clever juxtapose about this thou Vasquez is a latin american writing about events in london and Conrad was an english writer writing about latin america ,the link is the character in Vasquez book tells Conrad his life story about the events in his homeland ,this story forms part of Conrad’s book and the imagined country of costaguna .Well I decide to re read Nostromo and the old saying certain books are best read when you are old was true with this book a book that came to life more than before I felt this was mainly due to my increased cynicism with age,so thanks to Vasquez I ve rediscovered a book and writer I had partly written off as a younger man .I ll shortly be review both books .Thanks to Kirsty at oup for the lovely copy of Nostromo (love the picture on the cover )
Now I have previously read march by Geraldine Brooks another Parallel novel that worked for me ,and some Sherlock Holmes inspired stories that were hit and miss .so the question is –
HAVE YOU READ ANY GOOD PARALLEL FICTION ?
IS THERE A BOOK YOU’D LOVE TO SEE ANOTHER BOOK WRITTEN FROM ?
In answer to the second one I d love see a book on Don Quixote maybe him as a younger man .Perec life a user manual has loads sub plots and characters that would make great stories on their own .
