Equus by Peter Shaffer

I read the script for this play last night. I had a vague idea what it was about but deliberately didn't read any more about it so I came to it fresh. It was a very powerful piece of work which I would like to see performed, but even as a written piece it was shocking. It appears dated at times (I wonder if they update the references for performances?) and some of the revelations were too-clearly signalled. However, it had a fascinating conclusion both to the mystery involved and to the play itself. It raises huge issues about normality and spirituality. I see there is a film of the play although this is not without its detractors. Here is a link to the Broadway version of the play (with Daniel Radcliffe).

Day 183; Book 180

Trinny and Susannah

I discovered What Not to Wear 2 and What you Wear can Change Your Life on my bookshelves so decided to read them again. It's been a while since we've seen poshos Trinny and Susannah on TV manipulating people's unwilling body parts and bossing them into more flattering outfits. Their points all make sense though such as not wearing something baggy if you are rather tubby: you will look even bigger, as if you were actually the size of the tent you were wearing. Wear something fitted instead (although not sausage-skin tight). I enjoyed these so I must look for What Not to Wear 1. No doubt it is out of print but you can still find these on Amazon on Abe Books.

Day 182; Book 179

Oranges are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson

I read this the other night and can highly recommend it. It's funny and touching and really gives the flavour of the heroine's upbringing in a strictly religious and evangelical home. Some people have read it as being about her rebellion against this strict religion, but really it is about her rebellion against one aspect of it, and then her cruel eviction from everything she had held dear. I took against the author herself in her introduction though when she praised her own work so highly...

Day 181; Book 177

The Miracle at Speedy Motors by Alexander McCall Smith

I started another Christopher Brookmyre but wasn't really getting into it and then I came across this one in the bookshop. I think it's the latest of the No 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series; I hadn't read it before anyway. Right from the first page I was back in McCall Smith's charming Botswana. This series is on TV at the moment but I haven't wanted to watch in case it doesn't live up to the books (also, Mr F watches Lost at the same time). The humour is gentle, the writing is perceptive and the whole thing reveals what must be the author's essential humanity. The books have been criticised for not mentioning the AIDS crisis, but they do mention it in a subtle way. Anyway, why should a whole country be defined by a terrible illness rather than by these inspiring characters? It's not as though tragedy of other kinds is never experienced (even by the heroine, Mma Ramotswe).

As a complete contrast, I started reading Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson. I've made hardly any progress as so far I've absolutely hated it! Withnail and I does the whole drug scene so much better - with humour. Perhaps if I read on I'll get into this book, however. It deserves credit for the title alone.

Day 179; Book 176

One Fine Day in the Middle of the Night by Christopher Brookmyre

I loved this too! Just as I was moaning that I didn't like this one as much as the last, suddenly everything changed and I was on the edge of my seat. Funnily enough in this one it was the exciting action that grabbed me, so these books are not just for blokes. Brookmyre's use of language is amazing. I laughed and laughed at the expression "bevommed" for a person someone else had been sick all over (a hilarious situation itself - at least for the reader). There are many Scottish cultural references - but also one I can't believe I missed, to South Park (thanks Mr F for pointing it out).

Mr F has lots more of these books but this time I am going to pace myself and look for something else to read in the meantime.

Day 176; Book 175

New Brookmyre in Progress

It's One Fine Day in the Middle of the Night, and so far I like it but not as much as A Big Boy Did it and Ran Away (but then I liked that so much it would be difficult for this one to match up to it).

I love these titles though!

I thought there was a bit too much thriller-type action in the last one, but funnily enough this one has just livened up with the arrival of a gunman. The hero reacts really well to this, but I think I would probably just be standing there waiting to be shot, thinking it couldn't possibly be really happening ...

Mr F was right ...

Christopher Brookmyre is a wonderful author! His work has been referred to as "tartan noir" but it has a healthy dose of humour too. I finished "A Big Boy Did it and Ran Away" last night (500 pages, so it took me 2 evenings). Fortunately Mr F has a nearly-complete collection of this author's books, so I can start on my next one straight away.

How to describe this author? Well, he's funny, both in his throwaway lines and in the situations he sets up. He can write dialect: compare the cringe-making efforts of Sir Walter Scott to Brookmyre's fabulous, witty use of Scots, particularly Glaswegian. His characters are original, although obviously based on reality (see his teachers or his first-year students) but they also develop throughout the book. Scottish readers will smile with recognition at the speech but also at the locations (surely he makes the first-ever literary reference to the Whirlies roundabout in East Kilbride). This book was also an exciting thriller, but it was the other qualities that appealed to me most (not being a bloke).

Read this book! Particularly if you are Scottish, male and young (-ish).

Day 174; Book 174