Mad, bad and dangerous to know

Yesterday's book was a very slim volume, Byron: [the] Victoria & Albert Museum Exhibition Guide. This accompanied an exhibition held in 1974 illustrating the poet's life. The wording of the guide is allusive rather than direct and sometimes unintentionally comic. "His career, " it states, "was unusually rich in other directions, social, amatory and political ..." His "amatory career" was not so much rich as heroic! Later the guide coyly refers to "his half-sister, Augusta, who was to figure so importantly in his later life" - yes, as his incestuous lover, if rumours are to be believed.

Would Byron have been as famous as a poet if he had not also been the ultimate of bad boys, a rock star figure from the 19th century? Here's some more information.

Day 237; Book 228

The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro

Why did I think I wouldn't like this book? I took against it for no good reason at all but eventually decided to read it. It is a masterpiece. The characterisation and complex structure work beautifully. It's funny but also sad. Very little is stated explicitly but the character of the butler and the story of his life is gradually revealed. A wonderful book.

I like to read books uninformed as to their content as much as possible, but here's a link if you would prefer to know more about the book. Scroll down for reviews (watch out for spoilers).

Day 236; Book 227

On Chesil Beach by Ian MacEwan

This is a beautifully-written book, but rarely can a wedding night have gone so wrong since Tess Durbeyfield married Angel Clare. Writers of misery memoirs would do well to study how MacEwan handles the possibility of abuse in the background. It's delicate and ambiguous, but it's there and it informs the rest of the novel. There have been conflicting opinions about the book but I think it is worth reading for the quality of the writing and the evocative prose.

Day 235; Book 226

The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger

This is quality chick lit, featuring a boss apparently modelled on the real-life Anna Wintour, editor of Vogue, whose all-round scariness and unapproachability can be guessed at from her nickname "Nuclear Wintour". It's funny at times and touching at others and has been made into a famous film. It's predictable in parts but still enjoyable.

Death of a Gossip by M C Beaton

This is the first of the Hamish Macbeth books. I didn't enjoy this as much as the author's Agatha Raisin books, probably because although I hadn't seen many of them, I still had characters from the tv series in my head. It was strange to be visualising Robert Carlyle while reading a description of a red-haired Highlander. I don't think I'll go on with this series, which is a shame because there are lots of books in it to collect. The best bit was a joke which came right at the end.

Thank you, real-life IT Crowd!

Clever Fifecat had an email folder called "Current Work" and it was full of sub-folders of things I was working on, waiting for an answer to, etc.

Stoopid Fifecat deleted it while tidying up. Why?? I knew the moment I pressed delete I shouldn't have done it and there it all was, gone, into the ether and never to be seen again.

Well not until the IT people retrieved it for me because stuff on the server is backed up every night! Yay!

The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark

I'd read this before but it's a sort of desert-island book; you could read it again and again and find more in it each time.

Muriel Spark expertly interweaves past, present and future in this complex and compelling novel set in 1930s Edinburgh. Miss Brodie appears first as a wholly-admirable character, free-spirited and declaring that she is in her prime (which is an excellent idea! This will be the prime of Ms A Fifecat!) Gradually we become aware of the flaws in her character ...

By complete contrast and as I have books to catch up on, I read Terry Deary's Vicious Vikings (part of the Horrible Histories series written for children and teenagers). This was amusing, and I think I would have found it hilarious when I was younger. The illustrations were particularly funny. It was even proper history too, because nothing was presented as truth which could have had any doubt about it (sources and their likely reliability were examined). A good read, but possibly one which parents would buy for their children rather than the children buy themselves.

Day 230; Book 223