Well it’s been a few days since my last reading journal entry, which for something that I’d envisaged being a daily thing, isn’t all that great. Fact is the unexpected (friends from university) and the distracting (any number of insignificant things) have got in the way of my reading these past few days, so there’s not been a great deal to talk about. The decks are clear again though and the reading has picked back up. The first real opportunity since last week. Let’s run through it:
07:00 - Really wanted to get back on track with my journey through the Ox-Tales Collection from Profile Books. I still had a couple of stories to finish off from Ox Tales: Air so I ticked them off this morning. The first of the two was Calculus by Diran Adebayo, and it’s described as a work-in-progress from his third novel, The Ballad of Dizzy and Miss P- which is scheduled for a 2010 release. So an extract I’m assuming and it kind of felt like it. A bit disjointed, a bit confusing too, but overall not a bad little taster. There’s a nice little exchange between the two main characters, discussing lucky numbers. Really liked that.
The second story (and the final one in this volume’s collection) is Trouble in Paradise by Helen Fielding. I was expecting a lot from the author of Bridget Jones’s Diary and I’m happy to say it more or less delivered. Following a number of story threads which intricately weave together, this short (or rather extract from a novel never published by Fielding), centres around life in and around a holiday resort on a Caribbean Island. I’ve got to say that I found this lengthy extract to be rather charming and very entertaining. From the opening exchange between by-the-book hotel manager Kyam and the traditionalist Executive Consultant, Prendegast to the seedy exploits of high-flying hotel guest Geoff, Chairman of Northern Power, this story really held my interest, which for a fickle, easily distracted reader like me, is a real achievement.
12:00 – Knowing that the first story in the next volume of Ox-Tales, Fire was written by Mark Haddon (a writer I’ve admired ever since reading The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time), I couldn’t resist reading this today too. All I’ve got to say is WOW! The Island is a lengthy short, coming in at just over 40 pages, but it’s beautifully written. It’s story, set in ancient times, centres around the abandonment of a princess on an island, and her consequent struggle to survive. Switching between past (which gradually reveals how she ended up where she did), and the present (which recounts her daily struggle), this is probably one of the best stories I’ve read so far in the collection. I felt somewhat let down with the ending which is a bit bizarre (but I guess in line with ancient myth and legend), but that doesn’t detract from what is a 5 out of 5 story in my opinion. Check out Haddon’s sublime opening – “She’s dreaming of the pines outside her window in the palace. The way the night turns them into a black sea that tumbles and breaks against the stone wall below the sill…”
19:00 – Although I haven’t managed to read a lot of it today (I’m up to Chapter Thirty-Two) it’s great to get back into Bryony Doran’s The China Bird (Hookline Books) and the ongoing relationship between artist Angela and her physically contorted subject Edward. And although minute parts of the dialogue feels a little stilted, a bit too scripted perhaps, this is turning into one incredibly memorable story. Not sure how much more I’ll be able to tick off tonight. Hopefully a big chunk.
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