A Common Reader . . .

Bits and Pieces

The problem with running a blog focused on book reviews is that when you are reading something substantial (in terms at least of quantities of pages) the blog posts tend to dry up.  If its Magic Mountain, or Don Quixote which is absorbing you at the moment, your blog could easily have a hiatus of reviews for at least a week.  I am reading Nicholson Baker's Human Smoke at the moment, and its taking me in other directions while I read it, so I tend to have two or three other related books around me while also stopping to consult Wikipedia etc. 

However, three things caught my eye this week which I'd like to mention.

CENSORSHIP

Books are in the news most days and some topics just demand a comment - especially if they concern censorship.  Take Sarah Palin for example. The Guardian's Ed Pilkington tells us in the Guardian that while Mayor of Wasilla, Palin had serious aspirations towards censoring the books in her local library, even to the extent of sending a termination letter to the local librarian when she told Palin that the books in the library "were all acquired in accordance with professional criteria" and that she would resist removing books on instructions from politicians completely. Censorship and creationism - sounds like a pretty Taleban agenda to me!

I suppose she would also be against the Harry Potter books for their magical content.  But then even our own Asda has banned a Jacqueline Wilson book, My Sister Jodie, from their shelves because the author spells twit with an "a". 

E-BOOK READERS

Obviously, the Sony Reader was big news this week.  I won't bother re-hashing earlier posts about why such devices are not for me, but then again, if you buy one before the end of September you get a voucher for 100 "e-Books Classics" titles.  Hmm, it almost sounds interesting.  Just think of all those shelves of Wordsworth Classics in the remainder bookshop - all those volumes of Dickens and Shakespeare could clog up your Sony Reader in the same way they'd clutter your bookshelves. 

GOOGLE CHROME

Google have launched their new browser and its pretty good.  I use Mozilla Firefox but I like the way that Chrome combines the address box and the search box, enabling you to type either a URL or a search term in the same place.  The other thing I notice is that it starts up very quickly indeed.  You click on the shortcut and it seems to be there instantly.  There are enough reviews of the browser for you to make up your mind whether to try it or not but I would just add that it copied in all my Firefox bookmarks without me even being asked so installation was about as easy as it could get. 

Simon Gray - Playwright and Diarist

I enjoyed all three volumes of Simon Gray's The Smoking Diaries, especially the last one, The Last Cigarette, and was sorry to read yesterday of his death at the age of 71. 

Gray's diaries were almost in the category of confessions, in that he wrote totally frankly of his failings and was honest about his innermost thoughts, refusing to put a gloss on them to make himself seem a more appealing person.  When reading them I always felt inspired to try to be more honest about my own failings, as though finding permission to put my social guard down and be more real with myself and other people. 

I suppose we can never be sure how accurate other people's diaries are, but I found that Gray's had an air of integrity.  The picture Gray drew of himself, sitting in a bar with a cigarette and an A4 pad, writing his account of the world was somehow convincing.  He always gave the impression of someone who had nothing to lose by candour, so why bother giving a false impression?

Sadly, his smoking habit seems to have got the better of him, and certainly there was no better incentive to give up smoking than to read The Smoking Diaries. I am sorry that no more volumes will be published because for me at least, each one was anticipated with pleasure.

91 year-old author is awarded PhD from Magdalen College, Cambridge

Having read about Michael Cobb and heard him interviewed on Radio 4, the 91 year-old war veteran being awarded a PhD by Cambridge University, it was good to track down the book itself.  Ian Cobb spent 18 years researching The Railways of Great Britain: A Historical Atlas

The University website states that "after graduating, Cobb joined the Army as a regular officer and was sent to Europe in 1940 as the world descended into war. Rescued on the last boat to leave the town of Dunkirk itself, he then spent several years training commandoes in Airborne Operations' D-Day preparations.A life-long train enthusiast who travelled on all of Great Britain's railway lines between 1950-60, Michael began work on the atlas in 1978".

This man is more than 40 years older than me and its nice to think that I might have time to do something sensible with my own time now that I have slightly more of it.