Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.
Well the Barry Town barber was right. For the reasons explained in my previous post I borrowed the book from the local library and as he saw the book by the sink he mentioned, unprompted, that it was a "great" book.
Now I've read it, (very quickly as well - always a good sign) I can only agree.
There are certain aspects that make this novel truly exceptional. Firstly, and I knew this beforehand, it's from the point of view of a child. Thus idealism is mixed with inexperience as the reality bites.
Secondly the trial of the Afro Caribbean man accused of rape does not occur to just after halfway through. When it is mentioned in the beginning it is slow seeping process and just part of the narrator's life until for the moment of the trial it starts to dominate. It's the skill of Harper Lee's writing that you're not impatient for the trial to start.
Finally. Given that it's set in a small town in Alabama. What it shows is that for the most part the white people were not evil. They were good people indoctrinated by a racist doctrine in their attitudes. You know you can make an argument that it's like some of those people who voted for Brexit with regard to their attitudes to people from East European countries who moved to the UK.
And as for the use of the N word that bothered the Biloxi schools district to not teaching this book in schools anymore. Well as I said context is everything and in the context of the book I didn't see it as an issue. Indeed there is a paragraph where the book's hero Atticus Finch gives his opinion on the word, and he's not a fan. Perhaps the Biloxi school district should read that paragraph again.
In conclusion then. Unless something comes along to truly blow me away. It's not only a great book, but the best book I've read this year. So thankyou, Biloxi Schools District for getting me to read it
Sir David Attenborough's book Life Stories turns out to be one of those rare things, a book where you preferred the sequel. I'm, as I've explained before not really the audience for this type of book. Still it comes under the category of slight disappointment. It just wasn't all that interesting.
Still the Attenbourough book, disappointed as I was with it, is still a gazillions light years better than The Cake Shop In The Garden by Carole Matthews. It was chick lit cliché. Put upon woman frustrated with life (tick), handsome man with a past (tick) constraints to the woman finding happiness with handsome man with a past (tick) a crazy sidekick (tick).
What was even worse than that though is that although as a reader I've come to an age where I don't mind not being surprised.Being able to tell what's going to happen is a different matter entirely. There were moments where things were so obvious it was as if Ms Matthews had emailed the plot points to me beforehand.
A truly awful novel.
So it means I've borrowed two new books from the library. They were:
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| The Great King - Christian Cameron |
If the cover is of any guide I don't think I'm going to like this. But we'll see.
And the other was :
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| To The End Of The Earth - Tom Avery |
This is a book about Robert Peary being the first man to reach the North Pole. Now this seems interesting.
We shall see.
Until the next time
